Employee Benefits in a ‘Work from Anywhere’ Environment

We can not ignore the fact that working remotely is the new normal now. Once, it was relegated to freelancers and virtual assistants. But the pandemic happened and the mode of business operations was haltered. The ability to ‘work from anywhere’ has become more common and is here to stay.

Noticeably, most businesses could not keep with their daily targets with lockdown protocols in place. As a result, they were forced to shut down operations altogether. Due to technological advances, many businesses were able to implement remote working for their employees and remain in business.

Even as the world is swinging back to normalcy, remote working is here to stay for a long time. Tech giant, Twitter has announced that their workers can now work from home indefinitely.

While remote working is laudable for employees as it allows them the comfort to ‘work from anywhere,’ it poses a different challenge for employers.

Why?

Acquiring and retaining top talents requires employers to offer enticing benefits packages. Employees have now abandoned one-size-fits-all benefits packages and are now opting for more employer-paid benefits.

Now, with remote working in place, employers are somewhat concerned with which benefits to offer. If you are an employer of labor, you may be wondering how to boost employee satisfaction, productivity, and loyalty with the right benefits, especially if they would be working remotely.

Thankfully, we have curated some of the best benefits you can offer your employees now being able to ‘work from anywhere’:

Workstation Support

To produce the best results, your workers need to feel comfortable and be equipped with the best tools. In a physical workplace, this means you would be providing amenities to boost their productivity. This often includes ergonomic chairs, the latest software and devices, office supplies, etc.

For remote workers, this should not be left out. You can offer them remote workstation support to set up their remote office. By providing this benefit, your employees will feel valued; this often translates to fewer turnovers, more productivity, and a sense of belonging.

You can also offer to reimburse their expenses on setting up their home office if they have already done so.

Learning and Development

Another benefit you can offer to your remote workers is the opportunity to develop themselves on the job.

Employers are constantly looking for ways to improve their skills and learn new tech. In fact, 87% of millennials agree that employee learning and development are important to them in job roles.

You can offer regular training and subscribe to an online certification course that will make them stand out from their peers. If given the opportunity to grow and advance on the job, they would be more than willing to remain working for your business.

Subscription Benefits

This may raise several eyebrows but this is another benefit you should consider offering to your remote workers. After work hours, employees want to rejuvenate themselves and watch content from streaming services. You can offer this benefit as a way of rewarding their efforts.

You can also pay for digital newspaper or magazine subscriptions relevant to your business.

Health Benefits

Healthy employees foster more productivity. Thus, the role of health and wellness cannot be downplayed. As a result of the pandemic, employee health and wellness have taken center stage. It is what most workers are looking out for before accepting a job role.

You should include this in your benefits package to your remote workers. You can also engage them in keeping to a healthy lifestyle by assigning health tasks to practice. To increase participation, you can offer incentives on completing each assigned task. Many healthcare providers include these within their plans.

This helps to promote a healthy and fit workforce.

Childcare Benefits

It is a thing of joy for employees when businesses consider the welfare of their families as well. For those with kids, working remotely presents a whole of distractions. They will have to work and look after their children at the same time.

To relieve them, you can offer childcare benefits such as subscribing to exciting online content or access to online babysitter subscriptions.

This benefit is particularly vital for employees who are parents working remotely.

Home Care Services

While working remotely may appear flexible to most employees, it does not always appear so. When your workers are engrossed in their jobs, they might have little time left to take care of home chores—which, in fact, is time-consuming.

You can offer home care services such as laundry, meal delivery, and home-cleaning to help them remain focused on their jobs.

Discounted Insurance Plans

Financial security is perhaps more important than ever, as more employees are securing insurance plans that will keep their families and assets insured. However, most of these insurance plans are expensive.

As a concerned employer, you can help them secure discounted insurance plans. There are several insurance companies offering subsidized plans for employees in the corporate world. Look out for them.

Remote working is here to stay and your workforce needs to be offered suitable benefits packages. The aforementioned benefits are just what your employees need in a remote environment.

Conclusion

As a business owner you know your employees best and what benefits they may be looking for. If not, have a conversation with each of them and see what could maybe make their lives a little easier. With the ability for our employees to now ‘work from anywhere’ we as business owners must also adapt and change what we may be providing.