2023 will be the year of the employee: Here’s how employers can offer innovative benefits

(Photo: Shutterstock)

The Great Resignation put an increased emphasis on employee choice. Many employees chose to seek new workplaces. And historic numbers ultimately chose new jobs. But what drove those choices?

Flexibility, like remote work, for one thing. Another: an increased cultural emphasis on the life side of the work-life balance.

To rise to the expectations of this new normal, many HR teams spent the past two years refining flexible workplaces that offer employees choice-forward benefits. Now they have the opportunity to offer even more: benefits that power products employees already need and choose to use throughout their daily lives.

These refined employee expectations about choice-driven benefits are sure to remain – if not expand. And I expect more employers want to meet those expectations in 2023 to continue attracting and retaining the talent they need to succeed.

It’s why I see 2023 as the Year of the Employee.

So how can employers rise to the occasion? And how can they see the benefits of meeting employees where they’re at?

Here’s how employers can offer innovative employee benefits in 2023 and beyond.

Empower employees with a lifestyle benefits stipend

Employers who want to boost employee confidence while facing an uncertain economy have an opportunity: meet employees where they’re at by subsidizing lifestyle benefits they already use.

Getting started is easy. By partnering with a lifestyle benefits vendor you can subsidize your employees’ use of products and services such as Airbnb, Uber, Spotify, and Instacart. Here’s how it works:

1. Employers create and fund an account with their chosen lifestyle benefits partner.
2. Employers decide how to allocate account funds between employees. Options include monthly stipends, bonuses on special occasions like birthdays, and productivity rewards.
3. Employees use stipends to individually choose the benefits that mean the most to them.

So say you want to offer a monthly stipend of $100 to all employees. One employee can split that stipend to pay for multiple streaming accounts, though another may use it only for Uber rides.

In any case, flexibility is key. Employees aren’t locked into the same benefits month to month. If they move closer to a grocery store and no longer need Instacart, for example, they can revise the allocation of their stipend to pay for a new dog walker through Rover.

Use healthcare.gov to expand your range of benefits

With the introduction of Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) legislation, employers can expand their benefits by paying tax-free reimbursements to employees for insurance products purchased on the healthcare.gov marketplace.

ICHRA offers employers the tax advantages of providing employee benefits without requiring employers to pay fixed premiums for participating employees.

For employees, the main benefit of ICHRA is the increased flexibility and control they gain over their health care benefits. With traditional group health insurance plans, employees often have limited choices and may not be able to find a plan that meets their specific needs.

With ICHRA, however, employees can choose their own insurance through healthcare.gov and use the pre-tax money provided by their employer to cover the cost of premiums. This helps employees find a plan that best meets their needs and can save them money on out-of-pocket health care expenses.

And the benefit for employers? They can increase employee choice without giving up the tax advantages of offering health care insurance for their workers.

Offer employees inclusive benefits

In the Year of the Employee, inclusive benefits must be central to any company’s strategy for recruitment and retention. So, design your benefits program with inclusion in mind by starting with a conversation.

When employees take part in two-way conversations about their benefits, they receive a stake not only in how their benefits are designed, but the culture those benefits instill in the workplace. Supporting this is easy: offer employees clear, consistent opportunities to contribute.

In fact, a snappy way to think about it is what I call the 10X10 rule. That is, don’t just talk to employees once. Talk to them ten times, ten different ways.

Consider quarterly email outreach as an example to get started. Survey how your employees use their benefits, and ask about the types of benefits they’d like in the future. And throughout the year, supplement this outreach with opportunities such as town-hall discussions.

Then, ask your leadership team to offer space during weekly one-on-one meetings or monthly check-ins to discuss benefits that could help employees be more productive in the workplace.

Continue to look for opportunities throughout the year to discuss what matters most to your employees. Then, when it comes time to select new products during open enrollment, you’ll be prepared with information that shows you understand what your employees value.

Empower employees with benefits that help them face inflation

There’s less opportunity for employees to switch jobs today than there was a year ago, putting downward pressure on salaries. Benefits packages, however, continue to significantly influence how both employers and employees navigate recruitment and retention.

The Year of the Employee extends from this reality. Mercer’s recent “Inside Employees’ Minds” study found 75% of employees view work-life balance as one of their top three priorities.

The upshot? Employers who renew their focus on employee wellbeing to create a more flexible, inclusive benefits package can support a happier, more productive workforce.

Related: How to ensure benefits packages stack up

What’s more: rising to the expectations of the Year of the Employee in 2023 can support comprehensive psychological and financial wellness. Subsidizing products employees already use empowers them to put less emphasis on choosing what not to have – and that can make facing inflation a little bit easier.

Alex Frommeyer, CEO and Co-founder of Beam Benefits