For many companies, the setting up of workplace benefits can be well down the list of priorities. In a perfect world, it would be nice to offer some to employees, but there are more important tasks to be focussed on, tasks that directly affect the bottom line.
At Enjoy Benefits, we are specialists in setting up work place benefits for companies of all sizes and so, as you might suspect, we believe offering a suite of perks is advantageous.
Here are the eight reasons why we think you should consider offering workplace benefits to employees.

1) They are easy to set up.

If running workplace benefits was time consuming for your HR team, or others in the company then opting not to introduce them would make sense. Some money saved by employees or help with their childcare might come at the expense of hours of admin and stress and potentially create conflicts where administering staff benefits was eating into time that should be spent running the business.
However, the benefits are not time consuming, most simply run in the background with little or no ongoing involvement required. Even something as seemingly complex as setting up a workplace nursery scheme only requires a very occasional short meeting.
When set up through Enjoy Benefits or similar, the admin is done for you, your employees benefit without their being negative connotations for anyone else in the business.
 

2) They save the business money; at worst any benefit is cost neutral

A common concern is that if a business uses a third party such as Enjoy Benefits to set up workplace benefits then there will be administration costs that lead to the benefits costing the business significant money. The fear is that what they save on the time needed to set up and run schemes themselves is replaced by paying someone else to do exactly this.
However, the reality is very different. Benefits set up through Enjoy Benefits cost the business nothing and in many cases actually save money through significant National Insurance reductions.
Whether it is mobile phone leasing, reduced price gym membership or other schemes, the benefits will not come at the expense or increased overheads.
 

3) The help attract quality staff

There are numerous studies that show that employees want to feel valued at work, they want it to be more than just somewhere they go to do a job. Employees spend a large proportion of their time in work, they want to feel that the employer values them.
This applies equally to any new recruit, any would-be employee with a strong skillset is likely to be in demand – how can your business appeal to them? Salary is clearly a key factor, but are you able to offer more than rivals, will a slightly higher salary even be enough to convince this quality recruit to join or are they looking for more?
Workplace benefits allow you to demonstrate that you have a strong ethos of caring for employees and also work to save the money. Saving thousands of pounds on car leasing, gym membership, insurance and childcare (among others) is every bit as valuable as adding that same amount to a salary. However, as an employer it costs you nothing.
 

4) Improved staff loyalty

Attracting new employees is one thing, but what about those you already have? Your employees are your greatest asset after all.
Offering a wide range of employee benefits leads to increased staff loyalty, it shows that you value employees and it also makes it a harder decision to leave.
An employee who is only paid by a business has relatively few ties, an employee who has the added benefits of childcare provision, gym membership, a cycle to work scheme and holiday and car insurance will feel far more of a link and leaving will cause greater disruption to them.
Loyalty is also created by generating a sense of community, reduced rate gym membership is an example of a benefit that encourages employees to use the same resource and so socialise outside of work.
 

5) The benefits are for products and services everyone needs

Good workplace benefits are not for niche items that few people want. Workplace benefits offer savings on things that a large percentage of employees would already be requiring.
Parents need childcare, a workplace nursery scheme delivers childcare at a reduced price. Employees need to get to work – parking schemes, car leasing and cycle to work all help save money on this basic function.
Everyone needs the occasional holiday – why not offer a benefit that reduces the cost of holiday insurance.
 

6) Benefits can lead to decreased absenteeism.

Not all benefits save money on a product or service, some are there to assist employees. Two such benefits offered by Enjoy Benefits are the Holiday Exchange Scheme and Employee Assistance Programme.
The Holiday Exchange Scheme allows employees to either buy or sell holiday – usually limited to a week either way. If your standard holiday is five weeks, an employee could decide to sell a week’s holiday, using only four weeks leave and earning an extra week’s wages. Alternatively, they could buy another week’s holiday.
This benefit enables those employees who don’t want or need so much holiday to work extra and earn more rather than taking time off just for the sake of it. Others, often parents struggling to cover the school holidays, get the time off they need.
The scheme helps businesses forward plan, the decision to buy or sell holiday is taken at the start of the year and the process of choosing whether or not to buy or sell encourages employees to really think through how much leave they need an when to take it. This scheme reduces the occurrence of employees booking off last minute leave simply to use up their allocation.
The Employee Assistance Programme is a confidential helpline that employees can access at any time with professional advice on any topic.
It might be that an employee is struggling with an addiction or depression, or going through a divorce or it might be a happier occurrence such as upcoming wedding or impending birth of a child.
There are many events that affect a person’s outlook and with it their productivity, even their ability to feel able to turn up for work. Many of these are topics that an employee might feel uncomfortable discussing with their employer and so they go unmentioned, performance drops off and attendance at work can be hit.
An Employee Assistance Programme might not make the problems disappear, but it does give the employee someone to talk to, confidential, impartial expert assistance.
As an employer it also demonstrates that you take your duty of care seriously, with support in place for all employees.
 

7) You can benefit too!

The benefits are for all employees – and that includes you! Do you drive, do you have a mobile phone, maybe you have children?
The benefits are good for the company’s bottom line, but they also help your personal finances.
 

8) Some of the savings run to thousands of pounds.

The Workplace Benefit Scheme is a superb example of just how much employees can save. This scheme is easy to set up, creating a link between your business and a local nursery. The nursery benefits through contributions made, the business benefits through NI reductions and employees get access to a quality local nursery at a reduced rate.
We have a savings calculator on site, typically a parent could expect to save £3,000 or £4,000 a year if they have one child in nursery five days a week. For some parents with two children in nursery at London prices, the savings exceed £10,000 per year.
Highlighting the many benefits of these schemes, the workplace benefit scheme also gives parents a say in how extra nursery funds are spent. The contributions made by the business (these offset by the NI reductions) are spent in a way the parents deem suitable – this might be for revamping the outside space, buying extra educational resources or other suitable purpose.
 
About Us
At Enjoy Benefits, we are experts in helping to set up a whole suite of workplace benefits, including holiday exchange schemes. Other workplace benefits can include workplace nursery schemes, cycle to work programmes, discounted gym membership, mobile phone deals, car leasing and far more besides.
All benefits can also be managed through a hub – you can find out more about the EB Hub on our dedicated site.
You could even do some reading about benefits while on holiday, if only you had the right amount of holiday…
Contact us today on 0800 088 7315 so we can discuss how to set up an exchange system for your workplace.