Attracting and Retaining Top Talent: The Power of Incentives - Essay Sample

Introduction

In an increasingly demanding and diverse labor market, attracting and retaining the best talent is one of the main challenges facing human resources departments. The different generations of workers who live in companies, with different aspirations and needs, demand to design an offer that is capable of motivating all of them to offer the best of themselves in the professional environment, while helping them to improve their quality of life in general, and this is where incentives play a decisive role. Developing an attractive value proposition for employees is the first step in a talent attraction strategy. Benefits offered by companies have the ability to retain and attract good talent, as well as generate other positive aspects for the company, such as increased productivity, motivation, higher satisfaction levels, promote teamwork and efficiency, and reduced claims among others.

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Variables to Be Considered When Providing Employee Benefits Programs

Before designing an employee benefits programs, there are several factors that a company should take into account to ensure that the program is successful. These factors are discussed below:

The Company Should Listen to Employees First

Companies do a good job listening to customers, but they do not always listen to their employees. The HR (human resource) manager should take the initiative to conduct research, focus groups and informal meetings to understand which initiatives make sense to develop (Cadman & Vincent, 2015). The management must build something in line with their employee's profile and wills. For example, Unilever, with a relatively young and modern workforce, offers access to over 1,000 gyms, and pilates studios for its employee. Natura Cosmetics, with more than 70% of women, offers excellent daycare for moms (Mulvaney, 2014).

The Benefit Must Be Relevant to Employees

The HR, before promoting a new benefit, should always research the topic to ensure that what it is offering is unique, special, and relevant to all employees (Vidal-Salazar, Cordon-Pozo, & de la Torre-Ruiz, 2016). The problem with most company programs is that often the employee would achieve the same condition (or even a better condition) by dealing directly and individually with the establishment. Each time the employee finds a better condition, the program offered by HR will fail.

The Program Must Be Inclusive

Benefit needs to be "inclusive", reaching as many employees as possible. At times, companies implement programs that only make sense for some employees (e.g. the youngest, those who travel) or whose membership is only allowed at certain hierarchical levels (e.g. for managers and directors) (Osibanjo, Adeniji, Falola, & Heirsmac, 2014). It can be difficult to offer everyone the same benefit because the cost can be prohibitive. Still, everyone deserves to have access to a special condition that would not be possible to have individually.

Benefits Need to Be Implemented Across the Enterprise as a Whole

It is natural for companies to have branches and different offices. This structure turns out to be a complicating factor for a good benefits program. Naturally, the HR will work with need to be present and offer services of similar quality in the same cities where the employees are. For large companies in more than 40 cities, for example, this criterion may make many programs unfeasible (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2017). Therefore, HR needs to have partners with similar capillarity and sufficient scale to provide the same quality service. A program implemented only in one place (for example, at headquarters), without the HR manager having the vision and ability to take it to other offices, can sharpen regional differences and bring more negative than positive results.

Benefits Should Not Burden the HR Operationally or Create Unnecessary Bureaucracy

One of the functions of the HR manager is to plan and manage benefit programs, being effective and efficient in accomplishing the points mentioned above, and not spending much of their time and finances performing operational activities to make the implemented benefits work (Shields, Brown, Kaine, Dolle-Samuel, North-Samardzic, McLean, & Plimmer, 2015). For example, if a company provides access to gyms, the benefit should be offered through employee reimbursement or via company payment directly to the gyms rather than the HR checking and making payments for each document provided by the employee or registering and managing partner academies near where each employee wants to exercise.

Income Protection Programs and Pay for Time Not Worked Programs

Pay for Time not Worked Programs deal with payment of workers when they are not at the job. Employers provide payment for time not worked since they are aware that employees need to leave the position for a certain time for different purposes. This category includes sick leave, paid vacations, payment for holidays, time to vote, and time for mourning (Human Resource Management, 2018). Common benefits in this area include recess periods, lunch breaks, coffee breaks, toilet time and travel time. Payment for time not worked provides the employees with the chance to rest and relax, rejuvenate, and consequently, increase their productivity and efficiency. In most cases, payment for time not worked increases with the seniority of the employee (Find Law, 2019). Vacation time may also vary according to the hierarchy occupied by the organization. Sick leave is also a form of payment for time not worked. Many companies assign each employee several sick leave days per year, which they use when they get sick. Employees who are too sick to attend work continue to receive their salary up to the maximum number of cumulative days. As with vacation pay, the number of sick days often depends on seniority.

There is not much time to deal with what will happen to the domestic economy in the face of job loss, an accident or illness. Income protection programs help protect financial security in the event that an unexpected event of this nature occurs (Liberty, 2018). In cases where the employee is absent from work due to disability or illness for a long period of time with no apparent possibility of a return to work or where he/she is excessively absent, the employer must still pay the employee. The employer is bound by a duty to accommodate without undue hardship if he/she wishes to justify his/her decision to dismiss an employee who is disabled, ill or dysfunctional (Liberty, 2018). The recognition of the disability of the employee by the Social Security allows him/her to receive a disability pension to compensate for the loss of salary caused by the state of health.

Income protection programs and pay for time not worked have similarities and differences. Regarding similarities, first, they are both mandatory. Secondly, they ensure that an employee is paid even while not working but still contracted to the company. The main difference between the two is that income protection programs mostly deals with instances of disabilities, sick, or unable to work while pay for time not worked mostly deals with vacation and holiday pays. In this case, the employee is not disabled in any way but he/she is just relaxing to rejuvenate and return. Income protection programs protect employees who may never be able to come back to their workplace unlike pay for time not worked, which mostly deals with a temporary break.

Necessary Elements for the Benefits Package

Work/Family Balancing Programs

Jobs that offer flexible hours, telecommuting, a compressed workweek or job sharing can not only help employees balance work and life, but also save time and money in terms of transportation (Claxton, Rae, Panchal, Whitmore, Damico, Kenward, & Long, 2015). Many companies set up support programs and offer family leaves for new parents or caregivers to care for elderly parents. Breastfeeding rooms and on-the-job care are some of the other work-life balance benefits that are gaining popularity, if not already provided for by law.

Subsidy Services and Side-By-Side Allowances

Benefits provided to employees may be in the form of free or subsidized services. For example, childcare facilities, holiday accommodation and club membership facilities. In addition, hostel accommodation is usually provided for single female workers. Company cars and drivers are common amenities and common benefits given to executives. Salaries may be further assisted with some allowances such as travel, meal, and housing allowance.

Achievement Award/Monthly Employee Program/Yearly bonus

To motivate employees, a program is usually held whereby an employee will be selected as a monthly employee based on their productivity and productivity, work efficiency, good hygiene, and good job knowledge and attendance records. An excellent employee award can be awarded to the best employee (Claxton et al., 2015). The award can be given in monetary form or a memorial gift. Publicity can be given to award recipients through internal distribution magazines, photographs, featured on the bulletin board or holding special awards events where top management is present (Aguenza & Som, 2018).

Appreciation Letter

Praise whether written or oral in private or in public is a way of expressing a sense of gratitude to the employee. A letter of appreciation is usually signed by at least the department head. The letter of appreciation should be attributed to the quality of the work and the outstanding achievement achieved in the course of the accolades.

Sponsor Employees to Attend Conventions, Seminars and Trips Abroad

It can be a great benefit for both employees and employers if truly talented employees are sent to attend seminars and conventions and overseas visits to see their headquarters, distributors, and buyers. Employees may bring new ideas to the company or they may find new customers who may benefit later.

Example of an Employee Benefits Package

Employee benefit plans are an essential part of the corporate incentive system. The following is an Employee benefits package for normal staff members and middle-level management staff. The employee benefit package, exclusive of housing will represents 17% of the salary.

Category Reason for Selection Benefits Provided

Flexible working schedules Lets employees choose working days. Benefits to be provided include:

• Casual clothing days
• Flextime
• Education-related Will provide learning opportunities for both the employee and their dependents.
• Benefits to be provided include:
• Job rotation
• Language courses
• Job rotation
• Lectures and training
• Career-related Will address concerns about career advancement Benefits to be provided include:
• Priority to internal recruitment
• Performance Appraisal Based Promotion Policy
• Career Counseling
• Trainee Programs
• Environment and leisure related Will make the business environment lighter and more relaxed, making the climate more pleasant.

Benefits to be provided include:

• Indoor play area
• Flexible working hours
• Strong reception and integration policy for new employees
• Health-Related Will make it easier for employees and their families to access medical appointments and medications.
• Fixed dollar amount for individuals and
• Families: TOTAL $: COST = Will range between 15-20% of salary budget.
• Benefits to be provided include:
• Medical assistance on company premises
• Physical activity programs during office hours
• Health and dental plans
• Wellness programs

Employer-Sponsored Wellness Programs

Time off Pay for time not worked For support staff: after one-year of work has been completed, 1 week of paid vacation; after 2 years of service

to the school, 2 weeks paid vacation; after 5 years of service, 3 weeks of paid vacation; after 10 years of service,

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