Rewind to 20 years ago and employers would ask interviewees what they could bring to the table. Here we are, entering 2020, and candidates for a job are asking employers, “What can you do for me?” Millennials are interested in the many way’s companies can help, and we’re not just talking higher salaries. They need medical, dental, and whatever other benefits you can offer them. Not to mention, they love a good 401k match, too.
Baby boomers and older generations don’t always quite understand the transformation in the workplace. How did we become so focused on employees? Nowadays, the workplace is an employee-centered environment. There is something everyone can learn from millennials though. This generation seems to have the whole “work-life balance” down.
Is it important to be 100 percent on the job when you are at work? Yes. Is it important to have a healthy, happy work environment? Yes. However, when you are on the job 24/7, it makes it difficult to maintain a healthy work environment. You become stressed, exhausted and distracted. Even though you are working longer hours, you are not getting nearly as much done as you should.
As much of a transformation as millennials bring to the workforce, they are also good workers, and they are our future. They bring strong technical skills too, which has huge potential for businesses today. If you aren’t attracting millennials to your workplace, you are missing out.
So how does a business attract millennials? By having benefits that can help them and that they can’t find anywhere else. Recently, a new benefit is gaining popularity in the United States: the lifestyle savings account (LSA). The upside to this benefit is not many companies have started to offer it yet, which allows you to stand out from the rest of the pack.
A lifestyle spending account is an employer-funded account that is dedicated to employee perks. These perks can be anything from a gym membership to lunches with peers. The goal of this benefit is to enhance the work environment. LSAs are very popular among millennials and here is why.
1) It saves them money
Millennials are tight for money these days. Rent is more expensive than it has ever been and the majority of millennials have large amounts of student loan debt. The average millennial has at least $33K of student debt. Additionally, they have car payments, utility payments, insurance and tons of other financial obligations.
The first thing to go when money is tight is daily luxuries such as gym memberships, dining out and social activities. Millennials want to be able to have these things, but simply can’t afford it. This is where your company becomes attractive to millennials.
Not only are you offering these new employees a decent salary and maybe medical and dental benefits, but you are offering them the things they want, but can’t afford. This automatically gives your company a one-up on your competition that only offers them the salary.
2.) It enhances the work environment
A recent Forbes article reported that only 28 percent of millennials would remain at their current job for at least 5 years. This is frightening to many employers today because stability is critical for a company’s success. So, how do you get these millennials to stay?
If an employee is happy where they are and makes decent money, there really is no reason (that you can control) for them to leave. If you’re offering millennials the best of what is out there, they’ll stay with you. Millennials are quick to leave a job they are unhappy at. This is because of the poor work setting. By poor environment, we mean little to no flexibility, low salary, no benefits, and a hostile work environment.
These millennials often believe the grass is greener on the other side. If your company has a hostile environment, they know they can jump right back into the job market and go somewhere else that makes them happy.
Offering employees an LSA is a way of saying “thank you” for the hard work they put in, and a way to offer them other benefits besides higher salaries. LSAs also push your employees to do activities outside the office. This way, they come back refreshed, energized and ready to be productive.
3.) It gives them options
Lifestyle spending accounts are different than any other benefit you could offer to employees because, for the first time, you can give them options. For example, what if you wanted to offer a paid-for gym membership? Some employees might love this or the ones that are active will, but the others that are not as active will not have any use for this.
LSAsare flexible and give your employees something to choose from, depending on what they want and need the most. Do they need pet-day care? Financial services? Services to enhance their careers? Exercise programs? Whatever it is that contributes to their happiness can be an option.
Millennials appreciate and respect those that give them freedom and offering them benefits to choose from is a way of giving them that freedom.
How does it work?
The first step to a lifestyle spending account is determining a budget. Once you have established a budget, consider how you are going to distribute the funds. Is it once a year upfront? Or is it in increments? Every business is different, and it is whatever works best for you.
One important piece of information to keep in mind is that unlike a cash bonus that is sometimes offered to employees, LSAs can be written off in your taxes as a business expense. It’s a win-win for you and your employees!
Work2Live provides a website that includes products and experiences for employees to browse and select. Every choice has an associated price to purchase. If the amount is more than the available funds in the employee’s lifestyle savings account, they have the choice to pay the difference with their own credit or debit card.
Do you want to get ahead of your competitors and attract millennials? Contact us today for a personal demonstration of Work2Live.