The Future of Employer-Provided Benefits

Employee benefits represent an important component of the entire salary package offered and can often make a significant difference for candidates, who are increasingly attentive to the types of benefits they might have access to when deciding to make a career change.

In the following, Raluca Penes, HR Manager at Smartree, discusses what the future of benefits will look like, the most creative benefit from our experience, and the average value of monthly benefit packages provided by companies.

 1. What are the top benefits provided by employers?

Employee benefit packages have diversified significantly in recent years, along with the evolution and changes within companies and the needs of employees, both personally and professionally.

The most common benefits offered by employers remain the classic ones, such as meal vouchers, medical subscriptions or life insurance, transportation reimbursement, various performance-based bonuses, holiday bonuses, gift vouchers, or access to professional development courses, as well as referral bonuses or language allowances.

However, the pandemic period has introduced a new range of benefits in the job market that were not previously common. These include flexible working hours, allowing employees to work entirely from home or in a hybrid manner in some cases. Additionally, in the current pandemic context, a new type of benefit related to employees’ emotional health has emerged, with many companies focusing on this aspect. This has materialized in personalized one-to-one coaching sessions or discussions with a psychologist to help employees overcome the uncertainties specific to this period.

Data analyzed by Smartree, considering a portfolio of over 300 partner companies, indicates that the amounts allocated to benefits like vacation bonuses, fitness subscriptions, or office fruit supplies decreased by around 30% in some cases last year compared to 2019.

 2. What do companies consider when building benefit packages?

Creating an attractive benefits package should be a priority for any company interested in motivating its employees. A healthy benefits package should primarily consider the profile and needs of the employees, what might motivate them, and the existing market offers.

 3. What are the most appreciated benefits? What do top candidates expect from a future employer (in terms of benefits)?

One of the benefits that will always remain popular among employees is additional salary bonuses. Financial bonuses and incentives are a way to enhance the salary package, and when these incentives are directly correlated with a performance grid and clear indicators, they will attract the desired results.

Depending on the case, employees might also be tempted by vacation vouchers, fitness subscriptions, or extra days off, such as those offered on birthdays.

However, one of the benefits recently seen by candidates as a selection criterion for choosing a job is the possibility of working from home, at least partially, even after the pandemic ends.

 4. How important are these benefits in deciding to accept a job?

Employer-provided benefits have become a significant part of the entire salary package offered in recent years and can often make a difference for candidates, who are increasingly attentive to the types of benefits they might have access to when deciding to change their career.

For example, certain benefits like meal vouchers, medical subscriptions and insurance, transportation reimbursement in some cases, holiday bonuses, or various office perks like coffee, juices, or fruits are often seen as basic “must-have” elements that come with the job offer.

Although the range of benefits is constantly diversifying, and some multinational companies offer a wide variety of such benefits, including access to various discounts on partner websites for purchasing products or services, they are not necessarily a mandatory criterion for accepting a job. However, these types of benefits certainly create increasing expectations in the job market and will consequently put pressure on companies that cannot include them in their policies.

 5. What is the average monthly value of benefits provided by employers?

Based on payroll data processed on behalf of over 300 partner companies in the portfolio, the average gross value of benefits offered by private sector employers last year ranged from 700 to 1,300 lei. Industries that offered the most generous benefit packages to their employees included consulting, IT & software infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications.

 6. What is the most creative/unusual benefit you have encountered so far?

From our over 20 years of experience in outsourcing human resources services, the most unusual benefits we have encountered recently are related to the pandemic context. For instance, among our partners, there are companies that offer employees a number of free hours if they decide to get vaccinated or other cases where, in collaboration with Public Health Directorates, they organize vaccination centers directly at the company’s headquarters for both employees and their family members.

 7. What does the future of benefits look like? What should we expect?

According to the latest studies in the field, the type of benefits will evolve directly proportional to the job market’s evolution, the new context of hybrid working, and the needs and expectations of the modern employee.

It is clear that the traditional benefits will continue to be maintained, but in parallel, organizations will become increasingly aware of the necessity to address new benefits, more focused than ever on employees’ mental and emotional health and work-life balance.

The pandemic has brought increased attention to the emotional health challenges many employees face, particularly over the past year, and highlighted that employers can support their teams’ well-being with resources, help, and education.

Additionally, in the context of digitalization and ongoing transformations, many organizations will likely focus on developing educational programs to integrate employees into the digital environment and offer greater flexibility not only regarding the physical location from which they perform their activities but also concerning the actual working schedule.