The 4 Benefits for Employees You Should Be Offering

To better protect and support employees both now and post-pandemic, we need to take a broader view of their needs and wants — and that means responding with benefits programs that really matter.

This is a workforce that has changed radically, whether they’re employees working remotely, employees on the front lines facing increasing stress and pressure, or independent and gig employees. To put it simply: employee needs have changed.

But I see employers of all sizes facing their responsibility with a true commitment to providing employees with the benefits they really need, proving that duty of care is just as important as, if not more than, ever. I call it “the new benefits imperative,” and it’s given employers new clarity into how to expand and evolve their benefits offerings.

Benefits for employees were already changing

We were already seeing changes to benefits before the pandemic, certainly. Some organizations were reworking perks and benefits to figure out the sweet spot. We already understand that benefits programs need to serve multiple goals: appeal to (and help) their employees, reflect favorably on their employer brand, boost the work culture and attract the next hires into the company.

Many of the changes — pre-pandemic — had to do with perks and space: from flexible scheduling to better coffee, or from redesigning the office-bound workplace to bringing in group wellness and yoga classes.

But now, given the reality of safe social distancing practices and the increasing need for access to elements of care, we’ve got more important challenges facing us. My advice: focus on these four areas of your benefits for employees to really help them now and into the future.

Benefits need to be flexible enough to address individual needs and preferences.

1. Change your mindset around benefits

Admittedly, this isn’t a benefit you can fill out a form to enroll in. But it does have a tangible impact on your work culture. Before you install new benefits, install a new mindset around what benefits matter today and why.

To be relevant, benefits need to be flexible enough to address individual needs and preferences. Revamping can’t be about just offering another pre-set, cookie-cutter package. Digitally driven programs should offer built-in customization on the understanding that no two employees share the same situation.

Pre-pandemic, we were already evolving benefits programs to better address diversity, equity and inclusion, and starting to add family leave into the mix. We were acknowledging that some older employees are now caring for elderly loved ones, and will need caregiver personal days, flexible schedules and — practically speaking — self-service.

With the pandemic, these realities are far more clear, and employers should commit to offer benefits that address them. The rationale isn’t just to do the right thing; there’s also a sound business case for providing benefits services that help employees feel supported and secure so they can focus on their work.

2. Make mental health the bottom line

As the pandemic puts mental health into the spotlight — from the uncertainty and stress to simply feeling overwhelmed — it also makes clear the need to include more comprehensive mental health offerings in your benefits package.

The rise of digital clinical and therapeutic services is changing the way we think of health benefits in general; it’s also an opportunity to solve a pressing need regardless of whether we work remotely or not. 

Employers have a critical role to play in helping employees stay balanced and stay well. And, the World Health Organization cites a clear business case: for every dollar put into scaling up treatment for common mental health challenges like depression and anxiety, there’s a return of four dollars in improved health and productivity.

Mental health benefits should include (among many possible features) short-term and longer-term teletherapy, one-on-one counseling over secure channels, group meetings to express concerns and workshops on dealing with stress and finding equilibrium. It’s also a wise strategy to extend this focus on mental health into the work culture with manager training on how to check in with employees and recognize signs of stress.

3. Provide telehealth 

The recent CDC guidelines for instituting telehealth in workplaces stress the importance of safety, as well as maintaining continuity of care during COVID-19, pointing out the need to help those medically or socially vulnerable. “Remote access can also help preserve the patient-provider relationship at times when an in-person visit is not practical or feasible,” the CDC states. Telehealth and remote care has become a timely necessity.

Many organizations are restructuring their benefits reimbursements to allow for telehealth visits — whether real-time interactions (synchronous); “store and forward” technology that enables provider/patient communication across patient portals (asynchronous); or remotely transmitting a patient’s clinical measurements from a distance to their healthcare provider (remote patient monitoring).

One thing to realize here: they all play a role. Telehealth is about access and digital delivery, and it’s anything but a Band-Aid in terms of a benefit employees need.

4. Finances and money

Financial stability has proven a critical factor in employee engagement — so employers should be paying close attention. But traditional 401k offerings don’t have the same impact they once did; as one article put it recently, “The standard 401k feels fruitless when what you really need is childcare tomorrow.”

That doesn’t mean employees are uninterested in financial benefits programs, however. On the contrary: employees want access to a whole range of financial resources.

Innovative platforms can provide employees with savvy consultants working from their individual needs. They can offer tools to maximize pre-tax savings, handle the financial stress of tuition and education with reimbursement programs and better face other financial hurdles. If you can, consider medical savings plans, flexible and tailored retirement savings, employer-matching savings plans and access to low-interest loans.

To better support employees, we need to push our own organizational evolution.

It’s time for organizational evolution

The more your employees are enrolled and participating in a benefits program that covers these bases, the less they’ll need to search for solutions on their own time — and outside of your workspace.

And the more comprehensive a benefits program is, the more participation grows, and the more data can be collected on relevance, strength and effectiveness. We now have the means to not only offer better benefits, but to see how they’re performing and what, if anything, needs to be revamped going forward.

And that may be the fifth benefit here — a bookend to that ever-important mindset shift. To better support employees, we need to push our own organizational evolution — by initiating strategic improvements that truly respond to changing employee needs.

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Meghan M. Biro is a globally recognized analyst, author, speaker and brand strategist. The founder of TalentCulture, she hosts #WorkTrends, a popular weekly Twitter Chat and podcast. Her career spans across recruiting, talent management, digital media and brand strategy for hundreds of companies, from startups to global brands like Microsoft, IBM and Google. She also serves on advisory boards for leading HR technology brands. Meghan can be regularly found on Forbes, SHRM, and a variety of other outlets. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Indeed.