I very much believe that when deciding which discretionary benefits to keep and which ones to cut off completely depends on the kind of company you have and what you feel like depending on the work could benefit your employees the most. For example, disability and life insurance make a lot of sense for people who do more dangerous jobs like underwater welding. However, for an accountant, it doesn’t seem as important because they are behind a desk all day, compared to prioritizing a tuition reimbursement plan. So, to start off, I think that I would most likely eliminate protection plans and services depending on the job. However, I would prioritize for all jobs, retirement plans. I think this is extremely important for the long-term health of people in-general since at some point in time everyone needs/deserves to rest after their years of hard work. Sometimes this is hard to do in the moment so having an employer help out with this not only helps in the short-term but can help you accumulate more money long-term as well. Another reason why I ranked the choices that I did is due to the cost of some of these programs. No matter what options you choose there will always be a hefty cost to the employer. However, with services and insurance, they may not always be utilized by employees and if they are not being used then the employer is essentially just wasting money on a program that people are getting no benefit from. Instead, those funds could go into other programs that would be better utilized and appreciated on the job. However, I would prioritize for all jobs, retirement plans. I think this is extremely important for the long-term health of people in-general since at some point in time everyone needs/deserves to rest after their years of hard work. Sometimes this is hard to do in the moment so having an employer help out with this not only helps in the short-term but can help you accumulate more money long-term as well. Another reason why I ranked the choices that I did is due to the cost of some of these programs. No matter what options you choose there will always be a hefty cost to the employer. However, with services and insurance, they may not always be utilized by employees and if they are not being used then the employer is essentially just wasting money on a program that people are getting no benefit from. Instead, those funds could go into other programs that would be better utilized and appreciated.
Martocchio, J. J. (2017). Strategic compensation: a human resource management approach. Pearson.
