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HR Party of One is brought to you by BerniePortal.

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An attractive benefits package is one of your best tools to recruit and retain talent.

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As an HR Party of One, creating a competitive benefits package is likely part of your role–we

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covered it in depth in a previous episode, which I’ll link for you in the description.

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Unless you have a background in benefits, it may be tricky to brainstorm what benefits

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your candidates want most.

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Large companies have an easier time of it because of access to resources, but at a small

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to midsized business, you need to be creative.

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This episode will guide you through trending benefits for SMBs in 2024 and beyond, so you

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can glean what other companies in your industry might be using to entice talent.

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So, let’s cover: What Benefits Trends Are Most Popular?;

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What Benefits Trends Are Dying Out?; and, What Benefits Trends Should SMBs Anticipate?

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Let’s get started!

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-What Benefits Trends Are Most Popular?

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Standard benefits are still well-loved: retirement benefits, health insurance, etc.

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The government enacted SECURE Act 2.0 to enable SMBs to offer better retirement benefits,

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which I’ll provide information about in the description.

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Empowering employees to secure their financial freedom is a huge draw.

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However, fringe benefits can wax and wane in popularity dependent on multiple factors,

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like the generational makeup of your workforce.

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Childcare benefits may be popular amongst certain age groups, whereas tuition reimbursement

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holds much more sway with others.

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However, your organization may not be able to offer some benefits.

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If you only have 75 employees, tuition reimbursement could be challenging to offer.

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It’s a huge drain on your budget, which can negatively impact your ability to offer

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other benefits your workforce may prefer.

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As an HR Party of One, you want to offer your workforce the best benefits possible.

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That’s why it’s so important to look at benefits trends that impact your organization.

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Here are some popular benefits that smaller employers have found success offering:

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-Flexible schedules.

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Many workers seek employment where they have flexible start and stop times, particularly

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within industries concerning finance, technology, and office-centered roles.

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While hourly employees have much less flexibility with come and go, salary workers consider

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this benefit a key point of interest when applying for roles.

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Mental health assistance.

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There are multiple ways to offer mental health assistance to your workforce.

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Employers that offer EAPs, or employee assistance programs, find that employees are more likely

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to feel improved mental health and trust in their employer.

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In some cases, they can increase productivity and reduce turnover, as reported by the SHRM

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article I’ve linked.

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These programs can offer free counseling sessions, substance abuse recovery aid, and more.

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A common drawback is that it can be complicated to offer an EAP as people may not know how

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to take advantage of it.

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A benefits administration like BerniePortal can host plan documents and instructions on

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how to use benefits, plus provide data reports on how much of your workforce elects certain

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offerings.

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A ben admin system can increase employee trust in your HR role by demystifying benefits for

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your workforce.

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The current talent market considers employer-sponsored mental well-being a critically important benefit,

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so an EAP hosted within a ben admin is a great way for SMBs to offer mental health support.

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Physical health incentives.

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While many HR pros are well aware that companies offer gym memberships as a health incentive,

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that’s far from the only option out there.

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One HR pro in my community told me how her organization incentivizes consistent wellness

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by putting employees together on an app that can track health initiatives, such as quitting

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smoking, running, yoga, etc.

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Some apps can monetize their efforts, so do your research to see which sort of initiatives

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best fit the makeup of your workforce.

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While these benefits are certainly popular, what if your current benefits package is clogged

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with things that are either no longer attractive to employees or are becoming less viable to

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offer?

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What Benefits Trends Are Dying Out?

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Some benefits, while still valued, are slowly dying out from competitive benefits plans.

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This can happen for various reasons.

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For example, pension plans are losing popularity as other retirement plans, like 401(k)s, outcompete

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due to their flexibility and accessibility.

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Pension plans aren’t alone, however.

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Here are some other benefits that are losing popularity:

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Remote work.

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It almost feels taboo to say it, but remote work is slowly disappearing from the benefits

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of open roles.

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From 2022 to 2023, the World Economic Forum reported that 12.4% of employers that had

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formerly offered remote options no longer do so.

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For many businesses, telework is no longer a viable solution, and as the world moves

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on from pandemic-era concerns, many companies are returning to collaborative, in-person

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spaces.

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On the job training and development.

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While this is a benefit that is trending less, that isn’t because it’s not necessary

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nor wanted.

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Many candidates simply expect this to be built into their role now, rather than offered as

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a benefit.

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Employers promoting this as a benefit should consider the expectations of their ideal applicants.

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If this is a staple of your sales pitch during the recruitment process, consider reframing

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it as “career growth opportunities” or “compensation transparency,” if you can.

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For more information, check out the HR Party of One episode on levels documents, which

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I linked for you.

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While some other benefits are dipping in popularity, many of them apply to larger businesses.

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For more information on this, I linked a Forbes article that covers them in depth.

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What Benefits Trends Should SMBs Anticipate?

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We’ve covered current popular benefits and benefits that are declining in popularity.

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But what about benefits that are gaining popularity?

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HR pros, and their benefits brokers, should remain ahead of the trends so they can formulate

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the most competitive package.

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You can also use this show, HR Party of One, as your key resource to staying in the know

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and in the lead in such a competitive talent market.

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So, here are our top picks from surveys across the nation for trending benefits over the

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next few years:

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Increased Identity Protection.

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This is a minor benefit that shows major results.

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Here at BerniePortal, nearly 100% of our workforce participates in the Allstate Identity Protection

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plan.

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It’s inexpensive for an SMB to offer, but it reports to users the status of their credit

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by monitoring their identity across the internet.

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Incentives to read.

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BetterBookClub, founded by Arnie Malham, is a service that promotes workplace initiatives

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to read books that further skills and knowledge, careers, and self-development.

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We recently added this incentive to our org, and I already have employees competing on

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the leaderboards for who reads the most.

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This also falls in line with our organizational culture.

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We encourage everyone to follow the levels document, which shows skill growth measured

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against variable compensation increases, and some avid readers are now upskilling themselves

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actively.

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This benefit is a big win for both my employees, who are paid by their employer to read pre-selected

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books, and my leadership team, who can guide the growth of each direct report.

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Weightloss drug access and support.

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This rising trend is likely to overwhelm other popular benefits in the coming years.

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Drugs like Ozempic are flooding the news as the easy weightloss solution people want.

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Some surveys report more interest in weightloss drug access than more PTO!

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Right now, weightloss medications are pricey, with some racking up at $1,000 or more.

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So, people are turning to their employers for help gaining employer-sponsored access

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to the drugs.

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For SMBs, consider connecting with your benefits broker for their insight.

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As Eli Lilly’s competing product for Ozempic hits American markets, SMBs can take advantage

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and get ahead of the trend.

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As an HR Party of One, one of your biggest strengths is your ability to get creative

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when it comes to fostering a better place to work.

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One of the ways you can do so is by getting ahead of the trends so you can outcompete

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other organizations keen to hire your talent.

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For more information about you can leverage HR technology to hire the best talent and

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keep it, talk to one of our experts.

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Remember—your role is as strategic as you make it!

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That’s it for this episode!

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Subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notifications about our newest episodes,

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which are released every Tuesday and Thursday!

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As always, thanks for watching.