Compensation negotiations are typically centered on pay raises and employee benefits. While some of these benefits are legally required in the United States, most of them are offered by employers to remain competitive in the job market. Benefits play a crucial role in attracting, retaining and motivating employees. While ranking my discretionary benefits by the most likely and least likely to eliminate, I noticed that there appeared to be some consensus among my group. The vast majority of us ranked health insurance, paid leave and a 401(k) as our top three priorities. We believed that these discretionary benefits would make the greatest impact on the lives of our employees and set them up for economic success. This is vital in today’s job market because employees have come to expect their benefits will help them maintain economic security.
The discretionary benefits that I am most likely to eliminate are transportation services, outplacement counseling and a gym membership. While these benefits would certainly be nice to have, they would not significantly alter an employee’s economic security. I believe that the majority of employees would prioritize their health insurance, paid leave and retirement over any of these employee benefits so I did not make any adjustments to my original ranking. Nonetheless, the wide variety of potential benefits offered helps employers tailor their compensation to the kinds of employees they need. Consequently, firms must carefully consider what kind of employee they need before offering niche benefits such as a gym membership.
In summary, if an employee begins to question the nature of their benefits, it will negatively impact their behavior and attitude towards work. This makes it even more important for a firm to establish a well thought out benefit package that addresses the needs of their workforce’s demographic composition. The types of discretionary benefits that employees prefer will vary based on their stage of life, personal goals, professional goals and more.
