Organizational Wellness

How HR Can Get the Most from a Flex Benefits Program

Last Updated Dec 9, 2024

Time to read: 8 minutes

If you want to maximize the impact of your perks program, personalizing your employee benefits can be a game-changer.

However, that’s easier said than done. With today’s workforce spanning five generations and each having unique benefit preferences, it can be challenging to meet everyone’s needs.

The good news is that there's something you can do to provide more customized perks: flex benefits. They allow your staff to choose what matters the most to them and receive a tailored package. This level of personalization can also be the key to attracting and retaining top talent, considering over 79% of employees want benefits customized to their needs and life stages, according to MetLife’s 2024 study.

While implementing a flex benefits program can be costly, correctly deploying it can generate great value. Here's how you can provide a flex benefits plan that keeps your workforce happy and productive.

What Are Flex Benefits?

Flex benefits, also called flexible benefits, are an employee compensation program that allows staff members to choose perks that suit them best. Unlike traditional, one-size-fits-all benefits plans that treat employees as a group with the same needs, a flex benefits program considers workers as individuals with varying requirements.

For example, a young employee who has recently become a dad or mom might be more interested in employer-provided child care, while an older adult closer to leaving the workforce is likely to choose attractive retirement plans. With flexible employee perks, each of these individuals can prioritize the benefits they value the most. So, your compensation packages work for everyone, no matter their life situation or age.

Advantages of Offering Flex Benefits

Is a program that allows employees to cherry-pick perks a good fit for your company? It just might be, as are multiple benefits from implementing it in your workplace.

Improves Job Satisfaction and Loyalty

About eight out of 10 employees want to choose their own perks, according to a MetLife survey, so offering flex benefits can be one way to keep your workers happy. The same research found a strong correlation between employee happiness and job satisfaction — the happier people are at work, the more satisfied they tend to feel with their jobs.

People who are satisfied with their jobs are less likely to leave their employers, reducing turnover rates. This results in higher employee retention, which may save you money, given that recruiting a new worker can be four times the cost of retaining one.

Attracts Top Talent

For over 80% of job seekers, a company’s benefits package is a critical factor in whether or not they accept an employment offer, according to a PeopleKeep survey. Since most employers already provide traditional employee perks required by law, offering flexible benefits as additional perks can set you apart from competitors and help you stand out in the labor market. They can be your secret weapon for recruiting and retaining the best talent.

Boosts Employee Engagement and Productivity

When you offer flex benefits, you give employees control over perks. They can choose what aligns with their life stage and priorities, from child care assistance for young parents to eldercare support for those looking after older adults at home.

This sense of control and customization can show employees that you take their needs seriously and value them. Workers who feel valued are highly engaged at work and more productive, according to Harvard Business Review.

Prevents Wasted Resources

Implementing a benefits program can be expensive — cost is the biggest hurdle for 56% of employers looking to offer one, according to a recent study by PeopleKeep. If you pour resources into benefits that employees rarely or never use, you stand to lose big money in deployment costs.

With a flex benefits program, you offer perks that employees actually want rather than what you think your staff needs. Instead of guessing their preferences, you let them choose what they find helpful, so you spend money on employee packages that people are likely to utilize consistently. This makes your investment in benefits more effective.

Types of Flex Benefits

When looking to support your employees with customizable perks they can tailor to their specific needs, you can offer them the following benefit plans:

Remote Work

This can be a desirable benefit for your staff, as almost everyone (87%) takes advantage of the opportunity, according to a McKinsey survey. Some would even trade off pay raises for the option to work from home.

However, flexible work setups may not suit every role in a company. Employees whose job positions demand physical presence may need to continue coming to the office. You can offer workers who can accomplish their professional duties from home a chance to work remotely full-time or part-time.

Wellness Programs

Wellhub’s State of Work-Life Wellness 2024 report found that 93% of employees believe their wellbeing is as vital as their salary. The same research revealed that 77% engage with their employer’s available wellness benefits, and 87% would consider quitting if these benefits are not offered.

That shows you just how much people crave better wellbeing at work.

Employee wellness programs such as gym memberships, meditation sessions, and yoga classes can promote workers’ physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Supporting your employees' overall wellness is good for business: it creates a healthier, more productive workforce and can significantly reduce your company’s healthcare costs.

Student Loan Repayment and Tuition Reimbursement

If folks in your workforce have student debts, you can offer loan repayment plans to lighten their burden and create goodwill for your company. How much to contribute is your choice. However, the maximum tax-free loan assistance is capped at$5,250 per employee per year, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

For employees who want toupskill or reskill by continuing their education, tuition reimbursement from the employer can cover expenses such as enrollment fees, exam charges, and learning material costs. This can be a great way to show employees that the company is interested in their professional development.

Employer-Assisted Childcare

Your organization can support workers with children in several ways, including:

Offering referrals to local, reputable daycare organizations

Building an on-premise daycare facility for your employees

Partnering with childcare service providers to offer affordable daycare services to your staff

Establish Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts for your workforce

Emerging Flex Benefits Trends

As global employee burnout spikes, employers are focusing more on mental wellness programs and will continue to do so in the future, according to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Organizations are increasingly educating their staff about the available mental wellness resources. They are also expanding their offerings to include emerging benefits, such as mental wellness days and mental wellbeing apps.

Because workplace flexibility can help counter rising burnout and is among the top three things that motivate employees to look for a new job, more companies are offering remote work options. This allows people to choose where and when to work, enabling workers to better balance their professional responsibilities and personal obligations.

How to Design and Implement a Flex Benefits Program (Step by Step)

Chances are, you want to set up customizable employee perks to enjoy advantages such as higher retention and increased job satisfaction. But where do you begin?

Step 1: Research Your Employees’ Needs

What type of flex benefits do your workforce want? Conduct internal HR surveys to identify what perks different people require. Use your findings to create a pool of perks that employees can choose from when creating a customized benefits package.

Since benefit programs are usually costly to deploy, researching your staff’s needs can help you avoid wasting money on employee perks that no one uses.

Step 2: Set Your Budget

How much your organization can comfortably spend on employee perks will determine the number and types of flex benefits you can offer. As you strive to give workers what they need, you want to provide only flexible packages that yourbudget can cover in the short and long term.

Step 3: Create Policies for Your Flex Benefit Plan

Once you decide on the range of benefits you’ll offer, the next thing is to develop rules that will govern the program. Explain how the perks work and clearly define eligibility criteria for each benefit. Before declaring the policies official, make sure your legal department reviews them for compliance with any applicable state and federal regulations.

Step 4: Inform Your Employees About the Program

Through official communication, such as a company-wide presentation, tell workers about the flex benefits you’ve decided to offer. Plus, give each of them a copy of the written policies you created in step three to keep everyone on the same page regarding enrollment and eligibility. Afterward, you can officially launch the program.

Step 5: Monitor and Adjust

Life circumstances can change. For example, if you have a small workforce, you may reach a point where you no longer need child care assistance as employees’ kids grow out of daycare age. Keeping tabs on how your employees’ requirements shift over time and tweaking your program accordingly can be a great way to ensure that your benefits stay relevant.

Offer More Flex Benefits With Wellness Programs

A flex benefits plan allows your employees to customize their compensation package to their needs. Allowing each individual to choose the benefits that matter the most to them can show employees that you value them. As a result, job satisfaction can grow, employee loyalty increases, and productivity spikes.

While there are multiple perks you can offer in your flex benefits programs, wellness initiatives are among the most desired: Nearly 90% of employees consider leaving a company that doesn't focus on wellbeing.

Speak with a Wellhub Wellbeing Specialist to learn how to start offering the best wellness initiatives in your flex benefits plan.

Company healthcare costs drop by up to 35% with Wellhub*

See how we can help you reduce your healthcare spending.

Talk to a Wellbeing Specialist

[*] Based on proprietary research comparing healthcare costs of active Wellhub users to non-users.