There are many factors that go into the decision-making process for discretionary benefits. For the sake of this blog post, I will assume I am in charge of making these decisions for a well-established company that has the means to offer competitive benefits. It is essential to consider that no matter what size of the company or how much they produce, benefits are costly. They are often factored into TC (total compensation) internally, but not usually externally when comparing competitive offers. I asked a few friends that were willing to share with me the value and cost of their benefits. The benefits were valued from $7K to up to even $40K. The companies also ranged from small, retail startups to large, tech giants.
If I were determining benefits, some factors I would consider are the employees’ needs, wants, demographics, and my company’s goals. Depending on my employees’ demographics, I would want to provide different benefits. How old are my employees? Do they have families? Do most of them live in a city needing public transportation? There are some bare minimum benefits, but the extra benefits are something that we should decide on based off the employees’ and their interests. Employees surveys could be a helpful tool to utilize to gather this data and best support employees.
The benefits can greatly impact employee behavior. For example, by offering generous PTO, employees can take time off from their job to relax and avoid burnout. Another example is offering tuition assistance of professional development credit. Employees can feel empowered to further their careers within the company if the company is encouraging and sponsoring their development.
Here is my unofficial list from most likely to eliminate to least likely:
Tuition reimbursement
Counseling
Employee assistance services
Transportation services
Family assistance
Life insurance
Disability insurance
Retirement programs
Paid off time (outside of what is legally required)
Swift, Michelle (2022) Week 7 Lecture 1 Discretionary Benefits
