Adapting Employee Benefits to Suit New Work Arrangements

A generous salary doesn’t always carry the same weight that it used to. Rather than letting this one single metric drive their next career move, many job hunters are now evaluating prospective offers based on a broad range of factors. 

“It used to be, let’s just throw dollars at them,” says Emma Tolhurst, Director of Client Services for London- and Toronto-based change management consultancy Kin&Co. “Now, people want to be paid for the value of work that they do, but they also want to have a certain quality of life.” Tolhurst works with organizations to help them navigate big moments of transformation and adapt their office culture accordingly. Her advice to employers looking to stay competitive when it comes to talent acquisition: invest more time into developing holiday policies, health programs and other fringe perks. “The more thoughtful the benefits package is, the more attractive a role is,” she says.

Granted, in 2023, that’s really only half the story. A key complication is the fact that these evolving employee priorities have coincided with a significant restructuring of the workforce. “In the past, 90 per cent of a business might have been full-time employees, with 10 percent contractors,” Tolhurst explains. “Now, it could be 50-50 — with more people part of the so-called ‘gig economy.’” As a result, a large portion of a company’s team might be tapping in and out on a project-by-project basis.

Other staff members might never even set foot in the same office as their colleagues, with remote work remaining very common in the aftermath of the pandemic. All of these rapid shifts run the risk of giving a company’s HR department whiplash. “We were already seeing workforce changes over the past 10 years, but in the past two years, it’s been extreme,” Tolhurst says. As a result, one of the big challenges she’s been helping companies tackle lies in meeting the new expectations of workers who might be employed by the same organization, but under wildly different terms.

No matter what someone’s employment type, Tolhurst stresses the importance of offering them some type of support. “If you’re not taking care of your staff, you’ll see the negative impact of that in terms of having more workers off because of stress- or health-related concerns,” she says. “And from a business perspective, that impacts your bottom line.”

She feels that the most important benefit that employers can offer is actually an intangible one: a demonstration that they are committed to everyone’s well-being. “It’s about recognizing that duty of care,” she says. From there, a company needs to strategize about the best way for them to meet that responsibility — for full-time employers and autonomous gig workers alike.

Tolhurst believes that a good place for a business to start is by taking inspiration from its core purpose. “People want to join a place where they see their personal values connected to the business,” she says. “In terms of benefits, that might have to do with holistic care, but also with diversity, or the learning opportunities and professional development offered there,” she says. In short, by building a culture that reflects its values, a company attracts individuals who align with those values.

Mind you, that might not mean offering everyone the same coverage. Instead, Tolhurst says that we have entered an era of “creative HR” — inspiring a rise in tailor-made benefit plans that speak directly to an individual, the industry that they’re working in and the type of employment that they have at a company. “There used to be a standard package,” she says. “Now it really has to be unique to each human.” 

One way for businesses to address a wide range of needs is to embrace the idea of fixed and flexible benefits, offering a set base package but also giving people a menu of additional coverage options that they can select from. “If you want to become a parent, you might choose maternity and paternity-related benefits or childcare support. Whereas if you’re at the end of your career, you might want more holiday leave,” Tolhurst explains. 

When it comes to addressing remote workers in particular, she has seen companies have success with HR employees who are dedicated to checking in with workers who might otherwise be neglected. “It’s easier to manage people locally and make sure that you’re doing the right things for them, but if a company sees value in physical flexibility, they need to adapt.”

In general, Tolhurst believes that some degree of workplace flexibility remains a must across the board. That said, she cautions against the assumption that every employee wants to be a freelancer structuring their own workday from home. “Autonomy sounds wonderful, but it can be disconcerting to younger people with little experience,” she says. “And you need them to work with you, because they’re bringing new ideas and new thinking.”

On the other hand, she feels that mandating all employees return to work at a full five-day work week is also the wrong approach. “Invest time in thinking about flexibility and what that means for your organization,” she says. For businesses that value in-person work, she believes they need to incentivize those who are reporting for duty in-person. “Someone may have to spend more time in the office, but maybe they’ll be paid more for that — and they’ll get more out of their career, because they’re going to be there for that intangible collaboration.”

Given that there no longer seems to be a one-size-fits-all solution to developing an effective benefits approach, ultimately Tolhurst stresses that it never hurts to simply ask people what they want. “When you’re hiring people, ask them, ‘What are the things you would like to see us do?’” she says. “And as you then think about what you can offer that is realistic, build a bank of data for your organization with profiles for different types of people and capabilities and contracts.” She believes this type of conversation is just as critical during exit interviews. “Ask someone why they left — was it because the benefits weren’t good enough? If you don’t do your due diligence, you're just going to lose people because they're going to think, ‘You don’t care about me, and I’m going to go somewhere that does.”