It's no secret - healthcare is the fastest-growing sector of our economy, estimated to grow 19% in the coming years. As a result, hiring and retaining the best talent is a growing challenge.
Poised for big growth, healthcare companies like yours are already budgeting for higher salary demands and boosting employee engagement initiatives. But, this alone won't set your organization apart when it comes to talent acquisition.
This is where voluntary benefits come in.
To win the talent war, innovative healthcare companies are starting to offer increasingly valuable (and often unheard of) benefits to attract the best employees and keep them around longer, too.
Here are the top four employee benefits healthcare companies should consider this year.
1. Financial Wellness
If one benefit alone could lead to healthier employees, lower turnover rates, reduce absenteeism all while raising employee satisfaction and elevating your brand as an employer, it would be a no-brainer, right?
Offering financial wellness as an employee benefit has these proven results. Many healthcare workers are incredibly educated but in loads of debt struggle with personal financial literacy.
Top employers are partnering with financial wellness providers like LearnLux that are fun & engaging for employees, and fast to set up so hiring managers can quickly start promoting this benefit as part of their packages.
Access to unbiased Financial Advisors and interactive online tools are key components, along with program independence.
With holistic employee wellness strategies in mind, healthcare companies are adding this #1 most asked-for benefit to their benefits strategies to stay competitive.
2. Caregiver Benefits
Between clinical duties, administrative tasks, and keeping up with medical advances, your employees are wearing a lot of hats. For many, their work continues at home as well; reports show that three out of four U.S. workers have caregiving responsibilities to a parent, spouse, or senior loved one.
The Caring Company research report from Harvard Business School's Future of Work Project shows that a growing "caregiver crisis" is creating millions of dollars in hidden costs for U.S. firms from employee turnover and absenteeism.
Innovative workplaces are now offering employer-paid memberships to online caregiver resources, paid family leave, and free programs for finding and managing care.
3. Maternity / Paternity Leave
Parental leave is a powerful benefit when it comes to attracting and retaining talent in the workforce.
Beyond doing the right thing by your team, offering a competitive maternity and paternity leave benefit at your company can finally reduce the cost of turnover from employees who feel unable to continue work immediately after a life-changing event like starting a family.
With a long-term talent acquisition and retention strategy in mind, parental leave is a must-have.
4. Commuting Allowance
Getting to and from work can be one of the biggest challenges your employees face during their workdays, and that’s saying a lot when you work in healthcare.
Offering a commuting allowance benefit shows that you understand and appreciate the effort they take to come into the office every day and do their best work. A commuting allowance can be offered as either a subsidy, pretax payroll deduction or a combination of both.
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Beyond immediate competitive advantage, adding benefits like these will help take healthcare companies like yours into the future of work.
Many of the next major wins in healthcare will demand companies to think differently about physician retention. Having the right talent on your team (and keeping them long-term) will be the way that top healthcare organizations will rise above the rest.