Creating a comprehensive benefits plans for the modern workforce is tricky. Different employees will be motivated by different things. The same employee could even be motivated by different benefits at different points in their careers. Remember this while creating a benefits package is essential to ensure you can keep top talent at your company.

For starters, obtaining top talent through recruiting should be done with ensuring your employees are compensated financially in a competitive way in the market. Whether this be with their hourly pay/salary, the organization would not want competitors “poaching” their employees with higher pay throughout their career.

Moving beyond the pay itself, there are many things that motivate employees. According to Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation and many others, it is important for organizations to motivate employees with things outside of tangible rewards. Being able to show employees how they can advance throughout the company (also typically resulting in higher pay) would help motivate some employees. Ensuring younger employees have access to a tuition reimbursement program can motivate employees to hone their skills in hopes of advancing through the company. Other employees with family may be motivated by flexible time off for children/emergencies or on site child care to put their mind at ease throughout the workday.

What an employer should be cautioned with is to not provide “empty” benefits to employees. According to Forbes Coaches Council (2018) benefits such as a relaxed work environment consisting of foosball tables or unlimited time off requests can actually harm their employees. It may make it more daunting for an employee to ask for additional time off and the foosball table doesn’t offer anything other than a short break from their job which they will soon be back to completing.

Ann, S., & Blum, S. C. (2020). Motivating senior employees in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(1), 324–346. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-08-2018-0685 (Links to an external site.)

Forbes Coaches Council. (2018, April 5). 13 employee benefits that don’t actually work (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/04/05/13-employee-benefits-that-dont-actually-work/#3164099779ea (Links to an external site.)

Futureofworking. (n.d.). Herzberg theory of motivation in the workplace (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://futureofworking.com/herzberg-theory-of-motivation-in-the-workplace/

Youssef-Morgan, C. M., & Stark. E. (2020). Strategic human resource management: Concepts, controversies, and evidence-based applications. Retrieved from https://content.uagc.edu/