My blog group brainstormed a list of about 18 benefits ranging from health insurance to mentor programs. As we were creating the list, I was already thinking in my head about ones that appeal to me and ones that I hope my future employer offers. When I started ranking the benefits, I organized them according to what I value for the most part, but also somewhat thinking about the general population. If I were to have solely organized the list of benefits in line to what would benefit most people, my list would’ve been different.
One of the articles we read this week was from the Harvard Business Review on what the most desirable employee benefits are. I read this article in my leadership class and analyzed it a little bit. We were focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at the time of reading this article. The article states that better health, vision and dental insurance are the most sought after benefits. In most of my management classes we touch on either benefits or motivational theories. I find these topics extremely interesting to learn about. Something that has stuck with me from this class and my HR class was how employees are more motivated by benefits than they are a pay increase.
With all of that being said, some of my lowest benefits (ones that I would eliminate) are student loan repayments, tuition benefits and day care. Although these are amazing benefits that some employers offer, they personally benefit me the least. However, if I were to look at a company’s demographic, these might be crucial benefits and would not be eliminated. For example, if a lot of the demographic are parents, maybe specifically single parents, they would benefit immensely from having a daycare at work. Another thing to consider is which benefits will motivate employees to perform well. As stated previously, health insurance is a big want and so is vacation time and flexible hours. Offering sought after benefits will likely increase employee satisfaction, motivation and work ethic.
- Medical Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision insurance
- Sick leave
- Retirement plan (401k)
- Vacation time
- Flexible work hours
- Investment/pension plans
- Life insurance
- Maternity leave
- Disability insurance
- Student loan repayments
- Tuition benefits
- Day care
- Team bonding events
- Mentoring programs
- Availability to bring pets to work
