Employee Oboarding

Five Stunning Strategies To Design a Complete Employee Benefits Program

A quick reality check– in modern times, just a few paid time off (PTO) and healthcare package fall short in front of the mounting issues in the professional and personal lives of employees.

Which firms would take care of them financially after their retirement?

Which companies provide tele-health services for emergency medical guidance on a Sunday night?

And if they decide to adopt a child into their expanding family, who will offer parental leave?

These are some of the few questions that bother them.

In such a scenario, the most effective method to meet the complicated and evolving needs of your workforce is to create a solid Employee Benefits strategy. Being absolutely fruitful in developing an encouraging work environment, an employee benefits plan is a road map for your recruitment and staff retention campaigns.

In this article, we’ve narrowed down several kinds of employee perks that you need to incorporate and the strategies to design a comprehensive employee benefits program. Read on to know more!

Three Must-Have Employee Benefits

The umbrella term “Employee Benefits” comprises a whole range of workplace benefits. Although every organization designs its compensation program in a different way, here are three key categories to be aware of:

Compulsory benefits

Depending on your company’s location, you might need to offer your staff some basic perks like:

Community Security
Workers’ compensation, includes payments for lost wages, healthcare, job rehabilitation, and other advantages
Insurance for the unemployed
Prolongation of Health Insurance (COBRA)
Disability insurance benefits (as per the Family and Medical Leave Act)
Sick leave

Health Insurance Benefits

Considering the current situation, it’s crucial to support the physical and mental wellness of your employees. This might appear as follows:

Medical coverage (such as prescription drugs, doctor visits, and hospital stays)
Dental insurance benefits
Vision insurance benefits
Accounts for Flexible Spending (Employees are given a stipend to use as they see fit.)
HSA or Health savings account (Employees are permitted to set away pre-tax funds for healthcare expenses.)
Health Reimbursement Plans (Employees receive tax-free money to cover qualified medical costs specific to their needs.)
Mental health counseling
Stress management classes
Dietary advice, and other wellness programs

Financial Benefits

According to MetLife in 2023, 48% of employees reported that their financial worries were negatively affecting their mental health.

Employers can provide financial security to their employees in the following ways:

401(k) plans (employers and employees contribute to this company-sponsored retirement plan)
Life Insurance Benefits
Equities compensation (a form of employee reward whereby employees are given stock options in the company)
Plans to buy stocks (A form of employee reward whereby employees getting equity compensation may buy and own stocks.)
Bonus schemes
Plans for incentives and acclaim (programs that link monetary awards to career milestones, accomplishments, anniversaries, and birthdays)
Financial planning

Now that you’re aware of the kinds of employee perks you need to incorporate, let’s dive right into the ways to create an employee benefits program.

Strategies to Design a Comprehensive Employee Benefits Program

The foundations of a compelling strategy will include obligations for contributions, benefit design, communication, delivery, and compliance costs. If you want to provide a benefits package that is truly competitive, you’ll also need to keep track of employee trends in the larger labor market. Follow these five strategies to succeed.

Determine the organization’s goals, objectives, and budget

Finding the goals is the most significant step in establishing an employee benefits program. In most cases, this approach does not result in the enlisted benefits; rather offers a summary of the organization’s goals for providing perks that take into account the requirements of both the employer and the employee. The formulation of the objectives will be guided by the HR of the organization because these objectives should aid in achieving the overarching strategic goals.

Establishing the budget is equally crucial because it will influence the overall employee benefits packages you can offer. Don’t forget to account for extra expenses like implementation fees, foreign currency fees, administrative expenditures, and the possibility of price hikes when summing everything up. If your employees don’t spend their entire allowance, it’s important to know if your perks are refundable.

Examine the demography of your entire workforce

Instead of considering a certain character when planning your perks, consider your workforce demographic. Design your benefits package in a way that appeals to employees of every generation. Notable points are:

By 2024, a quarter of the U.S. workforce will be over 55. This would thereby make them eligible to receive retirement, financial planning, and health insurance benefits.
Ensure family planning benefits since 68% of younger adults would be likely to switch jobs to acquire fertility support.
Employees in the “squeezed middle” who are in charge of both youth and senior citizens, may require more help in juggling work and personal life.

Analyze the advantages of competitors

You must be aware of what your competitors are offering in order to surpass them. For a better understanding of the present landscape, undertake benchmarking and research.

Explain the importance of your benefits program

The ideal situation when businesses invest in benefits is for the utilization by their employees to maximize growth, development, and well-being. Explaining the value of your perks to your employees is thus important if you see a lack of participation in your rewards program.

Maintain compliance

Alongside post-employment support, consider the legal standards you must follow as you routinely review your approach. To avoid any sort of issues, be sure you are familiar with both local and federal labor regulations.

Conclusion

Your team members ought to feel valued and heard at all times in the office. What could be more motivating for them than a complete employee benefits package that takes employee wellness into account on every level? By employing the above-described tactics, you can design a plan that caters to the various needs of your workforce. After all, by investing in the future of your employees, you are also investing in the future of your business.

Remote On-boarding For Your Employees In 2023

The onboarding process is the very first impression that the newly hired candidate has of the company. This impression plays a major role in building their trust and giving them a head-start on the rules, regulations and work culture of the company.

An onboarding checklist allows the manager to ensure that all aspects of the process are taken care of. Right from introducing all new employees to the existing staff, and setting up their workspace to communicating with them and giving them a brief about their roles and work expectations, onboarding is a multifaceted process.

In this article, we will go through the challenges of employee onboarding, applications that assist in providing a smooth onboarding experience and tips for conducting a remote onboarding process in 2023.

Challenges of Employee Onboarding

Employee onboarding is a crucial and multidimensional process, that comes with numerous challenges. Some of the main challenges faced by newly hired employees are:

A Feeling of Seclusion

Since the current team has members that already know each other, it might come up as a challenge for the newly hired employee to gel with the team. This issue might not appear significant but it has a major impact on the productivity and working of the new employee.

Getting delayed responses

On one hand, where communication is the key to a healthy and successful workspace, at times it becomes difficult for the manager to respond to every employee. While the existing employees are accustomed to handling matters in case of delayed response, for newly hired employees it becomes a challenge and creates space for confusion and chaos.

Getting familiar with new tools

For an industry, every company might be working on similar products but their work setup and work technology might vary from one another. There are numerous instances where it becomes difficult for the newly hired employee to get a hang of the tools and technology used in the office.

Apps for implementing a smooth onboarding experience

With the current pandemic situation, companies have switched to remote onboarding. On one hand, where this seems complex, on the other hand, there is a plethora of applications and software that are there to assist employees and managers in having a better onboarding experience.

Here are some tools and applications that will assist you in the remote On-boarding process.

Zoom: One of the most used platforms in this pandemic, Zoom allows the team to conduct video conferences.

Slack: It is a professional space where the employer can create channels and manage coordination with the team.

Greetbot: GreetBot assists in guiding and welcoming new employees to your Slack workspace.

Juntrax: It is an all-in-one cloud-based PSA & HR software for SMEs globally

Checklist for Smooth Remote Onboarding

Here are some of the best practices that you must include in your onboarding checklist to ensure a smooth onboarding process-

Don’t wait for the first day

Instead of waiting for the first day to give a head start to your newly hired employee, get them started beforehand. Address the distinction between onboarding and orientation. You can make use of platforms like Slack and Trello to switch to soft copy documentation that can be referred to in future. This will not only save time on the first day of their work but will also give them a precursor to the responsibilities and tasks they are about to encounter.

Give early access to tools and software

Adapting to new technology and tools is among the most common challenges that are faced by newly hired employees. Instead of delaying access, give your employees early access along with credentials and a briefing about the technology used in the office. This will give them time to engage with the system and raise their queries, confusion and concerns.

Make announcements for new additions to the team

When a new employee joins the company, it is important to ensure that they gel in with the existing team. In order to familiarize both the new hire and the existing employees, you can send our emails across the company or drop a message on your team groups. You can even make the introduction fun and engaging by conducting ice-breaking sessions where employees ask fun questions to each other and gain a better understanding of their colleagues.

Send over customized gifts

Remote onboarding has created a void in physical human interaction. One can recollect days when the newly hired employee was introduced in person and the joy you felt in building a connection. Despite the barrier created by Covid-19, you can convey your wishes through customized welcome packages like a coffee mug o a T-shirt or a welcome letter from the CEO or the manager. This gives the employee a sense of affection and belonging to the team and the company. It also builds a healthy and positive image of the company.

Regularly check in with new hires

As discussed earlier, communication is the key to a healthy and successful workspace. It is important to regularly check in with your new hires and assure them that no question is insignificant. Allow them to reflect on their work, monitor their progress, give constructive feedback, and encourage them to communicate their questions and challenges to their manager.

CONCLUSION

With the pandemic, the corporate industry learned a lot and found new ways to sustain their businesses. Remote onboarding is one of the many modern practices that will stay on trend even after everything is back to normal.

How project tracking motivates employees to be more productive?

Project Tracking aims to track a team’s work on a project. Simple enough for anyone to understand, but with plenty of options for customizing your workflow. No matter how skilled or inexperienced you are, Project Tracking will help you focus on other essential tasks that require attention.

It’s easy to see where your team or company spends its time and resources. A clear view of the work is presented, and it is more accessible for managers to see how their employees utilize their time and on what project. That allows them to provide additional training and supplies to make their employees more efficient. Plus, businesses can improve processes, saving the company money in the long term.

This blog is about how project tracking incentivizes employees for increased productivity. Let us learn why you should use project tracking software to increase productivity in your business now.

Benefits of project tracking

For employees, Project Tracking helps them improve their skills. It gives them a way to collect and focus on what they’ve learned so far and build on it, practicing until they master the work. It motivates employees to explore new fields and work out of the box.

Companies with Project Tracking can see where their money is going and set budgets for various projects. The software makes it easy for managers to look over employee work, giving them insights into the job details to evaluate the employee’s performance better. Some other benefits that project tracking can offer include the following:

Increased productivity

Staying focused on projects has become a problem. Businesses can fix it with proper project tracking software. Agencies can see where they spend their time and performance. They’ll be able to prioritize what needs to get completed and stay committed to completing assignments.

Communication is improved

With such software, businesses would have a way to inform other team members of what work is being done. Also, members can contact each other whenever they want and raise questions and concerns. It allows them to ask questions at any time, leading to improved communication and a better overall working environment.

Cost savings

For small businesses, balancing finances is always a concern. They might have more work than they can handle, but they must be efficient. Project tracking software allows them to prioritize critical projects instead of doing everything simultaneously.

Improved communication

Making it a priority to communicate with your team can help you avoid misunderstandings and other problems that could potentially arise. Allowing flexibility with the information you get from your software enables you to make decisions when working on projects, especially when incorporating other ideas from others or outside sources.

How project tracking motivates employees to be more productive?

Project tracking is a status overview of your projects. This allows you to view what has been completed, what hasn’t, and how things need to be done. You’ll be able to see where each employee is in their work and what they have done up to this point. That way, if there are any issues or delays, you’ll know who is responsible for them and why the problem occurred. For example, if a deadline isn’t being met, you’ll be able to see why and get it fixed before it’s too late.

This software allows for complete transparency into your team’s efforts which can help motivate them because of the recognition they might get from their manager or boss. Even if you’re looking for other areas to boost your employees, tracking projects will help keep them motivated. Employees tend to be more motivated by their team’s success than their performance. By helping the employees with their tasks, there is no longer a need for them to feel stressed by doing suboptimal work.

It’s time to get the best project-tracking software for your company. Various software, including Zoho, Juntrax, Trello, Monday.com, and Asana, help in project tracking. Juntrax provides an integrated platform where an organization can measure project and employee efficiency. To manage projects, it provides you with a unique feature, i.e., Automated timesheets, which help employers understand the tasks performed by employees. If you wish to bring in efficient project tracking, reach us at Juntrax.