The Great Resignation is a problem for many companies going into 2023. Businesses are facing high employee turnover and low staffing, and it is driving them to re-evaluate how they attract and keep workers.
Today, over a third of employees are looking for new jobs. The question:
How can companies entice these workers to join their teams and stay? What gives them that crucial leg up on the hiring competition?
That is where better health and welfare benefits come into the picture.
Successful employers are focusing on benefits that boost workplace health and engagement, especially in the wake of COVID-19. This includes much needed preventative healthcare offerings that help with hiring and retention by:
Emphasizing What Really Matters to Employees
When evaluating a job, most applicants heavily consider the benefits. You will not win them over with basic health insurance. You need a much stronger edge to snag the best available talent.
Most employees are facing inflated medical and health-related costs, especially when it comes to preventative care. If companies want to capitalize on what matters to their job applicants and current workers, they needto highlight their most attractive health and welfare benefits.
In 2021, 92% of businesses expanded their support programs for mental health . If you are not offering benefits for therapy, stress management, gym memberships, or other health support systems, you’re losing that competitive advantage over other businesses.
A crucial element of employee health is preventative healthcare in the form of regular checkups and risk management. According to research from last year, roughly eight in ten employees stated healthcare was in their top three most important employer-sponsored benefits, and they want more than just your basic plan.
The bottom line is above average healthcare matters to employees. When you recognize this and offer attractive benefits, you will stand a better chance at engaging and retaining loyal employees.
Prioritizing Employees’ Physical and Mental Health
Preventative health and welfare benefits are not just beneficial to the employees themselves, but also to the entire company. When employees are encouraged to pursue physical and mental health, they have higher:
- Retention rates
- Satisfaction levels
- Engagement
- Productivity
According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report, U.S. workers are some of the most stressed employees in the world. Burnout and anxiety are high in most workplaces, and that contributes to an inefficient, unhappy culture. To avoid this, you need to prioritize worker physical and mental health.
Offering preventative healthcare benefits, from counseling to sick days, is an excellent way to make employees feel supported and valued. Thus, you will contribute to better company morale, as well as more productive and content workers.
A recent survey from Glassdoor found that 56% of workers say a positive workplace culture is more important than salary. Let employees know you prioritize their health, and you could very well cut down your turnover rates.
Increasing Employee Pay and Company Profit
Speaking of salary, we certainly cannot discount the impact of good pay on employee engagement and retention. Strong benefits are critical, but with inflation climbing and shortages jacking up the prices of everyday items, employees are looking for fair compensation.
Starting in 2023, surveyed companies planned a median salary increase of 4%. The National Salary Budget Survey also found that almost half (41%) of organizations planned higher salary increase budgets this year than they did in 2021.
You might be wondering what preventative health and welfare benefits have to do with employee pay. Well, through today’s leading preventative health care programs, businesses can give their employees the opportunity to increase their take-home pay. All the employees need to do is participate in the program and engage in minimum monthly actions. Additionally, businesses can increase their profits in payroll tax savings by offering these benefits with no out-of-pocket costs.
When at-risk employees have access to better preventative healthcare, they can save their companies money. One 2016 article from the Harvard Business Review stated that employer cost savings can be as high as 86% when offering preventative health care benefits. They save on future treatments. Also, they have less absenteeism and higher presenteeism.
When a company reaps more savings and increases its profits, they have the chance to offer better salaries to their employees. It’s a win-win, especially when it comes to hiring and keeping great workers.
Going Forward
Long gone are the days in which traditional healthcare benefits were attractive to job applicants. With companies offering everything from daycare to free counseling services, your business is going to need better health benefits to entice workers, especially preventative health care options.
This is good news. This gives businesses the power to minimize their turnover rates and boost engagement. Simply stated, finding the right benefits make the company a better option for future and current workers.
Doug Frederick is CEO of HealthCues. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, HealthCues offers workplace health solutions with no out-of-pocket costs, bridging the gap between employers, employees and the path to wellness with a positive financial impact. Offerings include hospitalization plans, increase take home pay for employee and employer savings in payroll, DNA screenings, health coaching, biometric screening, telehealth services, mental health services and more. For more information on HealthCues please visit www.healthcues.com
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