There’s no way around it. Your employee’s traditional turkey dinner is going to be a lot more expensive this year.
How much more? Whole 8-16 pound turkeys are expected rise to $1.99 per pound this year, a 73% year-over-year increase. And if you’d settle for a turkey breast versus the whole bird, forget it. Skinless turkey breast reached a record high of $6.70 per pound in September. That’s 112% higher than last year.
As an employer, you can’t go back in time to address supply chain inflation that caused the price of Thanksgiving to more than double this year, but you do have the power to help your employees afford what some might argue is the most important home-cooked, family meal of the year.
The boss who saved Thanksgiving
Yes, there is a way to make employees 74% more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, 53% more productive, and 51% more likely to say they want to remain employed by you over the next 12 months.
Those impressive stats belong to companies who offer something called Lifestyle Spending Accounts. This program is vast and can cover several “outside of work” benefits like physical wellness, financial wellness, entertainment, food and dining, and more.
How much you’re really spending in 2022
Outside of healthcare, and commuter benefits, a great way to add value and subtract stress from your employees’ lives is to offer Lifestyle Spending Accounts.
You can choose the amount your employees can spend. Your employees will have the flexibility to choose how they want to spend the funds. Lifestyle Spending Accounts also reduce administrative burden and streamline efficiencies in managing the programs your employees want to use their funds toward.
Because of high inflation, families are spending an average of $445 more each month – and a good part of that is going to food. Food inflation is sitting at an average of 13% – that’s the highest it’s been in over 40 years.
Providing your employees with Lifestyle Spending Accounts would substantially cut their bill down – and possibly save Thanksgiving altogether.
Providing a benefit like this is easier to implement than you might think. It’s also very attractive to future employees. In fact, according to a Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey, 80% of employees would choose more benefits over a pay raise.
How to get started
Lifestyle Spending Accounts are easier to implement than you may think. It can be as simple as handing out a prepaid card and setting a monthly or quarterly limit.
At Edenred, we can help you customize and run a Lifestyle Spending Accounts program that works for your business, and we’d love to talk to you about it. Schedule a meeting with us today so we can discuss the best options for you and your employees.
