Employee benefits management

In this section of knowledge we will impart you the List of employee benefits its Types Importance and Optimizing management.

Exercising good employee benefits management may be what your company needs to retain talent, motivate them to work, as well as build a healthy and conducive environment to achieve even better results.

This is the  formula for success  to combine productivity and well-being for employees, something that is increasingly valued at a time when quality of life is seen as a key to the success of companies. However, more than recognizing the importance of this type of solution is knowing exactly how to use it to enhance processes.

The matter may not be as simple as many people imagine, as there are different types of benefits, mandatory and non-mandatory, the Labor Reform brought changes to the theme, etc. Do you want to delve into the subject? So, read this text, where we bring the main topics about employee benefits management!

Types of Employee Benefits

In short, benefits are perks offered to employees of a company, consisting of a powerful strategy to retain talent. Employee benefits can be classified as:

• mandatory: are those that have a legal provision in Brazilian legislation and have the nature of labor rights;
• non-mandatory: may or may not be granted to employees.

In addition, they may or may not be included in the employee’s salary, for example, a food stamp is added to the employee’s monthly payment. However, in order for you to adequately provide benefits to employees, it is important that you understand how the In Natura salary works and that you know how to identify those most useful to your staff. Understand better how to do it below.

Understand how the In Natura salary works

It is worth remembering that the benefits granted may or may not be part of the employee’s salary. The employer is entitled to pay the portion of the remuneration due in the form of utilities. This is what we call “In Natura Salary” or “Utility Salary”. By law, the salary must include benefits that the company offers its employees.

It is possible to provide part of the remuneration as In Natura Salary reverted to housing or food, for example. These benefits cannot go beyond 70% of the employee’s contractual salary, guaranteeing the worker the right to receive at least 30% of the salary in cash.

Importance of providing employee benefits

Many managers neglect non-mandatory benefits, as paying for the mandatory ones can already consume a considerable portion of the company’s revenue. However, this strategy can be a great differential for your company to multiply its results, as it provides several privileges for your company, such as:

• maintenance of employee motivation;
• improving employee health;
• increased productivity;
• creating a more pleasant working environment;
• reduction in the absenteeism rate;
• decreased turnover ;
• generation of better results;
• creation of competitive advantages.

Another very important advantage is the attraction and retention of talent, who are the most productive employees, aligned with the organizational identity and concerned with the company’s success.

Employees are responsible for the operational activities of a company, customer service, organizational climate and other operations. That’s why, when the organization has a talented workforce, it can deliver better results in a shorter period of time, satisfy customers, and build a more pleasant work environment.

Identify employee benefits that might be most helpful

For the benefits to be real differentials for your company, the big secret is to make them exactly what the type of  professional  you need to value wants.

Is your audience younger and working in the technology field? So why not resort to a lighter environment, with game rooms, where people can balance fun and work?

If the profile is different, you can bet on alternatives such as yoga classes and even free up space for pets. These are solutions that will make the environment less stressful.

It is necessary to pay attention to the profile of your team and always be willing to make the environment an important character for the success of the business. Now that you’ve received this information, take a closer look at the types of benefits in the topics below.

List of Mandatory employees benefits

Every worker who works with a formal contract is entitled to benefits guaranteed by the  Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT)  and which are mandatory benefits. They are called social or labor charges and must appear on the  payroll , examples of which are:

• FGTS;
• 13th salary;
• paid vacations;
• overtime , if any;
• licenses;
• paid weekly rest;
• additional vacation;
• INSS;
• transportation vouchers;
• between others.

According to Brazilian law, these are workers’ rights and failure to supply them can result in very high fines and indemnities. Therefore, it is necessary for the manager to prepare the cash and  working capital  (amount necessary for the company to maintain its activities) to meet these obligations.

Non-mandatory employees  benefits

There are also non-mandatory benefits, such as food or meal vouchers, more flexible working hours, health plan, dental plan, daycare or study aid, among other solutions that companies can offer in order to encourage the work of your team.

In practice, most companies focus exclusively on guaranteeing mandatory benefits, giving up non-mandatory ones. This happens a lot due to the extra expenses that the offering of new benefits can bring.

However, a strategic action in the sense of using benefits for non-mandatory employees both to attract new staff and to retain the main talents can be a competitive advantage in the  market . This ensures motivation and helps build a positive business culture.

As these benefits are quite broad and flexible, check out the reading of the topics below so that you understand the concept and how each one works.

What types of employees  benefits do companies offer?

According to current legislation, there are benefits that companies must provide, while others are optional.

Are mandatory:

• Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS);
• transportation vouchers (in a specific case that will be described below);
• vacation ;
• thirteen first salary.

All other benefits, such as medical assistance, food stamps and daycare assistance, are optional and, therefore, the company decides whether to offer them to its employees or not.

The company even has the autonomy to decide to offer different benefits to its employees and set up the benefits policies that are most appropriate to its business and its budget .

The benefits offered can be monetary and non-monetary. List of employee benefits

Privileges such as financial bonuses, loan plans and salary supplements are monetary benefits, characterized by being granted in cash. Advantages such as medical assistance, life insurance, dental, consultancy, counseling and transport are non-monetary.

In this post, we have separated ten main benefits for your company to offer employees. Let’s go to them!

1-Transportation vouchers

Providing transportation vouchers is the company’s obligation whenever the employee has to spend more than 6% of their salary on commuting expenses to and from work.

As described in Law 7,418, of December 16, 1985 , the employer must pay the part referring to the employee’s transportation expenses that exceed 6% of his/her salary. The remainder of the transportation expenses must still be paid by the employee.

Even so, the company can offer full transportation vouchers on an optional basis. An alternative to the transportation voucher is to provide a means of chartered transportation for the displacement of employees.

2-Food stamps and food stamps

As well as transportation vouchers, food stamps and  food stamps  are some of the most common benefits in companies.

Although the concession of food stamps is more common, many organizations still offer meals at the institution through cafeterias.

When properly managed, cafeterias can also represent a beneficial relationship between the company and its employees. Through cafeterias, it is possible to provide healthy and nutritious meals . Thus, the organization encourages employees to adopt healthy eating habits and helps them to have fewer health problems . List of employee benefits

3-health insurance or health plan

Offering good medical and hospital care is an important differential for attracting and retaining good professionals, since it is a benefit that concerns the health and safety of employees and their families.

There are plans and insurances of various types that cover different procedures and features. Generally, five types are offered: Outpatient, Inpatient, Inpatient with Obstetrics, Dental and Reference (usually includes all types, the dental plan being optional).

4-dental plan

It is worth mentioning the dental plan . It has a much lower cost than health plans, both for the company and for the employee, while offering an important benefit, and it is highly valued by employees due to the high cost of private treatment.

Thus, it is common for people to neglect dental treatment, which can generate several other health problems and, therefore, absences from work, reduced productivity and systemic diseases that aggravate the accident rate of the company’s health plan, tending to more readjustments high.

5-Family Assistance Programs

There is probably nothing in a person’s life that is more important than their children. Nor the work. In fact, work is often the main way to provide a decent life for the children.

Thus, several organizations have already realized the need to guarantee assistance for women and men who have children. This has a direct impact on employee satisfaction and performance, since, knowing that their children are supported, employees have much more peace of mind to work.

Among the types of benefits that fulfill this role, we can highlight the offer of free or discounted daycare and nursery. Other initiatives that fall into this category are the granting of a longer period of paternity leave than required by law, which is only five calendar days, and some flexibility in hours for breastfeeding mothers. List of employee benefits

By guaranteeing support to parents, dismissal requests are avoided when returning from maternity leave, due to lack of time to work and care for the family.

6-group life insurance

The idea of business life insurance follows the same lines as the health plan and family assistance programs. It gives employees the peace of mind of knowing that their families will be supported in case they die.

Corporate life insurance — or group life insurance — covers the risk of death, permanent disability and/or accident survival, through the payment of an amount to the beneficiaries, who are appointed by the employee.

For the company, it is worth noting that the cost of living per employee is lower the greater the number of employees in the organization. Another advantage is that business life insurance is income tax exempt for companies that opt ​​for taxation of actual profits.

7- private pension plan

We know that Brazilians, in general, are not used to saving. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why the FGTS and the official social security were created, as a way to prevent people from becoming totally helpless when they stop working.

However, the amounts paid by the official social security are low and, with the planned reform, the benefits tend to be increasingly restricted. Thus, offering a  private pension plan  to employees, in which they contribute part of the amount and the company contributes another, is a way of helping them to have the discipline to save.

Furthermore, it is an important tool for retaining talent and reducing turnover. This is because it is possible to establish that the employee is only entitled to the portion she deposited after a certain period of time with the company. Thus, it is an incentive for the employee to remain in the company.

8-Company discounts

Depending on the type of enterprise and its sector, it is possible to grant discounts to employees when hiring services or purchasing products. In addition, it is common to form partnerships with other institutions that offer discounts to employees. List of employee benefits

A good example of this practice is to arrange discounts for employees at a restaurant near the company, considering that they usually or may have lunch there. Other very common situations are agreements for discounts at gyms and language courses.

It is worth noting that, in the three examples mentioned above, there is a relationship between the benefit and the health and well-being of the employee or with their professional development. In this way, it benefits both the employee and the company, which has a healthier and, therefore, more willing team, which lacks less, in addition to being more qualified.

9-Career Incentives

Encouraging the professional development of employees is a way for the company to show its recognition to professionals and bring a competitive advantage to the organization.

It is possible to benefit employees’ careers through initiatives such as implementing a mentoring program, offering training and funding scholarships. In addition, several institutions already offer incentives for employees’ personal projects, facilitating investments and setting aside time from their own workday for employees to dedicate to their projects.

10-Investments in leisure

Betting on recreation is a practical way to improve relations between employees and organizations. Whether through agreements with clubs or offering the company’s own club for employees and their families, investing in leisure helps improve the quality of life of employees.

In addition to these actions, it is possible to make small, but everyday changes, such as offering free snacks to employees.

In the same recreational line there are actions such as providing a games room within the company, for breaks from work.

Having motivated, engaged and satisfied employees is a privilege for any business. Therefore, it is essential to know the main types of  benefits  offered by companies, their advantages and how to apply each one of them.