As one of Woodland’s top staffing firms, Pacific Staffing knows companies are constantly looking for newer and better ways to attract top talent. So how do you differentiate yourself when hiring? One way is through offering voluntary benefits.

Voluntary benefits are simply any type of work benefit outside of health insurance added to an employer’s menu of benefit offerings.

They can range from insurance products, like vision and dental coverage or long term care insurance, to the ability to work from home one day a week or access to legal and financial health counselors and education.

So while you might not be able to boost salaries or cover more of your team’s health insurance premiums, you can attract top candidates and retain them longer with the right mix of voluntary benefits. And in fact, studies show that 65% of employees think it’s important for their employers to offer voluntary benefits, while 47% haven’t been offered any such benefits.

Clearly, there’s an opportunity there if you’re looking to hire. So how else can you benefit? Here’s a look:

Helps you provide a more robust employee benefits package.

If you only offer health insurance to employees – but your top competitor offers flex scheduling, telecommuting options, and vision and dental – guess who’s going to get the top candidates? Voluntary benefits enable you to offer more…without necessarily paying more. In the case of insurance products, the employee is paying for the coverage using pre-tax dollars and at a discounted group price.

Helps boost employee loyalty.

Companies that offer employee benefits have an easier time retaining them. For instance, say you offer life insurance coverage. And, due to a medical issue, one of your employee’s has a hard time getting it on their own. Thanks to the simplified underwriting requirements for group purchases of life insurance, that employee can access coverage through your company voluntary benefits policy. So they’re incentivized to remain at your organization for as long as possible.

Helps you tailor your benefits to your workforce, resulting in happier employees.

Don’t offer a huge menu of voluntary benefits to your employees; it will just be confusing and overwhelming. Instead, the benefits you do offer should be tailored to the age, demographics, income level, and marital status of your employees.

It’s up to you to determine which benefits are right for your company and your workforce. However, one thing is clear: offering them is a win-win for both you and your employees, protecting their families and futures, without a huge price tag for you.

Need more recruiting and retention tips and advice? Call the experts at Pacific Staffing. As one of Woodland’s top staffing firms, we can help you recruit, hire and retain today’s top talent.

Contact us today to learn more.