How to build an employee benefits program in 2024

The importance of employee benefits in today’s modern workforce cannot be understated. Employee benefits packages greatly influence how employees feel about their company. According to MetLife, 73% of employees would feel encouraged to stay at their current jobs longer if offered more benefits.

Additionally, employee benefits such as time and location flexibility have become increasingly important since the global pandemic in 2020. Employees are more than two times as likely to recommend their employer to a job seeker if they’re happy with its workplace adaptability. 

In this article, we’ll share why you should care about employee benefits and share how to build an employee benefits program step-by-step using feedback from online surveys. 

An employee benefits program consists of employer-provided perks or incentives in addition to the individual’s salary or hourly wages. Employee benefits can stretch from healthcare plans and matching 401(k) contributions to workplace perks like free coffee and snacks in the office. Such benefits are vital to employee experience (EX) or the holistic experience an employee has throughout their tenure from recruitment to offboarding. Employees feel valued by their employers when they offer a robust employee benefits program. 

An employee benefits package should be well-rounded and reflect your company’s values. There are some employee benefits required by law, but organizations also have some creative freedom when it comes to additional voluntary benefits. Employee benefits programs should be transparent and easy for employees to access to ensure they take advantage of what your company provides them.  

There is a multitude of different employee benefits a company may choose to offer as well as some required by federal law (these will be marked with an asterisk*). Statutory benefits, or full-time employee benefits required by law are few. Most benefits are voluntary and determined by an employer. 

Some common employee benefits include:

It’s worth mentioning that some states or regions may legally require companies to offer additional benefits beyond those mandated by federal law. To ensure compliance, please research your state and region’s requirements when evaluating your benefits package.  

What’s the big deal about employee benefits programs? Do they really matter all that much? Yes, they do, and here’s why! 

A robust benefits package is important when recruiting new talent for your company. In fact, nearly 60% of job seekers say employee benefits are their first consideration when deciding whether to take a job. Some job seekers consider benefits even more important than salary. 

Having exceptional benefits or unique workplace perks can intrigue qualified candidates and boost the number of applicants you get. Additionally, a strong benefits package offering sets up your relationship with your new recruit for success.  

Having happy employees reduces churn and helps keep talented professionals part of your team. By providing a wide variety of employee benefits, you can help ensure your team members feel valued and appreciated for their dedication to the company. 

Employee retention is extremely important, especially for smaller companies, as the cost of replacing employees is high. Also, employee churn takes a toll on team morale. If employees are constantly coming and going, it can be difficult to foster good company culture and build colleague connections.

Employee engagement is a measurement of your employee’s enthusiasm and commitment to your company. Engagement is a critical part of ensuring a productive workforce. When employees are disengaged in their work, they are unlikely to give it their all and produce high-quality results.  

A thoughtful employee benefits program impacts how engaged your employees feel at work By providing health and wellness benefits, adequate PTO, and more, you can boost employee engagement and drive productivity for your business. 

Employee engagement also affects the customer experience. There is a connection between engaged employees are positive customer interactions. Employees are more likely to represent your organization well through their work and customer interactions when they are engaged and satisfied with their jobs.  

The health and well-being of your employees should be something you care deeply about, and building an employee benefits program is one way to promote employee well-being. Giving employees vacation and sick time to use as well as other health benefits such as vision, dental, and health insurance allow your employees to get the proper care they need. 

Employee well-being affects the day-to-day operations of your company in a big way. If employees aren’t being taken care of and able to focus on their health and well-being, they won’t perform their best and may consider looking elsewhere for other job options. 

In summary, employee benefits are of paramount importance as they help in the recruitment process, reduce churn, boost employee engagement rates, and promote employee well-being. 

Building an employee benefits program can be a bit daunting for HR professionals. How do you know what to choose and what employees want? We’ll take you through the process of building an employee benefits program step-by-step. 

To build a better employee benefits program, first, you will need to analyze your current benefits program. What benefits does your company offer to employees already? Do employees seem satisfied with what’s currently offered? Set goals for what you would like as a result of a revamped employee benefits program.

Is your goal to provide a better employee experience? Or is it to increase retention rates? Maybe it’s to boost company morale. Whatever your goals are, be sure to make a plan on how to achieve them and determine how you can measure your results.

You’ll also need to review your budget and calculate what additional benefits you can afford to offer your workforce. As much as you wish you could offer every benefit in the book, you will need to decide what makes the most sense financially. 

Additionally, you should ask yourself a few questions before diving into the process of updating your employee benefits program. 

Next, you will need to use that budget to evaluate what voluntary benefits you wish to offer employees. At this stage of the process, you can use employee benefits surveys to determine which current benefits employees enjoy and which ones they’d like you to offer them. 

Here are some survey templates to help you determine which benefits to offer your team:

Additionally, you can utilize exit interviews and exit interview surveys to get feedback from departing employees about how employee benefits affected their time at your organization. They may be willing to give more candid feedback since they are leaving your company.

Review your current employee benefits program carefully. What benefits are useful and well-liked by your employees? What’s no longer affordable or underutilized? Ask yourself these questions and combine your answers with the employee feedback you receive to make decisions. 

You must also be aware of your legal requirements and what benefits you are required to offer by local, state, or federal law. As mentioned before, these benefits are for statutory full-time employees and may vary from state to state. 

Voluntary benefits don’t have to be super expensive. Can you offer any “low-level” benefits such as a free catered lunch once per quarter or a half-day on an employee’s birthday? These affordable perks can make a big difference in employee satisfaction and aren’t too big of a weight. 

After you’ve evaluated what you want your employee benefits program to look like, you need to make a decision. Does your current plan need to be revamped or completely scrapped? There is no right answer to this and is completely dependent on your specific organization. 

You may need to see what you can do to cut costs and evaluate if any benefits aren’t getting used by employees. Ask yourself if it is better to focus on getting employees to use these benefits or if it is a sign they should be excluded from your revamped plan. 

Lastly, when designing the benefits program, you will need to decide what employees contribute or if your organization will be covering all of the costs. For instance, health insurance plans are typically covered by both the employer and the employee. 

Implementation is an important stage of rolling out your updated benefits program. Before you implement the new plan or changes, you must assess several things. First, who should be notified about the new benefits plan, and who will be communicating the information? When will the plan be fully rolled out and accessible to employees? 

You need to make these decisions and share this information with stakeholders. Employee benefits programs should be implemented transparently and efficiently to ensure all employees are made aware of how to sign up for new benefits. 

You may consider hiring a third-party administrator to help implement the benefits successfully. This can take the stress off your in-house HR team and allow them to better learn about the new benefits from the experts. 

Your communication plan is essential when implementing new benefits. Decide how you will share and explain the plan to your employees effectively. You will need to make sure communication is clear so that all employees understand what is available to them. Be sure you are explaining all of your benefits and how each one functions. Employees may not be aware of every benefit or how to utilize it.

Employees should understand what benefits are offered to them, if and how much they will pay toward each benefit, how to elect each benefit for themselves and/or their family, and how and when they can make these changes to their benefits plan. HR representatives should always be available to answer employee questions about benefits elections and changes. 

These best practices for employee benefits are key to rolling them out successfully. Review these top tips to ensure a smooth delivery and great employee experience. 

Now that you understand the value of employee benefits, it’s time to build or adjust your benefits program. With SurveyMonkey, you can easily collect employee feedback using pre-made survey templates.

Learn how SurveyMonkey makes evaluating your employee benefits program simple.