In today’s world, employees have come to expect more than just a paycheck from their employers. To remain competitive in the global job market and attract top talent, companies must offer more comprehensive employee benefits packages. But what should you include in those packages?
Let’s delve into the benefits of total rewards, how they work, and what employers should consider when designing a total rewards program that meets the needs of both their employees and their bottom line.
What are total rewards?
Total rewards are comprehensive compensation and benefits packages offered by companies to attract and retain employees. They go beyond traditional methods of compensation by offering a variety of rewards and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and professional development opportunities.
Total rewards are designed to create a supportive work environment, promote engagement and growth, improve productivity, and ultimately increase employee retention rates.
Benefits of total rewards
There are many benefits of implementing a total rewards policy. These include:
Attracting top talent
Unique benefits and incentive programs can often be the deciding factor for highly qualified team members choosing to join your organization. Offering a range of benefits that employees can customize to meet their unique needs can lead to greater flexibility and work-life balance—which many skilled workers, particularly remote workers, are now demanding. Having a robust total rewards program can also help strengthen a company’s employer brand as a desirable place to work, which in turn can attract more top talent.
Retaining employees
Offering comprehensive benefits and rewards helps to retain employees by making them feel valued and satisfied with their job. By creating a supportive work environment, total rewards packages can lead to increased employee well-being and improved morale. Total rewards packages can also reduce the likelihood of employees leaving for a job with better compensation.
Improving business performance
The supportive work environment created by total rewards programs can increase team morale and motivate employees to perform at their best due to the additional benefits and incentives they receive. With improved morale and engagement from employees, total rewards programs may well increase your company’s overall productivity. When employees are satisfied and motivated, there is a lesser need for constant recruitment, which can lead to cost savings for the company.
What does a total rewards package include?
Every company’s compensation and benefits package will differ, but here’s a list of what it might include:
- Employee pay
- Salary
- Bonuses and incentive pay
- Stock options or equity rewards
- Benefits
- Paid time off (PTO)
- Vacation days
- Parental or family leave
- Mental health leave
- Volunteer time off
- Sabbaticals
- Insurance
- Health
- Dental
- Disability
- Vision
- Death in service
- Pension plans
- Country-specific benefits
- Childcare benefits
- Paid time off (PTO)
- Wellness programs
- Access to therapy services
- Well-being payments
- Meditation sessions
- Pet-friendly policies
- Gym memberships
- Career progression
- Learning and development budgets
- Coaching and career planning
- Visibility of career levels
- Recognition of achievements
- Conference and event tickets
- Work-life balance
- Flexible hours
- Asynchronous work
- Remote working
- Company events, outings, and meetups
- Employee referral programs
- Employee discounts on products or services
- Coworking space memberships
- Work from home stipend
Top tips for building your total rewards package
Putting together an employee compensation and benefits strategy can be a tricky business. Here are three top tips to make sure you get it right:
1. Involve the team
Putting together a great package is more than just the work of the HR professionals in your organization. Involving the team when creating a total rewards package can significantly impact its effectiveness and appeal. With employees at the forefront of the decision-making process, companies can ensure that the benefits offered are meaningful and valuable to their employees. By involving the team, employers can gain insight into their employees’ likes and dislikes, and better understand what they consider to be a positive work environment—ultimately leading to higher satisfaction and retention.
Involving employees in the creation of a total rewards package can also increase their loyalty and engagement. When employees have a voice in creating the benefits package, they are more likely to feel invested in the company’s success. Plus, it demonstrates that the company values the input and feedback of its employees, which can help establish mutual respect and contribute positively to the company culture.
Overall, involving employees in the design of a total rewards program can lead to a more comprehensive and effective benefits package. It helps to ensure employee satisfaction, higher engagement, better retention, a strong company culture, and a healthy bottom line.
2. Offer benefits your team cares about
Offering benefits that employees care about is critical to improving their engagement, productivity, and retention rates. Employees who feel valued and supported at work are more likely to be loyal and dedicated to their employer, resulting in higher morale and better work quality.
Additionally, providing attractive benefits can be a significant factor for potential new hires, aiding in a company’s recruitment and talent acquisition efforts. If prospective employees see that a company offers benefits that align with their values and priorities, they are more likely to accept a job offer from that company.
3. Tie total rewards to company goals
This doesn’t just mean offering incentive pay for successful sales deals. By creating company OKRs around employee well-being, engagement, and happiness, you can demonstrate how important your team members are to your company. This also shows your dedication to initiatives that prioritize taking care of your number one resource—your people.
How Oyster can help with your total rewards strategy
It’s hard to figure out a fair, equitable, and competitive total rewards package on your own, especially if your team is distributed across borders. Fortunately, Oyster can help!
With Oyster Total Rewards, you’ll be able to design and implement a total compensation strategy that will make your global team feel valued and supported. Here’s what Oyster Total Rewards has to offer:
Salary insights and data: Use a self-serve global compensation tool to find out the low, mid, and high salary figures for a specific role, level, and location. Create competitive offers, fix pay gaps, and figure out where you can hire while staying within budget.
Benefits packages: Choose from an array of local and global benefits packages that meet local compliance, give you a competitive edge, and provide the care your people deserve.
Equity compensation: Build and implement equity plans compliantly and confidently using our self-serve Equity Assessment Tool that proactively surfaces risks specific to each country.
With Oyster Total Rewards, you’ll have the data, insights, tools, and expert advice you need to design and implement your global compensation and benefits strategy. You’ll feel more confident that the salary, equity, and benefits you offer to your worldwide team meets their needs, as well as your company’s. Oyster handles all the research and admin for you, so you can focus on growing and rewarding your global team.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
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