By Kirstie McDermott
Employee benefits have had an interesting few years. Pre-pandemic, in-office perks were king. At big tech and financial services companies, free coffee and snacks were expected. Often also provided were full meals across the day, gym memberships, dry cleaning services and a whole host of other nice-to-haves like regular pizza parties, retreats and early-finish Fridays.
But then came the "perksession", partly a response to the fact that most knowledge workers did their jobs from home during the Covid-19 crisis, which negated these in-office perks. The perksession was also fuelled by belt-tightening measures at big companies as they began to lay workers off from mid-2022.
Among the many businesses making cuts is Meta, where a "year of efficiency" is in operation. At Google, things look similar as the tech giant implements a "multi-year" effort to reduce costs.
Mental health matters
As a consequence, workers have begun to place more value on other types of employee benefits. More paid time off, remote working options, better 401k contributions, health insurance, share schemes, and benefits around learning and development are among some of the perks workers want now.
But ultimately, what staff want from their leaders is empathy and understanding.
Nearly 53 million Americans have a mental health illness, yet only 46% have accessed mental health services. Companies that acknowledge this are winning, offering perks such as company-wide mental health days, extra personal days for individual workers to take as they need, and on-site respite rooms, for example.
Ninety-four percent of HR professionals agree that offering mental health resources can improve the overall health of employees––and that knocks on into their engagement and enjoyment of their work.
Get better benefits
If your company isn't offering what you need to get the job done, it could be time to look for a new opportunity. If that is the case, the Employee Benefit News Job Board has thousands of open roles in companies that are actively hiring, like the three below.
Sr. Director, Talent & Culture Technology, KPMG, Dallas
KPMG is currently seeking a Senior Director, Talent and Culture Technology to join its Digital Nexus organization. Here, you'll be accountable for managing an effective team dedicated to fulfilling the organization's mission through highly successful program implementation, team engagement, and continuous improvement as well as creating a culture of transparency and communication. You will lead the development and design of a HR technology vision, strategy, and implementation path; make sure that the development of actionable strategies aligned with firm priorities. To apply, you'll need minimum ten years' of recent experience leading all technology aspects of large implementations on SuccessFactors, with hands-on experience configuring the software; experience preferred on multiple SAP modules, in a complex and mixed technology environment (i.e., public and private cloud and on-premise). A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university is required with a Master's degree preferred. See all the requirements now.
HR Business Partner I, Retail Business Services, Chicago
The HR Business Partner role acts as a strategic partner for Retail Business Services, ensuring that HR possesses deep knowledge of business objectives and that HR strategy is embedded into functional areas in support of business goals. You will provide strong, consistent HR leadership with the objective of adding value to the organization using business, operational, analytics and talent management acumen. You will collaborate with the VP of HR to support and guide the implementation of a uniform HR Business Partner model and expectations that promote a strategically focused HR Business Partner team able to provide exceptional, analytics-driven support to functional area partners, in support of business goal achievement. You will need a Bachelor's degree as well as three-to-five years experience in HR, business administration, or a related field. Apply for this position.
Voluntary Benefits Account Manager, Alliant Insurance Services, New York
Alliant Insurance Services thrives on creating employee benefits solutions built on the idea that health makes growth possible. This Voluntary Benefits Account Manager position is a chance to join a dynamic, expanding company with prospects for individual and career growth. You'll be responsible for providing customer service and overall service of assigned customers and/or policies, soliciting new business on existing accounts, and support of producer-led new business efforts. You'll foster and manage overall relationships with clients ensuring retention of mid-market book of business and high satisfaction; review client team's RFPs; analyze market proposals for verification of benefits, premiums, and competitiveness and review coverage contracts for accuracy of policy provisions, among other responsibilities. To be considered, you'll need a Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience, as well as six or more years' of related work experience. See more details here.
Future proof your career today via the Employee Benefit News Job Board
