Why Offering Benefits to Remote Employees Is a Good Thing
With over a third of the nation working remotely and more than 40% doing remote and hybrid work, it is predicted that by 2025 one out of five Americans will work remotely. The Covid pandemic might have ended, but remote work is just becoming more accepted and desirable.
With remote teams becoming so prevalent, many companies are transitioning to a remote work model. To keep remote team members engaged and motivated and provide a positive employee experience, it is essential to offer them benefits that cater to their unique challenges and needs.
Remote workers are people who do their jobs outside of an employer-owned-and-operated office space. Before the pandemic, only a small fraction of all employees was working remotely.
In the coming year, 36.2 million people in the country are expected to work from home—a 78 percent increase from before the arrival of Covid.
Taking advantage of a remote workforce by not offering them benefits can quickly make them feel ignored or demotivated. Regardless of where your employees work from, they need to know they are valued.
Why the Future of Talent Is Remote
Forbes reported, “a staggering 98% of workers expressed the desire to work remotely, at least part of the time.” The autonomy, flexibility, and healthy balance it provides between work and life feeds what was once considered a trend.
When you examine the age group most associated with remote work, it’s easy to see the future of the talent pool swims here. Forbes showed “the highest percentage of remote workers are aged 24 to 35.”
Within this age group, one quarter worked remotely part time while almost 40% remained in a remote work environment full time, leaving the smallest segment still commuting. Organizations looking to attract members from this group should pay heed.
Who Is Covering the Expenses of Remote Work?
Remote employees often miss out on traditional amenities provided within office settings. A remote worker uses their home’s electric, Wi-Fi, water, heat/AC throughout work hours, and more.
What about office supplies and computer equipment? There’s a lot to think about when employees work remotely.
Aside from ensuring workers are provided with the necessary physical and digital tools, including effective digital communication for video calls or video conferencing, remote team members need to feel their unique needs are being considered and covered.
Offering the right benefits show a commitment to the well-being of remote workers.
Why Offer Benefits to Remote Employees
Providing benefits to remote employees can help optimize engagement and boost retention. Even without the face-to-face interaction, they need to feel seen, heard, valued and supported.
This will make them more likely to be productive and loyal to the company.
Offering the right type of benefits to remote workers also helps attract top talent in a competitive job market.
1. Boost Satisfaction and Loyalty
Providing benefits fosters satisfaction and loyalty among remote employees. It shows the company values their contributions and well-being even if they are not in the office physically. This can lead to increased productivity and long-term commitment.
When people feel valued and appreciated it can easily improve morale and motivation.
2. Improve Recruitment and Retention
What will make your company stand out? Offering benefits that are designed to make working remotely easier sets an organization apart from competitors who may not offer the same type of perks.
Employees are far more likely to stay with a company that shows how much it values them.
Remote team members often struggle to maintain a healthy balance between work and their personal life. Set clear expectations of when these workers need to be available to tackle their job roles and when they can unplug from their digital communication tools and be unavailable.
Benefits such as defined but flexible hours can help alleviate the type of stress that comes when an employee is not in a physical office. Just because they now technically live “at work” does not mean they shouldn’t have defined work hours within this remote setting.
Improved work-life balance leads to happier, healthier, and more productive employees.
4. Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Remote work allows companies to recruit international hires, bringing in talent from all over the world. Offering a well-devised benefit package ensures that all employees are treated fairly and equally no matter the time zones involved.
Global hiring promotes diversity and inclusion within the company.
5. Increase Employee Engagement
From supporting mental and physical health with Lifestyle Benefits to offering perks that help them manage their day to day expenses, it is easy to increase employee engagement when remote team members feel more understood and connected with their work.
Engaged employees are more likely to go above and beyond in their roles.
Remote workers may feel disconnected from their team and company culture. Using the right collaboration tools so fully remote employees still feel connected and offering benefits that bring them together can help bridge this gap and create a sense of belonging.
Healthy relationships and effective communication are crucial for remote team success.
7. Promote Health and Wellness
Fewer sick days are always a good thing. Health and wellness benefits can promote work-life balance among remote employees, and mental and physical well-being contribute to overall job performance.
This holistic approach to benefits improves employee satisfaction and retention.
By providing benefits that cater to remote employees’ needs, companies can greatly increase retention rates and reduce costly turnovers.
Gallup cites the cost of replacing an employee range from one-half to two times that individual’s annual salary.
Aside from lowering the traditional operating costs of running a physical office space like rent and utilities, cleaning and security, remote workers are often more content in their own remote work environments, leading to lower rates of employee turnover.
Global Workplace Analytics estimates if everyone who wished to join the remote workforce did so even half the time, the savings would be over $700 billion annually.
10. Decreased Environmental Impacts
Team members in a remote work setting don’t have to commute to the office every day. This decreases the environmental impact your business has.
Even if hybrid work is offered, it will decrease the number of weekly commutes.
This is a hot item right now, and showing employees your business is thinking green can help attract and retain employees and customers.
The Best Benefits for Remote Employees
Now that the benefits of remote work are clear, what can you offer to increase the job satisfaction of remote workers? Think of each individual employee, each team member, and how you can make that remote employees feel seen, heard, connected, and appreciated.
Each team member could have different needs. This is why Edenred makes flexible benefits that can provide for the various needs of a remote workforce.
Edenred’s AnytimePay feature allows remote employees to access their earnings whenever they need them, providing financial flexibility and peace of mind.
Workers can instantly add funds from their next paycheck to a prepaid card with the click of a button.Your employees will have access to their pay in between paydays when they need it.
The prepaid card can be used to purchase food at restaurants, grocery stores, and via food delivery apps. Most employees find this perk incredibly helpful in while doing remote work.
AnytimePay is quick and easy! Remote workers can load funds in seconds, even while they are standing in line at the grocery store, and they will have the added benefit of not using high interest credit cards.
Edenred’s Lifestyle Benefits platform offers remote employees access to discounts on a variety of products and services, things important to one employee might not be to other employees.
With Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSA), money is set aside for workers to use on their choice of well-being expenditures, saving them money and improving their quality of life.
Eligible expenses include the following:
- Food
- Entertainment
- Education
- Clothing and household furnishings
- Family and pets
- Transportation and mobility
- Travel
- Physical well-being and self-care
- And more
Wellness programs can help remote employees stay healthy and motivated. Offering benefits like virtual fitness classes and mental health resources can improve employee well-being and productivity. These can be included as part of Lifestyle Spending Accounts. Your team members can access the following:
- Gym memberships
- Fitness classes
- Workout gear
- Massages
- Yoga classes
- And more
What Can Edenred Do for You
Offering benefits to remote workers is a wise investment that can yield numerous positives for both the employees, the business, and the environment.
Companies that prioritize the well-being of their remote employees are more likely to succeed in today’s competitive business landscape.
Tailoring those benefits to a remote workers’ unique needs can optimize engagement and boost retention. Want to create a supportive and engaging work environment for remote employees?
Contact Edenred today, and we’ll help you get started!
