Benefits

Employee “benefits” refer to the incentives and perks employees receive as part of their employment contract, over and above their basic salary. Benefits offerings are an important factor in attracting and retaining talent, giving organizations with generous benefits packages such as Google and Facebook at a competitive edge over others.

Commonly offered benefits include but are not limited to health insurance, paid time off, retirals, flexible working hours, childcare support, tuition reimbursement, and wellbeing subsidies. With a focus on employee experience and wellbeing taking the front seat for every organization in the past few years, several employers are evolving their offerings to make benefits more meaningful. 

For example, organizations like Walmart and Amazon are offering “tuition assistance” instead of “tuition reimbursement” to help all employees including frontline workers have better access to education and better careers without having to pay a huge amount of money upfront. Several organizations are expanding the scope of wellness benefits to support financial, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Some companies are offering “pawternity leave” which refers to time off when employees adopt a pet. Diageo India announced equal parental leave of 26 weeks for men and women, which is traditionally limited to 2 weeks for men.

A comprehensive benefits package is important to optimize the employee experience, reduce cost of turnover, and to stay ahead in the war for talent in a tight labor market.