Benefits Corner

Employee Benefits: The Only Guide You Need - Part Three

Submitted by Kylie Freyaldenhoven, Sales Operations Analyst, Educational Benefits, Inc.

Written by Kellie Wong

Employee Assistance Programs

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a safety net for employees who must cope with stressful personal or work issues that create stress or anxiety. The work-based intervention program helps employees resolve stressinducing problems. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that 72 percent of people who have daily stress say it interferes with their lives at least moderately, and 40 percent experience persistent stress in their daily lives.

People don’t leave their personal selves at the door when they show up for work. At the same time, work-related stress can cause problems in the personal lives of employees. The EAP offers employees resources that help them navigate life issues that may impact their ability to remain productive, like counselors specializing in mental health, substance abuse, financial difficulties, managing work changes, and family conflicts.

Career Development Opportunities

Deloitte does an annual millennial survey, and the last one found that millennials and Gen Z are concerned about their lack of readiness for industry 4.0. Only 36 percent of millennials and 29 percent of Gen X believe their employers do enough to help them develop the skills and knowledge to thrive in industry 4.0, build interpersonal skills, and develop confidence and ethical behaviors.

The global consulting firm Mercer surveyed large employers in 2018 to investigate voluntary turnover. Millennials accounted for half of the separations at 51 percent, and Gen X accounted for 25 percent. The Mercer study found the two top reasons people left was for promotion opportunities and career changes. Another way to say it is that the top reasons talent leave an organization is because they feel stale in their jobs, have no upward mobility, or are not gaining new skills or developing their strengths.

Transparency and Feedback

Organizations need to encourage transparency in the workplace and implementing an employee feedback system is a key strategy. Employees who believe their voice is heard in the workplace are 4.6 time more likely to feel empowered and to perform their best work. A formal feedback process gives everyone an equal voice and an equal opportunity to express that voice, reducing the biases found in one-on-one annual performance reviews.

Ongoing feedback builds trust between employees and between employees and their managers. Gathering feedback in real-time goes beyond just an annual performance review and holds value for any organization looking to improve. The most effective feedback tools enable managers to continually listen to employees, take action, and impact engagement right away.

To meet the needs of today’s employees, the feedback process should be fluid and personal. Fortunately, technology makes this easy through tools like chatbots, pulse surveys, and check-ins. State-of-the-art programs, like Achievers Listen, are designed to always be on and open, capturing what’s important to employees.

Employee benefits are engagement tools

So after all this, what are employee benefits? There is no doubt at all that benefits have taken on new importance as employee engagement tools. The needs and expectations of the modern workforce have changed considerably with the appearance of millennials, and now Gen Z, in the workforce.

Employees want to be recognized, rewarded, appreciated, continuously in-touch with managers and peers, and engaged.