Are employers offering the benefits employees want?

What employees want when it comes to benefits is not necessarily what employers are offering, according to a recent survey.

Two-thirds (64 per cent) of job candidates want flexible hours but only 44 per cent of employers are offering this perk. Another 56 per cent of job seekers are looking for flexibility around their work location while only 35 per cent of employers said they offered this as well, finds Express Employment Professionals in two surveys of 506 Canadian hiring decision-makers and 1,050 adults.

More work needed by employers

This disconnect is not surprising, says one senior HR leader.

“Sometimes employers, we can’t necessarily turn on a dime with some of these types of things, but I do think that employee landscape is changing really quickly, so it wouldn’t surprise me that a survey would highlight that, and as employers, we just have to do our best to try and keep our finger on the pulse of all of that,” says Janet Hughes, HR director at Crozier Consulting Engineers in Collingwood, Ont.

At Crozier, a benefits revamp was completed in 2022, says Hughes.

“We had done a survey in 2020 and heard comments about the benefit program and realized very quickly that one-size-fits-all is not going to work and that we need to be flexible in our offering so we were able to roll out a new, very flexible plan to folks as well, so depending on your lifestyle, you choose what’s going to work for you and that’s been very well received as well.”

“Our intention is to just really have our ear to the ground listening to what the concerns of our folks are and then trying in the best way we can to answer those needs,” she says.

Through a “dynamic workplace program,” the company allows for a mix of in-office, hybrid or remote work.

"That was one way we were addressing some flexibility in our programming. It’s very clear that employers are looking for flexibility and our approach here at Crozier is we aim to listen to that employee experience: listen to their stories, and try to meet their expectations in the ways that we can to address that flexibility,” says Hughes.

Stressed out employees are looking for me help from their organizations, found another survey.

The company also added a health-care spending account and offered various wellness education programs and a $250 wellness credit that can be used for anything that makes the employee happy.

“We’re really trying to help folks with their whole self, not just about what’s happening at work but what is happening outside of work that we can help with as well,” says Hughes.

When contemplating changes to benefits, look to employee resource groups for guidance.

Focusing on total rewards

For 2023, there seems to be little appetite for brand new benefits, found the survey, as 62 per cent of employers said they expected to make no changes for the coming year.

When COVID changed everything back in 2020, candidates and those already in the organization began to ask for some new benefits from employers, says Nick Chaffey, head of people at BASF Canada in Toronto.

“Coming out of the pandemic, I think the desires of employees and also future candidates through the talent acquisition process around our total compelling offer but also flexibility seemed to shift towards the forefront over the past year and a half or so. It’s definitely a common theme,”

For BASF, a “robust exercise” of compensation and benefits was conducted over the last couple of years, according to Chaffey.

“We’ve put together a new HR group here and seen some significant organizational changes [and] one of the key priorities for us, our focus areas as part of our foundation, was to really do an in-depth review of our total rewards strategy and total compelling offer or benefits package compensation package. We’ve made some fairly positive or significant changes for the employees and for the organization.”

The company looked at all aspects of the total rewards package, he says in making the switch. 

“The bulletin-board topics were the compensation salary structure that we had, the health and benefits, including dental and vision, etc.; vacation policy, discount offerings and perks was a big one, and elements like a health-care spending account, etc. so this was quite a robust exercise that we went through.”

Slightly more than half (51 per cent) of employers have made benefits changes during the past few years, according to the Express Employment survey.

Rising costs a challenge

One of the biggest challenges employers are facing is costs.

“We’re seeing a slight increase in costs. I think overall, on average globally, we’re anticipating 10 per cent, which is fairly significant and [then there is] the inflationary aspect of things, and then increase in healthcare utilization but the cost of labour increasing is also impacting that,” says Chaffey.

For HR departments looking to manage those risings costs, look for qualified help, says Hughes.

“We partnered with a broker that was able to help us understand those nuances and understand what in our competitive space, professional services firms, what they were offering, what was trending, those kinds of things. We were really lucky to partner with a firm that was really connected to the marketplace because, quite frankly, we’re engineers, and we don’t know all of the ins and outs so that was really valuable and I would recommend partnering with some people that know the game.”

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to enhancing benefits, says Chaffey.

“[It’s about] understanding those external trends, but also being very much pragmatic about it, in the sense that you can’t probably bring every new cool offering into your organization. The organizations that are larger move a bit slower but I would say: ‘Don’t let that hold you back from an entrepreneurial perspective.’ And there’s many ways to be creative and innovative in your total compelling offer that don’t even take huge, sophisticated changes: they may exist at your fingertips through your existing vendors, or through some of the existing offerings that you have.”

“So spending a lot of time and allowing yourself and your team to be creative and position that in a way that makes sense for the business is probably my takeaway,” he says.