It’s integral for any business to support its employees adequately. Without genuine support for your employees, you won’t be able to retain them, let alone inspire the best in them.
If you want to keep your employees long-term, motivate them to produce high-quality work, and ensure they feel especially supported in the workplace, offer extensive benefits. Investing in people is one of the most effective growth hacks.
Figuring out when and how to start offering employee benefits can be complex. But this article can help. Before providing any benefits, startup owners must consider their business’s financial health.
Audit Your Business Finances
Many of the biggest, most costly mistakes business owners make are tied to finances.
For example, if you’re mixing business and personal funds, you won’t be able to assess your cash flow and profitability accurately. Not creating a budget to guide your financial decisions is another misstep. Irresponsible borrowing and overspending are also common traps business owners fall into.
Health benefits will be one of your most significant expenses. Thus, you want to ensure you’re in a good place financially before offering a healthcare plan and other perks to your employees.
Bring out all information regarding your finances. Study your business’s monthly income, expenses, taxes, investments, and other relevant financial information. Review your budget as well. Then, determine if any money is available to allocate to a benefits package. If so, figure out exactly how much, leaving a little wiggle room for unexpected expenditures.
Don’t feel pressured to offer health insurance and other benefits. As wonderful as it would be to do what big businesses do, it just might not be plausible right now. As your profits and revenues grow, you can do more. But for now, do what you can afford.
How To Proceed with Offering Benefits when you’re Financially Ready
Kudos to you if you’re financially ready to proceed with offering benefits. Taking care of current and potential employees is always a good business move. The below guide can help ensure you’re approaching the process most effectively.
Get your employees’ input
The first step you should take in the benefits process is gathering input from your employees. The goal is to offer a healthcare plan and other benefits your employees need and want, not necessarily those you need.
Ask them what kind of healthcare plan they want. Talk about medical, dental, and vision insurance. Also, discuss mental health coverage and additional wellness perks to get a complete picture of your employees’ health and wellness values.
You can create the best benefits package for employees’ unique needs when you get their input.
Determine how much you can cover
It would be wonderful to cover all of your employees’ healthcare costs. But that probably isn’t feasible right now. Instead, determine a realistic percentage of healthcare costs you can cover based on your budget.
Aim for 50% of your employees’ healthcare plans, and if you have to offer a little less coverage for the family members of your employees, that’s okay. However, make it a priority to grow both percentages over time.
Thoroughly research options for healthcare plans
After gathering input from your employees and determining the percentage of costs you can cover, thoroughly research healthcare plan options. Look for plans that cover as many of your employees’ needs as possible without going over budget.
Online is the best place to start your research journey. You can ask fellow business owners for guidance too. Then, narrow your options to your top three and dig deeper into these plans. Talk with a representative from each and get all of your questions answered before finalizing your decision.
Thoroughly researching your options for healthcare plans is crucial to ensure you pick the most appropriate plan for your budget and employee needs. Having a healthcare plan for employees can differentiate yourself from the crowd and also boost employee advocacy.
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Consider mental health, vision, and dental benefits
Although a solid healthcare plan is great, offering mental health care coverage, vision, and dental benefits in addition to it is even better. Of course, there will be additional costs with these benefits.
So, just like your healthcare plan options, research these options just as thoroughly.
Your in-office and remote employees’ mental health, vision, and oral health are just as important as their physical health. If you can support their holistic health with comprehensive benefits, do so.
Include other wellness perks
Aside from medical, dental, and vision insurance, consider offering additional wellness perks. Some ideas for other wellness perks include:
- Child care;
- Travel discounts;
- Retirement benefits;
- Free gym memberships;
- Educational opportunities;
- Access to a financial advisor;
- Discounted sessions with a personal trainer.
Don’t feel you have to offer all or any of the above perks. However, offering even one can significantly impact your employees’ health and wellness, whether they are in-office or working from home.
Think about office additions that support wellness
Of course, healthcare benefits and wellness perks come first. But if your budget permits additional support measures for employee health, think about office additions that support wellness.
For example, you could create a meditation and mindfulness corner stocked with yoga mats, pillows, and stretch aids. You could re-do your office layout so that it’s more open. You could also purchase ergonomic chairs and other furniture.
Additions to your office don’t have to be big. Something small, like making healthy snacks and drinks available, can support wellness too. Just be sure your choices are within your budget and sustainable. If you provide something for in-office employees, also think about similar perks to offer to those who work remotely.
Revisit your finances and make the best decision
Once you’ve combed through the above, it’s time to revisit your finances and make the best decisions for your business and its employees.
Go back through your budget first. Then, look at the healthcare plans you’ve chosen based on the input your employees gave you and your budget constraints. If your top choice is all you can afford, start there. If you can add more, include vision, dental, and mental health coverage.
Wellness perks and office additions can come over time.
6 Ways To Promote Positive Health in Your Company Until You’re Financially Ready for More
There’s no shame in not being financially ready to offer a comprehensive healthcare benefits package. Simply work on your financial health until you are. In the meantime, do these six things to promote positive health within your company.
Be flexible with start times
Everybody doesn’t do their best work between 9 am and 5 pm. Therefore, forcing your employees to be at work at 9 am sharp may be doing more harm than good to your workplace productivity and engagement.
Consider implementing flexible start times. If an employee starting at 11 am instead of 9 am doesn’t disrupt your workflow and gives them more energy for their day, try it out. Or, if an employee needs to start earlier than 9 am and is their most productive, then see if you can swing it.
Well-balanced people usually are productive employees. Flexible start times can help employees start their days less stressed and more excited.
Allow up to an hour for lunch
30-minute lunches go by way too fast. It isn’t nearly enough time to eat, let alone reset and prepare to re-engage with work.
An hour, on the other hand, gives your employees enough time to have a good meal and relax. They can even get in a doctor’s appointment, therapy session, or a quick workout. So, if it won’t negatively affect your finances, allow up to an hour lunch for your employees.
Implement more short breaks
In addition to long lunches, implement more short breaks. Breaks are proven to improve work performance. They help employees restore energy and mental resources, increase creativity, and support decision-making. Breaks also help reduce stress and enhance focus.
A 15-minute break every hour of work is recommended. Or, you can do a five-minute break every 30 minutes, similar to the Pomodoro technique.
Provide information on health and wellness
Your business may not be able to afford health benefits right now. However, you can still provide information on health and wellness resources and encourage healthy lifestyle practices.
For example, you can offer guidance on how your employees can build better health habits.
Encourage daily self-care through hobbies, getting enough sleep, eating well, practicing mindfulness, and maintaining positive relationships.
In addition, you can offer contact information for affordable therapists, wellness centers, addiction/substance abuse counseling, and other health-related resources.
Looking for ways to support your employees beyond benefits? We are here to help!
Do a weight loss journey as a team
Another way to promote positive health in your business is to take on health challenges as a team, such as a weight loss journey. Prioritizing health and wellness as a team will help you make both a more permanent part of your company culture.
Talk with your team about your weight loss goals and see if anyone is interested in taking the journey with you. You could even offer a prize to the person who gets the closest to their weight loss goal when the competition closes.
Welcome diversity and individualism
Working in a rigid environment where everyone looks, thinks, and does the same thing isn’t conducive to a welcoming environment. And you need a welcoming environment for everyone to feel supported, appreciated, and valued.
Embracing diversity and individualism in the workplace is crucial for promoting positive health and boosting employee engagement. Not only will a diverse and inclusive workplace help boost your employees’ self-esteem and confidence, but it will also better the collaboration and communication among your team.
Hire with diversity and inclusion at the forefront of your efforts. Also, allow employees to be who they are and express themselves through their wardrobe, the way they work, communicate, and so forth.
Final Words About Supporting Your Employees Beyond Benefits
Indirect compensation is important to both recruiting and retaining employees. Every workplace can benefit from prioritizing the health and wellness of its employees. You can do various things to ensure your employees are well taken care of, whether you’re financially ready to provide a health benefits package or not. Revisit this article whenever you need guidance.
Growth Hackers is a seasoned user experience agency helping businesses from all over the world grow. There is no fluff with Growth Hackers. We help entrepreneurs and business owners by guiding them on supporting their employees beyond benefits, generate qualified leads, optimize their conversion rate, gather and analyze data analytics, acquire and retain users and increase sales. We go further than brand awareness and exposure. We make sure that the strategies we implement move the needle so your business grow, strive and succeed. If you too want your business to reach new heights, contact Growth Hackers today so we can discuss about your brand and create a custom growth plan for you. You’re just one click away to skyrocket your business.
