Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 18, 2015 FEATURES 19 BENEFITS The importance of seeing eye to eye Employers, employees don't always agree when it comes to preferred perks By Dianne Hunnam-Jones T hese days, nearly every company offers perks and other non-monetary ben- efits to employees. Businesses know incentives can improve the morale and, consequently, the retention of top performers. Offering the most desired perks can make a company more at- tractive to potential new hires as well. But many managers may be un- dervaluing the perks employees really want, according to research from Accountemps. A pair of re- lated surveys about workplace in- centives given separately to CFOs and employees who work in an office environment in Canada revealed managers and workers aren't exactly seeing eye to eye when it comes to non-monetary benefits. When asked which job-related perk they thought employees were most interested in receiv- ing, 41 per cent of the CFOs said better health-care benefits, while 26 per cent cited scheduling flex- ibility and 17 per cent said more vacation days. However, employees ranked more time off at the top of their wish list (35 per cent), with more scheduling flexibility in second place (17 per cent) and better health-care benefits in a tie for third with more training or pro- fessional development opportuni- ties (16 per cent). Why the disconnect? So, how could the two sets of survey results be so different? It's possible managers considered better health-care benefits the most sought-after perk because they're generally the most expen- sive one a company provides, so they're also of the highest value to an employee. And it's not that employees aren't hoping for better health- care benefits — the survey indi- cates these are still important to many people in the workforce. However, additional time off gives workers something almost every- one strives for these days: better work-life balance. The second-highest-ranked perk, more scheduling flexibility, also points to the idea employ- ees are looking for ways to bet- ter manage their jobs with fam- ily, friends and other personal obligations. Cost-effective solutions Despite the disconnect, there is a silver lining for managers. While the process of changing a com- pany's health-care benefits pack- age can be lengthy, expensive and challenging, providing some of the other perks preferred by em- ployees can be a fairly straight- forward and even cost-effective endeavour. Re-evaluating a firm's vaca- tion policy, for instance, is usu- ally less daunting than revisiting health-care benefits. ere are, of course, some costs associated with providing additional time off, such as the potential for lost productivity and having to pay out employees for unused vaca- tion time when they leave the company. But the advantages — reduced chance of employee burnout and staff turnover, for example — could outweigh those costs. Vacations allow workers to re- lax and recharge in a world where many people feel overwhelmed and stressed. When staff take time off, they often return to the office with a renewed sense of enthusi- asm and energy for their jobs. Similarly, the second perk on employees' wish lists, schedule flexibility, often represents a win- win for businesses and employees. Allowing remote work arrange- ments can increase productivity and decrease the amount com- panies have to spend on office space; it also boosts morale by providing workers with more control over their work schedules and helping them save money on transportation. Moreover, instituting telecom- muting and flexible scheduling options is relatively inexpensive and easy to implement compared to better health-care benefits. One other incentive that ranked as high in the employee survey as better health-care benefits: more training or professional develop- ment opportunities. is perk barely registered on the manager survey, ranking in fifth place with two per cent of the responses. Yet it's another perk that can yield benefits that outweigh the costs: Employees who have a chance to develop or refine their skills through company- subsidized training can help increa se pro ductiv ity and ASK > pg. 20

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