How Unique Employee Benefits Can Help Retention and Recruitment

Employee benefits is a blanket term that includes any program that a company offers to its employees beyond compensation. This often can include health insurance, retirement savings plans, paid time off (PTO), education benefits, and more.

Employee benefits vary by company and location, but generally, they fall into the following 5 types of employee benefits. Keep in mind that some of them overlap with what might be considered the top 10 employee benefits:

Health and wellness benefits. These can include health insurance and cover dental and vision. They also often include wellness programs such as gym memberships or resources for mental health support. Health and wellness benefits can be among the most sought-after, as they help employees manage healthcare costs for themselves and their families.

Retirement benefits. Plans such as 401(k)s allow employees to save for their future. Employers may also contribute matching funds to these plans to encourage and maximize long-term savings.

PTO. PTO can cover vacations, sick leave, personal days, and holidays. It creates space for employees to take time away from work to rest, recover, or handle personal obligations without the need to lose income.

Life and disability insurance. Life insurance benefits are designed to provide support for an employee’s family in case of death. Short- and long-term disability insurance offers income replacement if an employee is unable to work due to an illness or injury.

Flexibility-themed benefits. This type of benefit includes remote work options, flexible hours, parental leave, and assistance for childcare. They can help employees balance personal and professional responsibilities and thus can improve job satisfaction and reduce burnout.

Benefits that fall outside of the traditional benefits that many organizations offer can be considered unique but are gaining more traction among organizations looking for better ways to recruit and retain employees.

For some companies, offering education benefits and the career development opportunities that can follow can be an impactful way to support their employees and encourage retention. For example, according to a recent survey by McKinsey and Company, 41% of over 13,000 respondents cited lack of career development/advancement as the most common reason for quitting their previous jobs*.
_{*Source: McKinsey Quarterly: “The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools?"}

Beyond career development opportunities, other unique employee benefits examples include flexible work options, stipends for travel, and other benefits. When considering what package of benefits to offer, it’s important for organizations to always keep current and future employees and those employees’ interests in mind.

What unique benefits could an organization offer to their employees?

Companies with unique employee benefits may be able to position themselves as an employer of choice. This is because modern employees often seek companies that will offer support both while they’re working and during their time away from work.

Some unique benefits include stipends for home office supplies, access to workout facilities, access to onsite childcare, mentorship programs, and learning and development opportunities. The latter represents a potentially impactful opportunity for employers, as a recent survey 2024 Consumer Survey by Strategic Education, Inc. found that nearly 74% of full-time employees in the U.S. who say their employers do not provide upskilling opportunities, also say they would pursue them if provided.  

Other unique benefits include unlimited or flexible time off, pet-friendly office spaces, lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs), and financial wellness classes. As unique benefits, all of these can be offered to employees to help them achieve a satisfying work-life balance while boosting morale and motivation. Employers who want to create a unique and impactful benefits package should be strategic in choosing the ones that will best sync with their employees’ needs, interests, and goals.

Among all the available options, employers should consider what benefits are most valued by employees. Often, employees place a high value on health insurance, as this kind of insurance is typically acquired through one’s job.

Other benefits, such as education benefits, can be valuable because they offer employees the chance to grow their skills and capabilities—and often, their career potential. Additionally, this can help the company better reach its business goals and help in recruitment and retention efforts. For example, according to LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report, 8 in 10 people say learning adds purpose to their work.  

Meanwhile, benefits such as access to retirement savings plans can help employees feel more financially secure while PTO can help them take time off to focus on their health, well-being, and essential vacation time. Life insurance can add to an employee’s sense of their family’s financial security while flexible remote work options can help employees manage their own time and productivity.

When seeking a job, workers often gravitate toward jobs with good benefits and pay. This is true not just for full-time employees but also those working part-time; many workers search for companies with best benefits for part-time employees. Accordingly, companies that offer a comprehensive benefits package for both types of workers may be able to attract and retain motivated, talented candidates, regardless of the industry the company operates in.

There are many options to offer employees, and the three most valued by job seekers will depend on the needs and preferences of the seekers themselves. But for many workers, health insurance, PTO, and retirement savings plans can be highly valued. Other highly-valued benefits include education benefits, life insurance, onsite services like fitness centers and childcare, and unlimited flexible paid time off.

By design, benefits can help make employees happy and maintain a satisfying work-life balance.

Unique employee benefits can be part of this effort: when a company offers them to their people, it can help create a sense of support and connection to their employer.

For example, in terms of education benefits, according to LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report, 7 in 10 people say learning improves their sense of connection to their organization.  

In general, benefits can take care of other aspects of an employee's life outside of work. As an example, some companies offer onsite childcare options, which can provide a convenient way for employees to line up care for their dependents. Some companies offer access to exercise facilities like gyms or spas, which can be a way for employees to focus on their physical fitness and help them alleviate stress. For companies that provide remote working options, their employees can benefit from added flexibility as they manage their own time and work environment.

The key is for companies to take an active role in determining which benefits will make their employees the most happy. Company-wide surveys, conversations between managers and their teams, and company-held town halls can all assist with this effort.

How do you encourage employees to use benefits?

It’s one thing to offer a comprehensive benefits package to employees. It’s another to encourage employees to use them. This can be done through various company-wide efforts.

It’s worth noting that a company should raise awareness of what’s available. This can be done during new hire orientation meetings and periodically throughout the year. Messaging can be done through conversations between managers and their team, via email, through in-person or virtual benefits fairs, or through a company’s intranet bulletin boards.

Also, once employees understand what their options are, it’s important to continually check in and urge them to take advantage of these benefits. For example, managers can include these conversations during annual or bi-annual reviews. It might be as simple as asking the questions like, “Where do you see yourself in a few years? What role might you want to take on, and what kind of support can we offer to help?” These conversations can include a discussion of benefits such as learning and development opportunities, as those can be essential in helping workers grow their capacity for new roles and new responsibilities.

It can also be helpful to partner with another organization to help handle communicating benefit options. For example, Workforce Edge is more than just a benefits management platform for users and employers. It also has an in-house marketing team that can partner with you to create a comprehensive communications strategy for your education benefits program.

This is an important question to consider, as offering benefits can be an effective way for a company to take care of their team. Because benefits are designed to support employees in various ways, the companies that offer the most comprehensive packages are often the ones that are positioned to take the best care of their people.

This is one reason why health insurance, PTO, and retirement savings plans remain so popular. Each of these is uniquely designed to support the physical, mental, and financial health of employees. The same is true for life insurance policies in that they can help workers have a better sense of the financial security of their loved ones. Education benefits, and learning and development opportunities in general, can help take care of employees by giving them the ability to grow their skills, adapt to new technologies, and thrive in their current roles.

Regardless of which companies take best care of their employees, all companies have the ability to support their teams. In doing so, they can encourage productivity, recruit top talent, and even help mitigate turnover by retaining a motivated workforce. By offering benefits, companies can make things better for their teams while contributing to their own overall success.

Providing benefits to your team can demonstrate that your company values their well-being both on and off the clock. Since there is a lot to consider when offering employee benefits (including overall spend, how best to address your team’s needs, how to remain competitive compared to other companies, and more), partnering with an education provider like Workforce Edge can simplify the process of creating, expanding, and implementing your education benefits program.

Workforce Edge specialists can assist with managing your education benefits program, optimizing your budget, and effectively communicating the available options to your team. Meanwhile, for employees, Workforce Edge offers a user-friendly platform that connects them to the programs and schools that best meet their interests. Workforce Edge also allows users to monitor any available tuition assistance funds or discounts as well as file any relevant paperwork and forms.

If you’d like to learn more about all that Workforce Edge offers, schedule a consultation to connect with our team and get started.