George Square Financial management identifies some core employee benefits that will help to enhance your reputation as an employer and retain talented employees.
Elaborate job titles and inflated salaries may help to attract high-quality employees in the short term, but companies that offer their employees a range of benefits and opportunities to invest in their future are far more likely to hold onto talent.
Income protection
One of the first employee benefits you could consider is income protection. Income protection is paid after an employee has been off work for a length of time that typically exceeds the period in which they are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay. The insurance continues to pay the income until the employee is well enough to return to work or they reach the end of the payment period.
Life assurance (death-in-service benefit)
The purpose of life assurance is to make financial provision for an employee’s dependants should the employee pass away while in your employment. In general, the policy pays a one-off sum of money to a beneficiary, or beneficiaries, named by the employee. The employee’s death does not need to happen while the person is at work; they only have to be employed by you at the time of their death.
Medical insurance
Having a medical insurance policy for your employees can deliver significant long-term benefits to your business. There tends to be shorter waiting times for patients, meaning employees can be treated faster and start feeling better sooner. This in turn means they can return to work more quickly. Opening times are often more flexible too; this allows employees to speak to or visit a doctor without interrupting their working hours.
Providing access to more personalised and accessible care is a great way to improve employees’ overall wellbeing and boost productivity.
Pensions
Recent research conducted by Aviva found that after annual leave, pension schemes were the employee benefit that matters most to respondents, with 41% identifying it as being a workplace benefit of greatest interest to them. Choosing a group pension scheme is one of the most important decisions a company can make for employees; read our recent article on key considerations for employers to think about when choosing a group pension scheme.
Salary sacrifice
Salary sacrifice is an arrangement employers can make whereby the employee agrees to reduce their earnings by an amount equal to their pension contributions. In exchange, the employer then agrees to pay the total pension contributions.
The key benefit of salary sacrifice is that it is a way of making pension saving more tax-efficient. It could also mean employees’ take-home pay increases.
If you'd like to either set up or review your employee benefits package, please call our team on 0115 947 5545 or send us a message here.