What are Fringe Benefits and Why Your Employees Should Have Them

As a business owner, you want to have employee benefits to provide for the people you hire. These small business employee benefits are called fringe benefits. Fringe benefits are additional perks other than a standard salary. Read on to learn more about fringe benefits entail and why you should provide them for your employees.

What Are Fringe Benefits?

Fringe benefits are any type of benefit that you offer employees in exchange for their services, excluding salary. Having fringe benefits will improve employee retention and attract new employees. Employees are more likely to be engaged and satisfied, which can help boost overall productivity.

How Do Fringe Benefits Work?

The type of fringe benefits an employee will receive depends on the employer who can choose what will be provided to them. Employees have the chance to select the type of fringe benefits they are interested in during recruitment.

The ultimate goal is to have employees be comfortable at the workplace, but it will also benefit with the company because it will help you stand out for potential employees. Since fringe benefits serve as additional compensation, it can help retain your top employees besides just having a salary.

Examples of Fringe Benefits

The following are examples of fringe benefits available to employees.

Health and Dental Insurance

If your business employs 50 or more full time workers, you are legally required to provide health insurance. Offering health insurance coverage to your employees will make it easy for them to enroll in a plan. These health care plan cover visits to primary care physicians, doctors, and emergency care. Potential employees look for employers that offer health and dental insurance so if you offer them, they are more likely to accept your job offer.

Medical Leave

Medical leave is also required if you have more than 50 employees or full-time workers. The employee should work over one year with the company to get medical leave.

Tuition Assistance

A great way to keep your employees is to provide tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement. A lot of people want to go to school to learn and improve their skillset but still work.

Retirement Plans

Providing retirement plan contributions is a common fringe benefit most employers have. Saving for retirement is essential for many adults and offering a 401(k) or IRA will be beneficial for the employees.

Paid Time Off

Paid time off is another fringe benefit that most companies have. An employee will work a certain amount of time or hours before they can start earning paid time off. The paid time off can be used for vacation days, sick days, or personal days.

Employee Discounts

Employee discounts are also a great incentive to attract or keep customers. Most people that work for a business who have employee discounts will use that discount to purchase the item or product.

Other Examples

Those listed above are typically the main fringe benefits that employers have but others include, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, work from home flexibility, life insurance, adoption assistance and more.

Why You Should Offer Fringe Benefits

Employee Acquisition

When people are seeking for a job and your business offers fringe benefits, but the other company does not, they will most likely be more attracted your job since it has the fringe benefits.

Employee Retention

If you have fringe benefits you will have a high retention on your employees. This improves employee morale and can positively impact productivity which helps you reach your goals fast and efficient.

The Bottom Line

Before you start adding all types of fringe benefits to your business, think about what your objectives are and how much can afford because they can be costly. Think what benefits would best fit your business and employees and pick the ones that would be most valuable.