Using Benefits to Recruit and Retain

I talk with all kinds of business owners and executives from all kinds of industries and all different sizes.  As different as many of them are, there are still some traits they share in common.  One of the most common is that they use benefits to recruit and retain their workforce.  But, in my experience, most companies struggle to do this well and don’t even know what they’re missing.  Rather, they keep doing the same thing they’ve always done expecting to get different results than they’ve always gotten (another rate increase?!).

Beyond anecdotal stories, benchmarks to determine if the benefits are competitive are nonexistent.  Employee feedback mechanisms are absent.  Ratios and metrics tracking return on investment are missing.  Any number of status quo behaviors keeps employers from developing a meaningful benefits package that does what it is meant to do – engage the best workforce possible.  Employers would do well to find a really good advisor and carve out some time throughout the year, beyond just the renewal, to look at how their benefits are really leveraged.  Maybe then, we can be little different than the guy down the street.