Every workforce has its strengths and challenges. One organisation might be very productive but suffer from a high turnover rate. Another might have great staff retention but find it hard to recruit. That said, in the current environment of economic uncertainty, many workplaces are experiencing more challenges than normal and are struggling as a result.

Despite often being overlooked, workplace benefits and rewards can play an important part in solving common organisational challenges.

If your workplace suffers from low productivity, you’re not alone. The UK in general struggles with low productivity and has done for well over a decade. While it’s not totally clear how to solve issues like this on a national scale, workplaces can address their own through well-placed workplace benefits and rewards.

Known to help boost talent retention rates and recruitment efforts – workplace benefits and rewards are something every business can benefit from. After all, organisations with strong retention rates have lower hiring costs, lower training costs, and a more skilled workforce. They also commonly have a more robust company culture and an all-around sense of stability. As for recruitment, this is important at any time – but especially so now. As many businesses know all too well, vacancies are at historically high levels.

How do workplace benefits and rewards help?

Workplace benefits and rewards boost the financial, mental, and physical wellbeing of employees. As such, they play a key part in keeping employees healthy and happy.

Unsurprisingly, happy and healthy employees make for a more productive workforce. Not only this, but happy and healthy employees are more likely to stay at their workplace for longer. What’s more, a robust provision can feed into a business’s wider reputation, sending out a clear signal that the company puts employee wellbeing at the heart of its operation.

Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all benefits package, just like there is no one-size-fits-all workplace. To ensure workplace benefits and rewards pack a punch, businesses have to tailor their provision according to their own challenges, factoring in both the demographics and wishes of their workforce.

For example, did you know that women are 12% more likely to suffer from vision loss compared to men? And that younger age groups tend to under-index on using occupational sick pay? It’s important to look at the demographic make-up of a workforce, and tailor benefits and rewards provision in response. This typically makes benefits provisions more effective, boosting employee uptake.

As for employee wishes, perhaps a significant number of staff members want a pay rise. This may be unaffordable for an organisation suffering from the cost-of-doing-business crisis. A better option might be to offer financial wellbeing-related benefits.

Lastly, it’s important to listen to what employees want from their benefits provision. Not only this, but it’s important to regularly review and improve your provision based on employee insights. Anonymous employee engagement surveys and one-to-one conversations can give a strong insight, as they let decision-makers understand the issues at play. For example, maybe the leadership team thinks a key employee stressor is pay, when in reality it’s work-life balance. In this instance, a benefit for annual leave purchase would be a great option – and would be more affordable for the organisation as well.

Employee wellbeing, organisational challenges

Our research found that only 11% of employees say they make full use of their workplace benefits and rewards. Often, this underuse is a result of employees not knowing how to access their benefits. Other times, this underuse is thanks to a lack of communication or a poorly tailored provision. But by not using these benefits, employees are missing out on up to £1,679 of savings through cashback and savings through employer-provided schemes.

The right benefits at the right time can motivate employees, boost morale, and keep teams engaged. Not only this, but workplace benefits and rewards can help organisations navigate a number of organisational challenges. Those that don’t bring these in and prioritise their employees’ wellbeing are at risk of losing key staff, and as such, losing revenue within a harsher economic climate. But those that do will solve the retention puzzle and guarantee themselves a happy, healthy workforce.