Personalized support from employers enhances employee retention
Workers who feel that their employer-provided benefits have a positive impact on their lives are more than 40 percent more likely to declare themselves loyal to the company.
Employers, take note: it’s not enough to deliver a paycheck and provide an off-the-shelf benefits package to keep employees happy enough to stay and not strike out for greener pastures.
Nope. According to the new “Global Employee Benefits Watch” report from Thomsons Online Benefits, employees want a form of support from their bosses that makes them feel personally cared about. Then they’ll feel sufficiently appreciated that they’ll stick with the job instead of researching other opportunities on Glassdoor.
This is where it’s time to take a close look at your benefits package: workers who feel that their employer-provided benefits actually have a positive impact on their lives are more than 40 percent more likely to declare themselves loyal to the company.
Related: 10 industries with the best benefits packages
And the gap between that mindset and those who feel more disengaged is pretty broad, with the average U.S. worker changing companies every four years. And younger employees will do so even more often, with millennials changing jobs an average of four times in the first 10 years after graduation. Employers already have a tough time finding needed talent, with the unemployment rate standing at 3.9 percent—its lowest level since 2000. So they need to wise up and tailor benefit strategies to support workers’ individual life goals.
“There is clear incentive for global employers to get their benefits right, and focus on the individual,” says Chris Bruce, managing director, Thomsons Online Benefits. “Employees place benefits above career opportunities, culture and even colleagues when asked about the factors impacting their feelings towards their employer. This means that they are more likely to be loyal, have a better workplace experience and put in discretionary effort if they’re happy with the benefits their employer is offering.”
The research highlights the need for employers to focus on helping workers’ individual needs, instead of lumping them all together or classing them by age group. For instance, among workers in the over-65 bracket, nearly 30 percent are still in the market for a house, while more than a third are still looking for career advancement.
But when it comes to younger workers, only 17 percent of 26–35-year olds consider socializing unimportant, while traveling isn’t important to 25 percent. In fact, nearly half of employees surveyed overall want to buy a house or go off on a vacation, but under 20 percent of employers fully support such ambitions.
So what do they want? Well, nearly 60 percent of employees want to improve their mental and physical well-being, but only 23 percent report that they feel fully supported by their employer in doing so. And what they’re really looking for is achieving work/life balance, with 75 percent citing that as an objective, as well as enjoying work—78 percent expect to do so.
Then there’s how they can access employer-provided benefits, with 45 percent wanting to manage them via their desktop and 35 percent preferring mobile access, but a surprising 46 percent preferring face-to-face communications. Employers need to be aware, too, that the means of access isn’t segregated by age—across their employee population, they need to offer a range of choices so that all employees are served.