Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Good for You, Good for Your Employer

What would you think if you looked at your paycheck this week to find that your employer had paid you in Kazakhstani tenges instead of U.S. dollars?

Even though tenges are a legitimate currency on the world market and easily converted to U.S. dollars, most of us would probably have the feeling we were holding something worthless.

It’s kind of like that when it comes to employee benefits. For years employers have struggled to find ways to get their workers to appreciate employee benefits.

That’s because the healthcare subsidies, vacation pay, sick time, and other benefits add up quickly and can often account for 50 percent or more of an individual’s paycheck.

Sponsored
Sponsored

But who values them like that?

Some do, but others don’t. Even in companies with lavish benefit packages designed to make their employees happy, there is grumbling that benefits are underappreciated.

Part of that is because companies simply haven’t done a good job of explaining benefits – or their value – to employees.

When a company explains to an employee that it spends equivalent to 15 percent of the employee’s paycheck just to pay for healthcare for a family of four, the message starts to sink in.

Yet, too many companies offer benefits such a tuition or retirement investment plans that are very important to the people who use them but not the general workforce that isn’t going to school or planning for retirement.

In human resources, they are very aware of the maxim that no matter how much an employee benefit can help an individual, it’s no good if it goes unused.

The Principal Financial Group has been trying to get companies to recognize that employee benefit packages are important. They’ve drawn on the experiences of the 100 companies who have won Principal’s “best practices” awards over the past decade.

And, it found overwhelming evidence that benefits are worth the investment by the company. Three-quarters of the 100 companies it studied report that benefits programs had a significant impact on retention and recruitment, two of the most costly obligations of employers. The surveyed companies said they averaged less than half the turnover of others in their industry.

They also revealed that exemplary benefit programs lead to stronger employee morale, greater competitive advantage, and better safety records.

“As one HR director puts it, you can’t have customer satisfaction without employee satisfaction,” says Angelia Herrin, special projects editor for the Harvard Business Review. “A good benefits program’s connection to employee security, motivation, and performance couldn’t be more clear.”

Just ask the employees. They feel benefits make a difference.

But economic times have ushered in some dramatic cost-cutting during the past three or four years. As healthcare costs rise, more employers are scaling back their coverage to hold costs in line.

Principal Financial offers a contrarian view. It says that employers who invest more in employee wellness programs today will be doing themselves and their employees a long-term favor by increasing wellness and controlling healthcare costs.

It’s as if the tenges on your paycheck just turned into dollars.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Prime Wheel in Tijuana cracks down on employees after worker disappears

Maquila co-workers turn on man's wife
Next Article

Codename Stasis found its format at SDSU

Local zine tells a magical local story

What would you think if you looked at your paycheck this week to find that your employer had paid you in Kazakhstani tenges instead of U.S. dollars?

Even though tenges are a legitimate currency on the world market and easily converted to U.S. dollars, most of us would probably have the feeling we were holding something worthless.

It’s kind of like that when it comes to employee benefits. For years employers have struggled to find ways to get their workers to appreciate employee benefits.

That’s because the healthcare subsidies, vacation pay, sick time, and other benefits add up quickly and can often account for 50 percent or more of an individual’s paycheck.

Sponsored
Sponsored

But who values them like that?

Some do, but others don’t. Even in companies with lavish benefit packages designed to make their employees happy, there is grumbling that benefits are underappreciated.

Part of that is because companies simply haven’t done a good job of explaining benefits – or their value – to employees.

When a company explains to an employee that it spends equivalent to 15 percent of the employee’s paycheck just to pay for healthcare for a family of four, the message starts to sink in.

Yet, too many companies offer benefits such a tuition or retirement investment plans that are very important to the people who use them but not the general workforce that isn’t going to school or planning for retirement.

In human resources, they are very aware of the maxim that no matter how much an employee benefit can help an individual, it’s no good if it goes unused.

The Principal Financial Group has been trying to get companies to recognize that employee benefit packages are important. They’ve drawn on the experiences of the 100 companies who have won Principal’s “best practices” awards over the past decade.

And, it found overwhelming evidence that benefits are worth the investment by the company. Three-quarters of the 100 companies it studied report that benefits programs had a significant impact on retention and recruitment, two of the most costly obligations of employers. The surveyed companies said they averaged less than half the turnover of others in their industry.

They also revealed that exemplary benefit programs lead to stronger employee morale, greater competitive advantage, and better safety records.

“As one HR director puts it, you can’t have customer satisfaction without employee satisfaction,” says Angelia Herrin, special projects editor for the Harvard Business Review. “A good benefits program’s connection to employee security, motivation, and performance couldn’t be more clear.”

Just ask the employees. They feel benefits make a difference.

But economic times have ushered in some dramatic cost-cutting during the past three or four years. As healthcare costs rise, more employers are scaling back their coverage to hold costs in line.

Principal Financial offers a contrarian view. It says that employers who invest more in employee wellness programs today will be doing themselves and their employees a long-term favor by increasing wellness and controlling healthcare costs.

It’s as if the tenges on your paycheck just turned into dollars.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library
Next Article

Frank Zane has already won

But don’t call former Mr. Universe retired
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader