The influx of diverse demographic groups joining the workplace has triggered a revised approach to retain and motivate employees in the organisation. With human capital gaining prominence over financial capital in recent times, non–cash perquisites have gained significance in the rewards and benefits basket. Organisations are providing relevant non-financial rewards. which are in line with employees’ needs and aspirations.

Today, identifying the employee needs has become a common prerequisite in managing employee benefits. At the same time it is equally important to communicate the benefits to its beneficiaries, i.e. the employees, so that the employee benefit programme is perceived to be consistent and transparent.

Employers are choosing from a bouquet of employee benefit offerings such as life insurance, profit sharing, employee stock ownership plans, healthcare facilities, both, curative and preventive, meal benefits and child care availability amongst others. Going forward, the focus seems to be changing in this space, more towards flexi-plans, employee and family welfare and focus on protecting and preserving income. In order to provide the best employee experience, companies are outsourcing the benefits to specialized organisations who offer a wide array of work-life benefit solutions.

Another trend that is apparent is that organisations are investing a lot of effort in ensuring the perquisites are personalized and contextual to the employee. They understand that these initiatives will be valued by the employees most when they cater to their personal needs, aspirations and preferences. For instance, the recently released white paper by Edenred and Great Place to Work Institute- “Rewards and Recognition: Make a difference to the talent in your organisation” revealed that the senior leaders at TPG Software Pvt. Ltd. nominate people for awards while deliberating on factors like matching the rewards to achievements as well as to the person. All the awards offered to the awardees are aimed at offering something unique to the family members, which a common salaried person will certainly love to have but may not be able to buy.

Training & Development is another sphere which is gaining importance in the non-cash perquisites to an employee. Encouraging employees to exhibit their talent (which are not work related), and engaging them in extracurricular activities related to their interests and passions, is what progressive organisations are also looking at to imbibe in their work-life benefits practices. With elements such as work-life balance becoming a precondition in the consideration set for most organisations and their employees today, companies have also started offering flexible working hours or work from home facilities to their employees so as not to lose out on talented candidates who are unable to follow the regular work schedules.

The Indian service sector is growing and so are the expectations of Indian employees from their organisations. It will be interesting to observe how companies are moulding themselves to retain, reward, recognise and motivate them.

Sandeep Banerjee, MD & CEO Edenred India