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In addition to salary, there is a possibility for employees to receive a range of benefits and services from their employers, which vary depending on the position of the employee in a particular company. However, most employees generally share the same basic package of services benefits.
The essay is an attempt to explain various employee services and benefits that employers offer their employees in order to accommodate them, and demonstrate how employee services can improve the employees productivity. Since the companies executives want their business to prosper, most of them try to value their strong human capital to the highest extent, so they perform their jobs effectively; however, it can be potentially a huge expense for the employer.
There are various factors (both internal and external) that usually affect an employees productivity. These may include healthcare services, family, relocation, finances, education, all of which influence their decision-making process at work. The employer, in his turn, provides a certain amount of benefits, depending on the work they perform.
Willman (2013) presents the list of universal employee benefits that can be seen almost in every company. They are as follows: vacations, sick days, retirement, health-spending accounts, and discounts.
Vacation time is included in almost every employee benefit package. As a rule, the days off are paid; however, some employers also offer unpaid vacation time. The amount of that time may vary from company to company, depending on its policy. Nonetheless, the typical amount of days ranges from five to twenty per year, and it is accrued on a monthly basis. In order to receive vacation days, the employee must request for them in advance, and usually gain approval from the supervisor. Sometimes, such approval can be obtained also from the human resource department representative.
An employee can receive his/her sick days on either paid or unpaid basis. Their amount usually depends on the policy of the company. However, it typically ranges from five to ten days. Most of the companies require a note from a physician, who can verify illness even before the approval of a sick day use. At the end of the sickness, some companies may request from the employee to bring the sick voucher, where the reason for hospitalization and the duration of illness is indicated.
An employer may plan to save for the retirement, starting from the work time. There is usually a possibility to set a specific amount to be contributed to an employees account, or some corresponding matching benefits program may be offered. However, everything depends also upon the companys policy.
Health spending account may also be offered by the employer in order to pay for the costs of medical care that are not covered with health insurance. The aforementioned expenses usually include doctors visits payments, over-the-counter medication or prescription costs. Such programs may also serve as a reimbursement model. In this case, the employee needs to either submit corresponding receipts for such reimbursement, or he/she can receive a debit card, which can be used merely for medical expenses.
A company may also offer discounts for in-house services or products. In case of a retail company, an employee may receive the discount for merchandise. The outside companies may also offer discounts from others organizations. In this case, cell phone and spa services, hotel accommodations, cable television or other services may be offered to the employee.
Apart from the possibility of having the aforementioned benefits, Ford (1992) adds disability benefits. He states that despite the fact that employers may require to provide benefits that replace income, which is lost during nonworking-related disabilities by employees, there are still some disputes over the State authority extent.
It is debated whether a State law regulates only disability benefits or other benefits as well. In addition, Ford (1992) lists five states, such as New Jersey, California, New York, Rhode Island, and Hawaii that have corresponding laws that require the income protection concerning short-term disability of the employees.
Roland (2010) goes further into discounts questions, explaining in more details about the employee discount program, and presents the ideas on how to manage it. He states that there is often a lot of confusion and misleading information regarding the corporate perks (Roland, 2010).
According to Roland (2010), the discount program is considered as part of a larger benefit offer. Companies that offer such discount programs aim to increase the satisfaction of their workers, their general loyalty, and retention of personnel by providing the benefits apart from simple salaries.
Some discount programs for employees can be also hosted and managed by the employers. They usually list unique discounts on their corporate internal sources. However, many companies may also outsource the management of their discount programs to the third party providers, negotiating those discounts on behalf of client companies. They usually promote secure access to the program via various on-line portals.
In addition to the aforementioned benefits, Lovewell (2011) discusses the issues of flexible and voluntary benefits schemes. He states that there are no longer particular distinct lines between them. At the same time, Lovewell (2011) is convinced that the launch of various corporate wrap platforms provoked some sort of speculation regarding what will happen if flexible benefits schemes become more advanced.
As one can see, there are various additional benefits and services that companies may offer to their employees. With the high growth of competition for the best skilled employee, the companies are ready to pay more, by offering better benefits and services.
Offering better compensation packages and even with the same level of salaries compared to other companies, the employees are eager to join them, as everything is estimated on the subconscious level and the more the company offers, the better person works, becoming more devoted to that particular company.
At the same time, there is a difference between paying salaries or single rises. Thus, Furness (2007) examined the psychological perspective of offering perks compared to paying rises. She states that the personnel who received perks are more engaged and happy (Furness, 2007).
According to Furness (2007), the aforementioned employees usually tend not only to perform better, but also take fewer sick days, and there is a slight possibility that they can quit. The author is convinced that non-cash benefits and incentives play a significant role in fulfilling employees psychological needs. It always brings success to an employee when being recognized and rewarded for their well-done job.
Thus, it is quite significant for employers to communicate their programs efficiently and effectively by matching benefits and rewards for their employees. Only an accurate analysis and individual approach to the employees will help the companies owners to have devoted personnel, who would contribute to their organizations prosperity.