Strategies for employee compensation and benefits need to be overhauled by companies in 2022. This is because attracting and retaining talent has become a major challenge, especially in the post-COVID-19 world. There is a significant shift towards the well-being of the employees, and most companies are giving high priority to employee compensation and benefits in various forms.
Multiple emerging employee compensation and benefits trends will likely gain more traction in 2022. Thus, companies need to redesign their employee wellbeing plans by taking such trends into account.
Here we will look at some of the common trends of employee compensation and benefits.
Employee Compensation and Benefits
Hybrid Work Environment
A hybrid work environment with the option to work remotely has emerged as one of the most popular employee compensation and benefits. The earlier notion that employers who work from home decreased productivity was dismantled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working has increased the productivity of the employees because a lot of time is saved due to the elimination of the need to commute to work and in-person meetings.
70% of companies are adopting a hybrid work schedule, and many have already implemented a hybrid work environment. Not all employees want to work from home, and not every position is suited for remote work. But flexibility in work schedules and a hybrid work environment also benefits such employees.
The trend of remote and hybrid work environments is likely to pick up pace in 2022.
Pay Transparency
Pay transparency has become a burning issue with more and more companies adopting it as a part of employee compensation and benefits. Pay transparency means clearly communicating the salaries for various positions. Companies are now publishing correct salary ranges in recruitment ads and allowing the employees to have full information about the salary paid to each and every employee.
Pay transparency gives a clear picture of the salary that a particular position provides to job seekers, which eliminates confusion later on. The employees don’t feel exploited or discriminated against because the salary structure of each employee is freely available. The employees are more motivated to perform better because they aim to reach a particular remuneration. Transparency in salary provides complete freedom to the employees to detect pay inequalities based on gender or other factors.
Pay transparency positions the company as an equal opportunity employer that attracts new talent and retains hardworking employees. Furthermore, clear information about the salary in the recruitment ads ensures that only those satisfied with the quoted salary apply for the job. This saves processing time wasted on candidates who expect much higher pay.
Upskilling and Reskilling
Upskilling and Reskilling have also emerged as one of the growing employee compensation and benefits trends. Upskilling means training the employees in newer skills and technology in line with the constantly changing trends in the industry.
A particular skill set that was necessary 3 years back may become obsolete in the current times. Reskilling enables employees to replace their old skill sets with modern, relevant skills.
Both upskilling and reskilling foster the employees’ professional development and enable them to improve their career growth without any hindrance. The employees’ productivity is also increased, which helps both the employees and employer.
Over 90% of the millennials in the workforce are focused on career growth and are more likely to remain in companies that provide constant training in newer skills and more opportunities to innovate. On the other hand, employers are benefited from the latest skill sets of their employees.
Sustainability
A sustainable work environment is one of the principal concerns of employees in the current times. An overwhelming number of job seekers want to work for companies more for purpose than paychecks. The mission and goals of companies are increasingly guiding the choices of job seekers, especially millennials. Thus, implementing sustainable business practices is viewed as one of the important employee compensation and benefits to attract and retain new talent.
Mental Wellbeing
After the pandemic, mental health is in focus even though there has never been any dearth of employees facing mental health issues such as anxiety, stress, depression, and more. More and more companies are now including mental health care in their employee compensation and benefits plans.
Employers are now providing professional help to the employees to manage their mental health. Mental health professionals are being appointed to help employees facing mental health problems. Both therapies and medication are used to treat the mental issues of the employees.
Caring for the mental wellbeing of the employees demonstrates to the employees that the employer is taking concrete actions to protect them against mental issues. This plays a major role in retaining employees and also increases their productivity.
Flexible Paid Time Off
Flexibility in paid time off is a fast-growing trend of employee compensation and benefits. Instead of categorizing time off, employers offer a set number of paid time off throughout the year. The employees are free to take these paid time offs for any purpose of their choice. Thus, whether the leave is for a birthday, traditional holiday, outing, or simply to relax, the employer is not concerned as long as the quota of paid time off is not exhausted.
Childcare
Working parents of infants and very young children struggle with childcare and are forced to spend a lot of money on daycare or in-house help. This is why there is a growing trend of childcare benefits being offered by employers as a part of employee compensation and benefits.
Childcare benefits can be in the form of stipends to cover the cost of hiring nannies or daycare facilities and even on-site childcare facilities.
Reduced Work Hours
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the finances of many companies all over the world. Such companies are unable to offer high wages to their employees. To compensate for lower wages, these companies have reduced their employees’ work hours. Given that working professionals highly value leisure time, this has become a popular trend.
Conclusion
The employee compensation and benefits strategies mentioned in this write-up are likely to have an upward trajectory in 2022 and in the coming years. Newer strategies would also emerge as companies look for more ways to attract and retain new talent.
However, irrespective of the time or the place, one employee benefit that will always rule the roost is medical coverage for employees. To know more about how you can implement it at your workplace and the benefits that it provides visit www.getvital.in/group-health-plan.