Utilizing a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement as Part of the Employee Retention Plan
Utilizing a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement as Part of the Employee Retention Plan
Guest writer Ron Wilson offers insight into employee benefits tonight in, “Utilizing a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement as Part of the Employee Retention Plan.”
Employee retention plans have become an important part of the organization’s overall recruitment process. As we know the cost to recruit, hire, and train a new employee can exceed the cost of investing in the current employee, especially when we include the revenue lost while we are trying to fill the position.
Although effective Retention Plans have many elements, it is worth our time to focus on one specific element, a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement. Below is an example of how a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement was utilized in retaining a key employee.
A highly productive Product Support Sales Representative scheduled a meeting with me and during the meeting he presented a letter of resignation. We spent some time reviewing the reasons for wanting to leave the company, where he was going, and reemphasizing the importance of his role within our organization. As we were wrapping up our discussion, I gave the letter of resignation back to the employee explaining that I would not accept the resignation at this time and asked that he compare the benefits his “new” employer would be providing as to what he was currently receiving.
We would review what he found out the following day and at that point if he still wanted to resign, I would accept his letter of resignation.
Later that evening the employee called me and asked if he could withdraw his letter of resignation. During his review of the “new” employer’s benefits, he discovered their medical coverage was insufficient to what he was currently receiving and his accrued time off was far less than what he was currently receiving.
The Personalized Employee Benefit Statement played a key role in the retention of this key employee. There was work to be done to address some other issues, but we now had some time and an open dialogue to continue strengthening our relationship.
Content of a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement
There can be many elements within a Personalized Employee Benefit Statement, but we will review only a few:
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- Employee Information- Name, employee number, years of service, job title
- Company Information- Vision, Mission, Values
- Salary Information- Including base salary, bonus, commissions, overtime.
- Benefits Summary- This is the most important piece of the statement. Most employees do not see, and may not fully understand, some of these benefits and the cost.
- Health Insurance- including premiums, deductible, and coverage, along with Wellness programs that are available. (Dental, vision, prescription drugs, etc.)
- Retirement Benefits/Stock Options- This would include 401(k) match and other retirement plan information.
- Life insurance and Disability insurance coverage
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- Paid time off (vacation, sick days, holidays)
- Tuition Reimbursement and Training that has been provided to the employee.
There is no doubt many other examples you can recommend be added to a personalized employee benefits statement based on your organization’s information.
There were two key elements that contributed to the employee deciding not to resign. The medical insurance coverage provided by the new employer was insufficient due to some family medical needs and the new employer’s time off was insufficient to what the employee was accustomed to receiving.
The ability to quickly access this information and spend time with the employee to ensure their understanding of what is included within the current plan, what they may be giving up provided an environment of transparency and building trust.
This discussion may also identify areas the current employer may need to address as it relates to a competitive benefit package.
To effectively build a Personalized Benefit Statement requires:
- Information pulled together from payroll, benefits, training, and other key databases to consolidate into an individual employee statement.
- Supervisors and Human Resources personnel being comfortable discussing the information and listening to the employees as they identify the areas of most importance to them.
- Provide the personalized employee benefit at least once a year and be accessible to address the immediate situations that arise.
What would you include in a Personalized Benefit Statement? Have you had similar situations and were able to retain an employee that was resigning?