After you've provided the basic employee benefits that employees have come to expect from employers, consider the impact of offering additional benefits to recruit and retain a superior workforce. In addition to salary, insurance and a retirement plan, employees benefit from tuition assistance, work-life family events, free food and more.
A signing bonus is a lump sum of money that an employer provides a prospective employee. The purpose of the signing bonus is to entice the applicant to sign-on with the employer’s organization. The signing bonus is most often used with executive level positions or to recruit employees with special, hard-to-find skills. The signing bonus is also used, on occasion, to recruit high potential students out of college.
A job share occurs when two employees cooperatively share the same job. There are advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and opportunities when employees job share. As an employer, a job share can benefit both the employee and you. Find out how.
Advantages for employers and employees exist when the employer allows employees to work flexible schedules. Whether the flexible work schedules involve compressing work days, flexible daily hours, or telecommuting, challenges exist for the employer and the employee. Find out more about flexible work schedules.
Health care premiums continue to increase and employers are shifting part of insurance costs to employees. Or, employers are not offering comprehensive health care benefits because of their cost. To help offset the sting associated with these higher costs to both employers and employees, some employers are implementing Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). Learn more about the benefits.
Is your benefits package giving you the payback you deserve in increased employee appreciation and satisfaction? Chances are, it's not. Employees only understand and appreciate part of the employer's cost of the benefits they receive. Learn more!
Profit sharing is an example of a variable pay plan. Profit sharing is taking a percentage of a company’s annual profits and then dividing the pool of money generated across all employees using a formula for distribution. Profit sharing payments are only made if the company has been profitable for the time period specified. Find out more about profit sharing.
Tuition assistance is an employer-provided employee benefit that is a win-win for your workplace. In a tuition assistance program, an employer pays all or part of an employee's cost to attend college or university classes.
Telecommuting or working from home is a flexible work arrangement that enables an employee, a consultant, or a contractor, to work distantly from the employer's location all or part of the time. Learn more about telecommuting.
The best benefit plans recognize that customization for the needs of your workforce may result in unusual benefits. In an interesting twist on benefits plans, a Japanese marketing company offers "heartache" leave to its six female employees.
Traditions are important in companies just as they are in families. And, nothing is more important than the annual traditions work places establish around the celebration of seasonal holidays. A holiday celebration builds positive morale which results in increased employee motivation. Motivation contributes to team building and productivity. Productive teams are responsible for your success.
Issuing restricted stock is a better motivating tool than granting stock options for two reasons. First, many employees don't understand stock options. They don't know that they have to take action to realize any gain. It is far easier for them to understand a vesting period on restricted stock.
Everything you need to know about stock options is explained on the About.com management site.
There are employee benefit solutions that will make your staff happy without breaking the bank. Administering an employee benefit plan is a complex undertaking. Your employee benefits plan can cover regular benefits such as health care, vacation time, sick pay, and pension plans. How common are these more unusual employee benefits?
A relatively new health plan option, introduced in 2004, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) work in IRA-like fashion to cover out-of-pocket medical costs with tax-sheltered money. An HSA is an investment account funded by each individual, with optional contributions from your business. Learn more about HSAs.
Legal service plans are one of the fastest growing offerings when employers upgrade their employee benefits. This article details types of plans and provides useful information about how to make this option available in your workplace.
