🌟 Different Ways to Provide Employee Benefits
5 different types of employee benefits you can provide as a business owner
You have employees, and you want to provide benefits. Sure, money is an excellent benefit for employees. But what if you don’t have enough cash to give out spot bonuses frequently as your business grows? The extra benefits you provide help define your business culture and the values you care about.
Healthcare benefits
401k Plan
Stipends (Gym, Phone, Internet, Office Setup)
Professional Development & Tuition Reimbursement
PTO (Extra days, Family Leave, Sick Days, Sabbaticals)
Healthcare Benefits
One of the best benefits you can provide to employees outside of wage bonuses is healthcare. As an employer, providing medical, dental, and vision benefits is essential, especially as a U.S.-based company, as it’s one way for an employee to have affordable healthcare insurance.
401k Plan
Employees can start planning for their future by automatically saving a percentage of payroll to a retirement savings account. It’s even better if the business can match at least 4% of an employee’s contribution. For nonprofit organizations, the equivalent is a 403b plan, essentially the same as a 401k.
Stipends (Gym, Phone, Internet, Office Setup)
Another way a business can provide an employee benefit is by offering monthly or annual stipends for gym memberships, phone service, internet, or office space. You can either give a recurring virtual benefit card or require your employees to submit receipts monthly to be reimbursed for the specified amount.
Professional Development & Tuition Reimbursement
If you care about employee professional development, you can offer an annual total amount that an employee can be reimbursed. If an employee wants to take a course, attend a conference, or apply to a degree program to progress their career, the business can sponsor a portion or all of the fees.
PTO (Extra days, Family Leave, Sick Days, Sabbaticals)
Having different types of PTO (paid time off) days can be a way to show your employees that you care about them having a life outside of work. You can provide more than ten days of regular PTO, extra sick days, or an extensive family leave policy. Sabbaticals can also be provided depending on how long an employee has worked for you.
Your combination of employee benefits shows potential employees what matters to the business. Do you have an extensive healthcare benefit and 401K match? That shows you care about your employees’ wellness and want to help them save for retirement. You don’t have to provide all these different types of benefits from day 1 of your business. That wouldn’t be fiscally responsible. All these benefits cost the company, so budgeting responsibly is required as you still need to pay your employee’s regular salaries.
🔜 The next post will discuss things to consider when hiring your first team members.
📥 Reader Survey —Let me know your thoughts on this post and newsletter.
😁 Disclaimer: I'm not your employee or finance consultant, so all business decisions are yours.
Woolichooks provides finance consulting services, including setting up finance software systems and processes to enable mission-driven companies to grow.