Adopt Employee-Cantered Benefits

Why Gen Z?

Gen Z is slowly taking over the US workforce, which means every employer should be looking to change their benefits offerings to attract top talent in this pool. The challenge here is that Gen Z are very different people compared to their predecessors:

• They prefer employers with a social impact.
• They want creative opportunities in the workplace.
• They crave upward mobility.
• They value employee wellness and work-life balance.
•  They want to be heard, and so they expect vocal leadership.

Here’s another truth about Gen Z: they don’t mind job hopping until they find employers and company culture satisfactory. 

So, as an employer, you have your work cut out for you if you want to recruit and retain top talent among the Gen Z pool. But there is an easy way out: offering employee-centred benefits.

Why Employee-Centered Benefits?

Traditional yet seemingly modern employee wellness ideas like retirement plans and healthcare are essential but not all enticing to the Gen Z workforce. The expectations of younger workers are different. 

They want benefits that support their idea of a healthy lifestyle just as much as they want fair compensation for their work, hence, employee wellness and work-life balance. In a word, wellness program ideas with a holistic approach to it appeal more to top talent in the Gen Z pool. 

Think about it this way: to be a productive organization, you must focus on individual wellness program ideas. The challenge, however, is that you might still hold on to the belief that it is essential to offer benefits that meet your industry benchmark to stay abreast of competition. 

Notwithstanding, more than offering what is trending or seems appropriate in the market, the key to providing the best workplace wellness programs is to gather and assess data from your employees and organization, figure out what matters, and then come up with effective employee wellness ideas.

Why? Because what is trending is not necessarily what is useful to your employees. If it were, there would be no issues of underutilization of current organizational employee wellness ideas. The dismal participation rate for employee benefits plans is 20%. 

As such, it is crucial to understand that your employees are unique to your organization, making this the basis for creating wellness program ideas that you can leverage to attract and retain Gen Z top talent. 

The next question then becomes how?

Let Your Employees Lead

The challenge of creating the best workplace wellness programs is that you must develop benefits offerings that support the life employees have outside your organization while offering value or a quality work experience within the organization without messing up your bottom line. 

The good news is that employee wellness and work-life balance programs that also attract and retain top talent inspire productivity, and peak productivity is suitable for your bottom line. And yes, it starts by letting your employees lead you when curating your wellness program ideas. 

For instance, burnout and mental health issues are on the rise in the workplace. As such, prioritizing the well-being of your employees in these areas makes you an employer of choice for Gen Z top talent because they are issues they are dealing with often. 

And you can offer support for mental health, employee wellness, and work-life balance by making your workflow easy and efficient and providing self-help resources to encourage an inclusive internal culture that is equally non-toxic.

Remember, one of the most prevalent causes of employee turnover is poor management and leadership – fostering a healthy and non-toxic work culture will retain your top talent more. Your employees leave your managers, not their jobs, in most cases. 

Another example is the provision of long-term disability benefits. These are considered more important than short-term disability benefits because they can replace income and offset medical bills. So, this looks better in your benefits offering, especially if you combine it with worker’s compensation, state disability insurance, or paid family medical leave. 

The key is to take a human-centered approach when determining what needs your top talent Gen Z workers have and then creating wellness program ideas that meet these needs. However, you need data and analytics to do this so that you can meet individual employee needs. 

That means studying to understand your employees’ persona, how they relate to their work, and their benefits utilization. Then, identify gaps in your benefits strategy from employee feedback and curate new wellness program ideas that meet the direct needs of your employees. 

Keep in mind that you are dealing with workers in their 20s. Their needs are much different to millennial employees or boomers close to retirement. 

For example, where boomers are more concerned about their financial wellness after retirement, Gen Z employees might be more inclined to choose employers with a robust pet insurance policy with an added bereavement benefit. 

Additionally, Gen Z is more tech-savvy, so solutions like AI therapy chatbots and health wearables contribute significantly to the ease of accessing employee wellness and work-life balance offerings. 

Younger employees are also likely to find companies that share their eco-friendly values, which means they might look at a company’s sustainable practices more than they might look at their traveling benefits.

Conclusion: Celebrate and Support Your Employees!

When it comes to collecting the best workplace wellness programs to attract and retain Gen Z top talent, put your employees’ needs first, investing in satisfying your employees requires you to think about their financial, social, mental, physical, and spiritual health.

Offer wellness programs that cover these areas, boost your top talent’s overall wellness, and see your productivity soar and your turnover rates reduced. Don’t let this scare you, too; employee wellness ideas and services like mentorship or volunteer opportunities can help you offer a holistic wellness program without necessarily breaking the bank. 

Be creative, think about what top talent Gen Z employees need, and commit to offering what suits them best – it will work in favor of your company. 

If you need help curating benefits that attract and retain top talent Gen Z workers or workers that appeal to your organization, talk to us.