5. Company stock
Christmas is big business, and Santa's elves wouldn’t mind owning a few shares in Santa Inc. Like many employers, Santa knows employees might be more motivated to work hard if they have ownership in the business. Win-win?
“Companies are increasingly turning to Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) as a way of rewarding and motivating their global workforce during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Sheila Frierson, President, Plan Managers, North America at Computershare.
“As well as encouraging employees to save at regular intervals during uncertain times and providing access to equity, often at a discount, ESPPs also engender greater employee loyalty, innovation and alignment with the company’s goals, which in turn supports companies during difficult periods.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
1. Gamification
Rewards, badges, goals--gamifying benefits makes them more interesting to any worker, even Santa's elves.
Gamification incorporates traditional elements of game playing, like point scoring and friendly competition, into other areas of life. For example, Beam, a digital-first dental benefits provider, has created a toothbrush with gamification features to incentivize better oral health. People are scored on how frequently and effectively they brush their teeth using a connected toothbrush, and those scores could translate into increased coverage and lower future premiums.
"This sort of wellness model is appealing because it offers a fun, tangible benefit to healthy behavior,” said Alex Frommeyer, co-founder and CEO of Beam. “Our members know they're not only improving their overall health, but they're earning points, increasing their brush scores, and lowering premiums for their group. Employers want their employees to be healthy and engage with their benefit packages — and gamification is one way to help them do that." (Photo: Shutterstock)
2. Auto-enrollment and escalation
Most employees, even Santa's elves, could use some encouragement to save money. According to Matthew Gnabasik, partner with Cerity Partners, pre-retirees need to save at least 10 percent of their salary through contributions and employee matches over the course of their working career to be able to replace at least 70 to 80 percent of their pre-retirement income.
Automatic features that enroll participants and escalate their contributions annually are the fastest and most efficient way to get people to start saving more, he said.
“Many sponsors link the timing of the annual auto-escalation increase to that time of year when salaries are reviewed and raises given,” said Gnabasik. “By tying it to an annual raise or cost-of-living adjustment, the employee doesn’t feel the pain associated with a reduction in take-home pay from saving more. Over time, this leads to regular increases in the savings rate in a way that is gradual and relatively painless.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
3. Flexibility
Like much of the rest of the world, Santa's elves adapted to remote working situations, proving that flexible work could be a sustainable and even desirable model post-pandemic.
Companies that recognize the shift away from 9-to-5 culture and enable remote work with technology that supports a hybrid model may be best positioned to attract and retain the best talent when offices reopen.
“Companies that offer remote-enablement technology to make hybrid workforces a possibility, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, experienced exponential growth this year,” said Ed Barrientos, CEO of Brazen.
“Not only will recruiters have to sell candidates on a great work culture, they will also need to deliver on the promise of a seamless hybrid or fully remote work experience, should that be what the employee prefers. The future of work is distributed and diverse, and recruitment will have to reflect this shift in workplace culture moving forward.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
4. Digital tools
The North Pole offers limited health care choices for elves, and like many workers, they want to take advantage of digital technology for everything from open enrollment to doctor visits.
“Many employers are investing in digital applications such as mobile apps, web portals and telehealth platforms to communicate health messages and conduct health services,” said Anne Burnson, vice president of service operations at Maestro Health.
“More employees are now comfortable video calling their doctor and using mobile apps in their daily lives, which is quickly translating into the health and benefits space. Having a digital-first approach to benefits is a way to not only reach employees on the devices they use daily, but lower costs (like the cost of traveling to a doctor or pharmacy). Any innovative benefit model should be driven by technology, and the best sponsors are adopting this for 2021.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
Advertisement
5. Company stock
Christmas is big business, and Santa's elves wouldn’t mind owning a few shares in Santa Inc. Like many employers, Santa knows employees might be more motivated to work hard if they have ownership in the business. Win-win?
“Companies are increasingly turning to Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) as a way of rewarding and motivating their global workforce during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Sheila Frierson, President, Plan Managers, North America at Computershare.
“As well as encouraging employees to save at regular intervals during uncertain times and providing access to equity, often at a discount, ESPPs also engender greater employee loyalty, innovation and alignment with the company’s goals, which in turn supports companies during difficult periods.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
1. Gamification
Rewards, badges, goals--gamifying benefits makes them more interesting to any worker, even Santa's elves.
Gamification incorporates traditional elements of game playing, like point scoring and friendly competition, into other areas of life. For example, Beam, a digital-first dental benefits provider, has created a toothbrush with gamification features to incentivize better oral health. People are scored on how frequently and effectively they brush their teeth using a connected toothbrush, and those scores could translate into increased coverage and lower future premiums.
"This sort of wellness model is appealing because it offers a fun, tangible benefit to healthy behavior,” said Alex Frommeyer, co-founder and CEO of Beam. “Our members know they're not only improving their overall health, but they're earning points, increasing their brush scores, and lowering premiums for their group. Employers want their employees to be healthy and engage with their benefit packages — and gamification is one way to help them do that." (Photo: Shutterstock)
2. Auto-enrollment and escalation
Most employees, even Santa's elves, could use some encouragement to save money. According to Matthew Gnabasik, partner with Cerity Partners, pre-retirees need to save at least 10 percent of their salary through contributions and employee matches over the course of their working career to be able to replace at least 70 to 80 percent of their pre-retirement income.
Automatic features that enroll participants and escalate their contributions annually are the fastest and most efficient way to get people to start saving more, he said.
“Many sponsors link the timing of the annual auto-escalation increase to that time of year when salaries are reviewed and raises given,” said Gnabasik. “By tying it to an annual raise or cost-of-living adjustment, the employee doesn’t feel the pain associated with a reduction in take-home pay from saving more. Over time, this leads to regular increases in the savings rate in a way that is gradual and relatively painless.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
3. Flexibility
Like much of the rest of the world, Santa's elves adapted to remote working situations, proving that flexible work could be a sustainable and even desirable model post-pandemic.
Companies that recognize the shift away from 9-to-5 culture and enable remote work with technology that supports a hybrid model may be best positioned to attract and retain the best talent when offices reopen.
“Companies that offer remote-enablement technology to make hybrid workforces a possibility, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, experienced exponential growth this year,” said Ed Barrientos, CEO of Brazen.
“Not only will recruiters have to sell candidates on a great work culture, they will also need to deliver on the promise of a seamless hybrid or fully remote work experience, should that be what the employee prefers. The future of work is distributed and diverse, and recruitment will have to reflect this shift in workplace culture moving forward.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
4. Digital tools
The North Pole offers limited health care choices for elves, and like many workers, they want to take advantage of digital technology for everything from open enrollment to doctor visits.
“Many employers are investing in digital applications such as mobile apps, web portals and telehealth platforms to communicate health messages and conduct health services,” said Anne Burnson, vice president of service operations at Maestro Health.
“More employees are now comfortable video calling their doctor and using mobile apps in their daily lives, which is quickly translating into the health and benefits space. Having a digital-first approach to benefits is a way to not only reach employees on the devices they use daily, but lower costs (like the cost of traveling to a doctor or pharmacy). Any innovative benefit model should be driven by technology, and the best sponsors are adopting this for 2021.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
Advertisement
5. Company stock
Christmas is big business, and Santa's elves wouldn’t mind owning a few shares in Santa Inc. Like many employers, Santa knows employees might be more motivated to work hard if they have ownership in the business. Win-win?
“Companies are increasingly turning to Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) as a way of rewarding and motivating their global workforce during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Sheila Frierson, President, Plan Managers, North America at Computershare.
“As well as encouraging employees to save at regular intervals during uncertain times and providing access to equity, often at a discount, ESPPs also engender greater employee loyalty, innovation and alignment with the company’s goals, which in turn supports companies during difficult periods.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
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