In today’s competitive labor market, one of the most compelling ways an employer can stand out is by offering a comprehensive and attractive benefits package. As we look ahead to the next year, it becomes increasingly crucial for businesses to reevaluate and consider upgrading their benefits offerings. Investing in your most valuable asset, your employees, can lead to higher job satisfaction, improved retention rates, and a stronger company culture. Strategic Implementation Over Ad-Hoc Additions The first step in upgrading benefits is to move away from ad-hoc additions and towards a strategic, well-planned implementation. This approach ensures that new benefits align with both employee needs and business objectives, creating a symbiotic relationship between workforce satisfaction and company success. Randomly adding benefits without considering how they fit into the existing framework can lead to underutilization and wasted resources. Understanding Employee Needs A crucial part of this strategy involves listening to what employees actually want and need. This goes beyond traditional medical benefits. Today’s workforce looks for a diverse range of benefits that can include everything from enhanced mental health support to flexible working conditions. Employers should conduct surveys, hold focus groups, or engage in one-on-one discussions to truly understand and respond to employee desires. Expanding Beyond Basic Medical Benefits While medical, dental, and vision insurance remain pillars of any benefits package, employers should also consider ancillary benefits that can enhance employee well-being and job satisfaction. Options like life insurance, disability insurance, and wellness programs are increasingly popular and can significantly contribute to a comprehensive benefits strategy. Enhancing Retirement Offerings Another area where employers can make a meaningful difference is in retirement planning. Offering a robust qualified retirement plan not only helps employees secure their future but also demonstrates an employer’s commitment to the long-term well-being of their staff. Whether it’s improving the company match in a 401(k) plan or providing more investment education, upgrading retirement benefits is a powerful tool in attracting and retaining talent. Flexibility and Affordability The challenge, however, lies in balancing the need to provide comprehensive benefits with the reality of financial constraints. Employers must seek solutions that offer flexibility and affordability without compromising on the quality of benefits provided. This may involve exploring new insurance models, leveraging...
Read MoreFree Employer Services and No-cost Employee Benefits? How your county’s TMA (Transportation Management Association) can help you find mobility and sustainability solutions. By Leanne McGowan, Business Development Manager at RideWise, Somerset County’s TMA Most NJ employers and HR professionals don’t realize that their local TMA can be a valuable tool. RideWise TMA in Somerset County, for example, can provide resources, programming and best practice consults on a variety of transportation-related matters, and help your business meet transportation-related sustainability, safety and wellness goals, alleviate pressure on HR and other staff, as well as offer opportunities for employee engagement. Leanne McGowan, Business Development Manager at RideWise, suggests the following to her corporate, business, municipal and non-profit clients, “Think of us as a sustainability partner, transportation options resource and no-cost benefit for employees. We’re happy to help with the basics like transit information, ridesharing registration and vanpooling formation, but can also help you develop strategic partnerships in the community that add value.” Services are customized based on each worksite’s unique needs. Formed in the late 1970s or early 1980s to help find solutions to transportation problems, TMAs form partnerships with businesses, organizations and local government to provide commuter information and services. The roles of many TMAs have expanded over the years, and in New Jersey, TMAs can give the business community a voice in local/regional/statewide transportation decision-making. A recognition program that employers can take advantage of is New Jersey Smart Workplaces, which awards worksites that offer transportation-related sustainability, safety and workplace wellness information, programs and policies to employees. According to McGowan, “most companies are already offering information and benefits to their employees that meet one of the four qualifying “Smart Workplace” levels, and we are happy to recognize them for their efforts.” A few examples of actions that help employers become NJ Smart Workplaces are designating a contact for employee commute inquiries, offering traffic alerts, informal or formal telecommuting, teleconferencing or compressed work week policies, Lunch & Learns on a range of topics from the benefits of walking and bike safety workshops to winter driving safety, and onsite amenities such as a gym or cafe. Qualifying as a NJ Smart Workplace also helps an employer earn points toward the...
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