Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the UK is slowly edging toward full employment.
With the latest figures showing an unemployment rate at 3.9% (the lowest in 44 years), the current market is demanding that employers adapt their employee offering in order to stand out and attract the top talent.
It appears HR professionals agree, with 97% of HR leaders noting that employee expectations of their workplace experience are changing.
But with Generation Z now entering a workforce already dominated by Millennials, what are potential employees looking for within the workplace?
What Do Employees Want?
For older generations of the workforce, status and salary are the key drivers of employee motivation and job satisfaction. But these are increasingly becoming less important, particularly for younger generations entering the workforce for the first time.
Instead of salary increases, Millennials in particular are looking for other perks and conditions that help them enjoy their work. For example, 96% of millennials say that great healthcare benefits are important in choosing a job.
Current generations are now more inclined to evaluate your workplace wellness programme and your employee sickness policy as opposed to how much money is on offer for the position. So what are the other workplace perks that may have a beneficial effect on both your existing workforce and younger employees going through the onboarding process?
What Perks Can Businesses Offer to Support Employees?
There are many different aspects to modern employee benefits packages, and with 94% of Millennials and 92% of Generation X indicating that non-traditional benefits make an employer more attractive, you may have to think outside the box.
Unlimited Leave
An attractive holiday policy can be seen as crucial in the minds of employees who value a healthy work/life balance. Once an unfathomable idea, unlimited leave as a holiday policy is now gaining traction and is commonplace amongst startups and other forward-thinking companies.
We’ve already stressed how important taking a break from work is in relation to overall health and it seems the data backs this up. One company has already reported a 34% reduction in the amount of sick days taken since implementing the policy.
However, it must be noted that you will have to add in your own caveats to make sure that nobody abuses the system, negatively impacting business performance.
Improving the In-House Food Offering
Traditionally, employers who provide food for employees do so through an in-house canteen. However, the standard of the food has often been an afterthought.
On average, staff only use them 2 days a week, making the expense of running a canteen in the first place disadvantageous.
What’s more, the poor food choices on offer can have an effect on workplace productivity, with a recent study showing that unhealthy choices eaten at lunch made employees 66% more likely to report losses in productivity after consumption.
By either improving the in-house food nutrition, or bringing in outside caterers, you can begin to improve your employee diets and benefit from the increased staff health, satisfaction and productivity.
Mental Health Support
One in three employees will suffer from a work-related mental health disorder at some point during their career.
Stress management issues, burnout, anxiety, and depression are all now commonplace amongst modern workforces, with many companies not offering adequate support, such as an employee assisted programme. This is despite the fact that presenteeism derived from mental health issues costs businesses twice as much as sickness absence.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to implement strong mental health support structures.
This will boost morale amongst staff who know that whilst they might not be suffering with anything at this moment in time, they are safe in the knowledge that should any sickness symptoms arise, they have somewhere to go to get help.
Adapt to Shifting Employee Expectations or Get Left Behind
With current market conditions indicating that employers have to go above and beyond in order to both retain and attract talented employees, it’s time you implemented forward-thinking employee benefits.
So-called “outside the box” benefits such as an improved food offering, flexible working, unlimited holiday, mental health support and transparent pay could make all the difference to staff morale, engagement and productivity.
Here at DocHQ we can help deliver health and wellness-based packages tailored to your specific requirements including annual health assessments and mental health support. If you would like to stand out from the crowd with your employee benefits offering, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team today.
DocHQ Ltd is a Health Tech company improving choices. We help you connect efficiently to health support and advice whether you are at home, work or travelling. See our website for our services or call us on 0330 088 0645.
