How employers can better serve their employees in the wake of “quiet quitting” trends

Virtual happy hours and Zoom office parties aren’t the magic solution to employee engagement that we wished they were. Some misguided leaders might direct the blame at staff themselves, arguing that “laziness” has abounded due to remote work. But it seems more likely that it’s the leaders who bear the most responsibility, as Gallup has found that the drop in work ethic collectively known as “quiet quitting” is tied to “clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, feeling cared about, and a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose.” The onus falls on the employer, it seems, to make sure their teams aren’t joining the chorus of quiet quitters that now make up half of the U.S. workforce.

How should employers step up? There are many actions across their organizations that employers can take to address employee satisfaction and productivity. Among these coordinated efforts is our world of benefits. Specifically, there is plenty of opportunity for employers to prove that they care with thoughtful and well-designed benefits to improve the lives of their employees.

Reinvigorating morale without taking a dive on ROI

When focused on benefits and total employee compensation in the current economic climate, certainly the most obvious step that employees might look for is higher wages. It certainly should be at the forefront of employer strategies for both talent retention and attraction, as well as for simply meeting employee financial needs in a high-interest environment.

Whether or not wage increases are a real possibility for a company, there are other ways that they can and should get creative to retain their best employees and attract new ones — or to simply convert quiet quitters to active contributors again.

Benefits like health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts may not be thought of for their ability to satisfy employees, but they provide price relief for health expenses that employees really need right now, and in different ways. For example, an employee may have a dependent elderly relative in need of care. An employer that offers the option of a dependent care savings account for that relative’s expenses will make that team member feel seen and heard as it relates to their needs. In turn, that employee will feel heightened loyalty to their employer. Moving away from top-down benefits – in which employers pick a small selection of benefits for employees to choose from – towards consumer-directed health care (CDH) can a be a huge boon to both employers and employees. With the inflation at a 40-year high and health care costs continuing to skyrocket, employees will feel valued and respected if their employers revamp their benefit offerings.

Addressing lifestyle needs more personally

While CDH accounts can be thought of in different ways to address employee needs, another key might be a type of benefit that’s been available for some time but has taken on new “life” as the key to personalized benefits that offer more financial flexibility to employees, without the need to increase compensation. Lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs) are post-tax spending accounts for which employers can provide their employees with a defined contribution amount to spend on a curated list of products and services valuable to them — and picked to impact positive outcomes for employers and employees alike.

LSAs are based on categories of products and services, so you can set up a debit card to only be available at certain categories of retailers — or even just certain retailers outright. Want to provide employees an incentive to return to work? Set up an LSA that they can spend on gas, lunches, and new clothes to wear back to the office. Making a transition to a fully remote workforce? Give employees a stipend to spend on office supplies and furniture. Want to let your employees have some fun on you? Set up an “entertainment” LSA that they can use for theater or concert tickets. Or set up all of them and let your employees decide.

Attracting employees with thoughtful offerings

In addition to retaining current staff, improved benefits can also be a compelling aspect of work for potential applicants, bringing in new energy and ideas while also increasing employee engagement as well. With remote work ongoing, employees are starting to look for more personalized benefits that meet their unique needs. Oftentimes, a company’s ability to offer creative and meaningful benefits is a direct reflection of the health of their culture too – making this an important box to check in the minds of job seekers.

According to a 2022 SHRM survey, the value of benefits to employees – from health to lifestyle benefits – has increased as compared to the years prior to the pandemic, and plans to remain at a high for the years to come. If employers can make their offerings diverse, clear and well-communicated, then they will be able to capitalize on those excited for new roles. Typically, jobseekers that are looking at the granular details of benefits will also be those who are most quality applicants and most engaged at work as well. Transparency alone on company benefit offerings will help employers attract the best candidates for their open roles and improve organizational morale overall.

Letting employees have a say to dispel their apathy

An employer is able to offer benefits that speak directly to employee and reflect their cultures, but what about the employee’s role in choosing the best plan for themselves? This is where having a broad and personalized range of benefits can be the ultimate factor in employee engagement. By taking a consultative approach to how benefits are presented to individual team members, employers are, literally, letting their staff have a say in how they engage with their roles.

Providing a plethora of educational resources, examples and options for staff allows for a more customized experience based on their individual needs as an employee. This alone – having more than a standard set of benefit offerings – can make teams feel less apathetic about work, as they are directly involved in how they contribute to their success. Employees will get to choose how they use their earnings, whether it be for important health care costs or investing or childcare. Using real-world examples of the ways benefits can help employees will allow employers to reignite the passion their teams are missing.

Read more: How employers can address quiet quitting

For employers and employees, quiet quitting is going to be an ongoing challenge, especially since it has spun off into quiet firing, in which employers minimize an employee’s significance by lightening their workload and taking away responsibilities. Benefits are the key to reversing this trend and breathing new life into employee engagement. If organizations can make sure their offerings are tailored to the specific needs of teams, they will be ensuring that staff feel truly valued while at work and when they go home at the end of the day too. This is how to address the dip in engagement, by meeting the gaps in employee enthusiasm with thoughtfulness.

Shandon Fowler, VP Product Marketing at Alegeus