Employee benefits are important because they help an organization retain and protect their current workforce. While employees have always been important, as work processes begin to get more and more complicated in modern business, an experienced employee is an asset.
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Group Insurance: The Mandatory Benefit
Employee insurance in some sectors is a must, in others, it’s a given, so let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first. The best Group Insurance Plans provide simple, smart and reliable, medical group insurance, designed exclusively for helping both the Canadian SMEs and their employees find the best health and dental insurance policies. Check them out to make sure they cover specific policies such as cancer insurance or critical care insurance.
However, what about other benefits? Should you think beyond group insurance for your employees? It depends largely on the kind of business you are in, the size of the operation and the profits you enjoy, but we are about to discuss certain other interesting ideas for you to consider alongside.
Free Gym/Fitness Centre Memberships Or On-Site Gyms
If the company can afford to set up an on-site gym, it could actually turn out to be a lot cheaper, but if you do not have the space to do so yet, partner up with a local fitness place and provide free memberships to all interested employees. It promotes and encourages a fit lifestyle.
Housing Benefits
You can take a cue from Facebook and provide housing benefits to your new employees from outside the city. Do keep in mind that this can get pretty expensive, so the idea is to choose any of the following three.
- Partner with a local housing agency and provide your new employees with a discounted rent period
- Provide a prefixed amount every month for housing expenses
- Pay a percentage of your employee’s monthly rent with a prefixed upper limit on the amount
Retirement Plans
Retirement plans are always popular and people usually put money into them on their own, so a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is definitely worth considering.
Do keep in mind that there might be certain complications and costly stipulations, which often make it difficult for smaller organizations to offer an RRSP to their employees. Consult with your financial advisor and insurance provider first, understand the problems and alternatives first. Proceed only if you think it’s a good idea after that.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Employee assistance is a necessary part of the modern work culture, where separating personal and professional life is becoming increasingly difficult. The idea behind EAP is to provide financial and psychological support to employees, who are performing poorly due to personal problems related to his/her family, finances, emotions, marriage, etc.
Group medical insurance is pretty much a standard employee benefit for modern businesses really and management actually stands more to lose by not providing it to their employees. The rest of these, however, depends entirely on the field of work, management discretion and the capabilities of the company itself.