Looking to attract the best talent to your company? Want to increase the loyalty of your employees and retain them? Ready to experience greater performance of employees and your company as a whole?

Creating an employee benefits programme that your team actually engages with is one of the most impactful ways to achieve these goals and more.

We’re going to guide you through exactly how you can create an effective and engaging employee benefits programme so that you can not only support your employees in the most powerful way, but so your company can benefit from having healthier and happier employees.

What Is An Employee Benefits Programme?

An employee benefits programme is a set of extra benefits that you provide your employees, aside from the mandatory benefits such as paid holiday, parental leave, etc.

Employee benefits programmes, provided to your team members as an employee benefits package, are a powerful way to not only support your team’s health and happiness within their job, but outside of work too.

Additionally, employee benefit programmes can be used to reward employees, provide them with extra monetary contributions, and support their learning and development. Most employees now expect out-of-the-box benefits and see them as an essential part of the company’s culture.

If you already have an employee benefits programme set up but your employees aren’t engaging with it, there may be a few things missing that you simply need to tweak.

To find out more about how you can improve your employee benefits programme, take a look at our article, “6 Reasons Your Employees Aren't Engaged With Your Wellbeing Programme (and How To Fix It)”.

What Should You Offer In An Employee Benefits Package?

It’s completely up to you which benefits you provide and the list of employee benefits that companies offer is expansive - it’s really impossible to define exactly what you should offer, since each company culture is unique.

However, one of the most impactful things you can show as a company, especially when it comes to attracting top talent, is that you provide a long list of benefits in your job descriptions!

For example, here’s how companies that offer Juno, EduME, Flatfair, and Grant Tree, showcase that they are supporting their employees with benefits on their job descriptions.

eduME:

Flatfair:

Grant-Tree:

‍How Employee Benefits Are Changing: A Focus On Wellbeing

Since findings in our Workplace Culture Study found that 58% of respondents said that improved access to benefits and wellness tools were the factors behind they would choose a role at an alternative company, prioritising wellbeing benefits is especially impactful.

However, more traditional core benefits are still highly prioritised by both employers and employees and can provide great benefits for individuals and companies overall.

So, what’s the difference between traditional core benefits and flexible wellbeing benefits and how can you provide your employees with the most powerful benefits package possible by combining both?

Traditional Core Benefits

Traditional benefits, also known as core benefits, are the more classic offerings that people associate with workplace benefits. These types of benefits are normally centred around medical health, insurance, and pensions.

For example, these could be pension schemes, medical insurance, or dental care.

With Juno, you can connect your core benefits through the platform, making the complete benefits you package you offer hassle-free, whilst also taking advantage of providing your team with healthcare insurance with our partner, SafetyWing.

‍Flexible Wellbeing Benefits

Health and wellbeing benefits are amongst the most popular benefits currently being looked for by prospective employees, as research and findings from our own studies have shown.

Therefore, they need to be prioritised. Providing your employees with flexible wellbeing benefits actively shows them that you understand that wellbeing is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Implementing a flexible wellbeing benefits scheme gives your employees autonomy to support their own wellbeing in a way that suits them better.

For example, you might currently put some of your wellbeing budget towards a discounted gym membership, but what happens when 20% of your employees don’t like going to the gym?

In this scenario, you’re looking at losing both money and your employee engagement. By distributing that budget directly towards your employees via a flexible benefits platform, that 20% of your employees are now spending that budget on a benefit that is actually relevant to them.

Connecting Core Benefits and Flexible Wellbeing Benefits

If you’re providing your team with both core benefits and flexible wellbeing benefits, you are covering all bases, committing to showing your team you care, and actively supporting every aspect of your team’s health and wellbeing.

So, the best possible employee benefits programme you can offer your employees is one that merges both these types of benefits: why not do it all under one roof, with Juno?

How To Create An Employee Benefits Programme In 6 Steps

Now you’re aware of the three main areas in which you should be prioritising when it comes to the benefits you are providing to your employees, it’s time to take a look at exactly how you can create an employee benefits programme in 6 steps.

Whilst it’s always a good idea to implement employee benefits from day one, as Nico Blier-Silvestri discussed with us in a recent webinar as this is “how you will win the war for talent”, it’s never too late to influence your company ethos and provide your team with what they deserve and need.

1. Redefine What You Think Benefits Mean

Employee benefits are great, but the right ones are amazing! Many companies make the mistake of thinking traditional benefits like gym discounts and free coffee at the office are enough to check the benefits box. But in reality, you might be wasting your benefits budget on benefits that aren’t actually relevant to your employees and won’t be engaged with.

That’s why redefining the meaning of benefits it’s so important. Employees are looking to join and stay in companies that are thinking beyond the ping-pong tables. You don’t have to break your brain figuring out what it is they want, you can always ask them. More on this in the next step.

With Juno, your employees can completely personalise their benefits and enjoy autonomy in taking exactly what they need to support themselves. As well as the expansive Juno Marketplace, with the Juno Virtual Card and Reimbursement feature (of which a combined 85% of users love), your employees can support their more unique and individualised wellbeing habits.

2. Get Feedback From Your Employees

If you want to provide your employees with benefits that give them exactly what they want, the best thing you can do is communicate with them and ask them what they need.

So, speak with your team, tell them about the ideas that you have for their employee benefits programme, and ask them what they would like to see from it and which benefits they would appreciate.

With Juno, you can sign up for free and show your team around the platform, whilst also sharing a recorded demo with them so they can clearly learn more about how they can benefit from being part of the Junoverse.

Use our employee feedback template to get your team's feedback on your benefits programme.

3. Choose An All-In-One Benefits Platform

There’s nothing worse than endless providers and hours of admin. So, make sure you’re choosing an all-in-one employee benefits platform that makes it simple and quick to provide benefits to your team.

With Juno, you can provide your employees with all the benefits they need (including core benefits) in one place. With hassle-free admin, a dedicated Juno Wellbeing Expert to help you, and an easy-to-use platform, (with HRIS integrations coming soon), you can make sure your team’s benefits are covered, in the most simple way.

4. Get Your Proposal and Budget Signed off By Key Stakeholders

We've spoken with hundreds of HR managers and Heads of People who struggle to support their teams in the way that they want to since they can’t get their wellbeing proposals and budgets approved.

Therefore, you need to make a plan to advocate for a wellbeing budget and get your programme signed off by your key stakeholders.

We have provided a 7-step guide that you can use to get your wellbeing budget approved and we’ve even given you all of the resources you need to show your manager or finance team just how impactful employee benefits are.

5. Implement Your Programme and Communicate The Details To Your Employees

Once your wellbeing proposal and budget are approved, you can start implementing your employee benefits programme. To ensure that your team is actually going to engage with the benefits you are offering it’s important to clearly communicate what you are providing them with.

Giving every employee detailed information on how they can use their benefits, both at the point of launching your employee benefits programme and regularly after, can make them more likely to engage with them.

Setting monthly reminders to encourage your team to use their benefits is a great idea and with Juno, your team gets their Points every month on “Junoday” and are therefore reminded to explore the platform and use their Points to support their wellbeing in a way that suits them. Additionally, we also share inspiration on how to use Juno Points in weekly newsletters to each Juno Member.

6. Monitor and Assess The Employee Benefits Programme

After implementing your employee benefits programme it’s important to track the data that’s coming from it to ensure not only that your team is engaged with what you are offering, but that it’s genuinely making a difference to their wellbeing.

Juno is a highly engaging platform that will keep your employee’s attention and increase the uptake of benefits they use.

However, if you do want to monitor and assess your employee benefits programme, with Juno’s Team Health Score, you can access an anonymised glance at how your team are doing and of course, our team are always ready to answer any questions you may have or alter things to fit around any changes in your company: we’re truly flexible!

Onboarding Your Team With Juno Has Never Been Easier

Are you ready to provide your team with an employee benefits programme that will support their wellbeing in the most flexible and impactful way?

Speak to one of our Employee Wellbeing Experts today and get ready to both attract and retain the right talent.