You might have heard that more and more companies are focusing on employee benefits to both attract and retain talent. In a 2022 survey, 93% of employers noted a change in employee benefits expectations, with more importance being placed on health and wellbeing by employees.
In the employee-driven job market we’re experiencing, it makes sense to offer a stellar benefits package to draw in great talent and retain them.
But sometimes that’s easier said than done, right? Setting up benefits can be super overwhelming… Thankfully, we’ve created a handy guide to implementing employee benefits.
Follow our benefits roadmap to find out all the steps you will take when introducing employee benefits to your team…
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Step 1 - Awareness
If you’re reading this, then the chances are you’re probably already here…
But, it takes a bit more than this to build a benefits package. You’ll now need to navigate the providers, insurers, and stakeholders involved in setting it up!
Step 2 - Get Buy-In
To support your benefits budget plan, it’s a good idea to get an idea of:
The key stakeholders
Figure out who your key stakeholders are so you know who you’ll be discussing your options with. This includes key decision makers e.g., Finance (budget holder) or CEO (sponsor).
Relevant stats about why benefits are great
It’s a great idea to gather some useful stats to support your employee benefits request when discussing with stakeholders. We have a useful resource here which outlines some great stats that demonstrate just how important employee benefits can be (on an employee and employer level).
Internal metrics
Review some of the internal metrics that might be used in a business case. It’s useful to consolidate some of the metrics you will need to build your case. This should be combined with some solid research (continue to step 3 for some ideas on this)...
Step 3 - Research
Now that you’ve decided you want to get the benefits process going, you should conduct some research around what’s out there and what your team may want! Here’s 3 possible actions you can take…
Ask your team!
The best way to know what benefits your team wants is by asking them. Check out our free survey template here.
Benefits Benchmarking
You can also get an idea of the types of benefits that companies of your size are offering by checking out our benefits benchmarking survey. We surveyed over 500 companies and found some interesting results!
Speak to a consultant
Another possible route you can take is to speak to a benefits consultant or specialist. They can assist in the process and give you the relevant data to support your benefits implementation.
Step 4 - Benefits Selection
As we mentioned, there’s so many different types of benefits out there. After conducting research, you might have discovered that your team really values private medical insurance, maybe they want a workplace nursery, or dentalcare. But, it’s entirely possible that your team has super varied interests - so flexibility may be a priority instead. If you’re looking for some inspo, you can read about 10 companies with the coolest benefits.
When it comes to choosing benefits for your team, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that benefits differ across countries. We’ve put together a handy resource which outlines benefits in different countries, according to whether they’re considered a standard benefit, a good benefit, or a gold standard benefit. It also details the tax implications of employee benefits per country.
Step 5 - Define Your Budget
Now that you’ve got an idea of what benefits you want to introduce, it’s time to define your budget!
Check out our benefits cost calculator for a rough idea of the cost of your ideal plan, and adjust according to your budget.
Step 6 - DIY vs Platform
Once you’ve decided what benefits you want to offer your team, you can take 2 possible routes: speak to every provider individually & negotiate with their brokers, or simply work with a benefits platform (like Ben) who will do it all for you!
Route A - Meet with individual providers
Speak to every provider and:
- Get a demo with each provider
- Negotiate with brokers
- Repeat for each provider 😴
Route B - Work with a benefits platform
Schedule a product demo and have a sales representative walk you through how it works, answering any questions you may have.
Note: working without a platform is totally possible and can be great! However, we are confident that a product like Ben can be really useful for a lot of teams and can save you a lot of time and money.
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Step 7 - Proposal
Write up your proposal, get budget sign-off, and then write up your business case report to justify your employee benefits plans!
Top tips to get employee benefits budget sign-off….
Getting budget sign off can sometimes be an uphill battle, here’s some handy tips to improve your chances…
- Get data to support your case. Use data gathered from step 3 & 4 to support this.
- Speak to a benefits provider who can pull all of the relevant info together for you. They can benchmark you against your competitors too.
- Be clear about what you’re spending and why.
- Have clear objectives in mind. E.g., are you targeting employee retention, employee recognition, or saving your employees money?
- Consider how your benefits objectives link to wider business goals e.g., embedding your company values.
- You’re not just spending, you’re saving too! Some benefits that cost money also save your business money in the long term - make sure to communicate this E.g. increasing retention reduces recruiting costs
Step 8 - Decision: now we wait…
Wait for the final decision 🤞… Then, once your proposal is approved, you’ll be well on your way to delivering a stellar benefits package.