#460 Labor Theory 11 | On 'Employee Benefits' That Employees Appreciate
Labor theory is something I struggle to write about every time. So far, I have explained topics that companies are obligated to implement or provide, such as 'social insurance,' 'health checkups,' and 'holidays and leave.' However, the theme of this installment, 'employee benefits,' consists mostly of things that are not legally required compared to those 'must' items. But,
for companies, employee benefits are a 'should' and a 'better'option. Let's introduce such employee benefits.
About Employee Benefits
What are employee benefits?
Employee benefits are compensation and services that a company provides to its employees and their families. These include financial support such as allowances and condolence money, the granting of leave, and in-house facility services like cafes and training rooms.
Furthermore, the following are considered mandatory in terms of benefits and are called'statutory welfare benefits'.This is content we studied previously in the section
'What is social security?'. There was no mention of 'child and child-rearing contributions' there, but that is also a must.
Health Insurance
Employees' Pension Insurance
Nursing Care Insurance
Employment Insurance
Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance
Child and Child-rearing Contributions
By the way, things like health checkups are called'non-statutory welfare benefits',and basically everything other than the above falls into this category.
Why do companies provide employee benefits?
The reasons are as follows.
Enhancing employee benefits leads toimproved employee satisfaction and engagement. It is also a very important HR measure because it relates to recruitment activities and talent retention for the company.
Well,if employees quit, it's all for nothing,so companies provide employee benefits to increase employee satisfaction.
What are good employee benefits?
1. Special Leave
While providing paid leave is a company obligation, other types of special leave are always appreciated.
At the companies I have worked for in the past, there were various leave systems such as "birthday leave," "work anniversary leave," "10 consecutive days off after 3 years of service," "proposal leave," and "LOVE leave."
Proposal leave is particularly noteworthy, and I actually used this leave, which I hadn't used in about five years, to propose to my wife, haha.
There also seem to be unique leave systems depending on the company, such as "volunteer leave" and "lay judge leave."
2. Special Allowances
What makes people happy is "housing allowance."
Although there may be conditions like living near the office, this is a system that new employees from rural areas have no reason not to use, as it provides some extra money.
Similarly, there is "commuting allowance (transportation expenses),"
but there are hardly any companies that don't have this. Other appreciated systems include "marriage allowance" and "childbirth allowance"
for celebratory or condolence occasions. Beyond that, there are various allowances such as
"long-service allowance" and "various awards," but money is always welcome, isn't it? Money changes everything, after all.
3. Support for Capabilities
This refers to things like "free participation in external seminars," "free books," and "qualification acquisition support,"" where the company supports content that leads to self-improvement.
Since this kind of individual skill development ultimately benefits the company, there are many companies nowadays that support it as a form of investment.
4. Support for Families
Good corporate benefits apply services to both the employee and their family.
"Family use of resort facilities" is common, but cool companies might even offer "family accompaniment on company trips,"" and other support like "childcare support" and "nursing care support" is also appreciated.
What is a bad benefit?
Since benefits are add-ons that are meant to be appreciated, there isn't really such a thing as a "bad benefit." Any benefit is a welcome one.
However, there might be cases like "being forced to study for qualifications" or "having company trips on holidays,"" and benefits that ignore the intentions or opinions of employees are unlikely to be welcomed.
That said, some people might be happy with these benefits, so it's a difficult balance, but a simple standard would be whether more than half of the employees are happy with them.
Summary
Since it is currently a complete seller's market, companies need a "plus one" to prevent employee turnover and differentiate themselves in new recruitment.
For that reason, the role of benefits will continue to grow.
However, benefits are expected to be there, so one must remember that they do not have the power to change something on their own.
Good companies become better with good benefits, but in bad companies, no matter how good the benefits are, people will still leave...
That is something one must be careful about.