As the contingent workforce continues to grow and develop, changing the employment landscape in the process, it’s more important than ever for umbrella companies to focus on future-proofing their benefits and engagement programmes. The rise of the gig economy and the increasing demand for flexible working arrangements mean that companies need to adapt and be more responsive to the evolving needs of their contingent workers.
This provides a golden opportunity for recruitment and umbrella companies to boost their benefits offering with relevant perks, rewards and recognition initiatives that align with contractors’ personal and professional values. Not only will this give contractors the boosts they deserve, but it’ll help companies better engage with their workforce and foster long-term loyalty, even in a highly competitive landscape. Simply put, if you adapt your benefits to truly support your people, you’ll future-proof your engagement programme and reap the benefits along the way. Not sure how to do that? We’ve got you covered!
HOW TO TAILOR AND FUTURE-PROOF YOUR BENEFITS OFFERING
In a world full of impersonal perks, personalised benefits are more desirable than ever. It’ll take more than a generic benefits offering to attract people to your company and effectively engage with them! If you want to give your company a competitive edge, it’s time to adapt and improve your engagement strategy to suit your contractors and temp workers. Take a look at our five top ways to do just that:
1. Understand your team’s needs
You can’t truly tailor your benefits offering if you don’t understand exactly what it is that your contingent workers want or need. So, get to know them better! Use surveys and other tools to find out what benefits are deemed desirable and how you could better support your people. With that insight, you can tailor your strategy to deliver benefits and tools that resonate with your team. This will help you show that you understand their needs and can meet them, which will help you boost engagement and retention. Oh, and if that wasn’t reason enough, not even half of employees believe their company’s leaders significantly understand what they want from a scheme. So, if you can demonstrate that understanding and action it, you’ll help your business stand out and attract top talent too!
2. Deliver personalised rewards
When people feel seen, valued and respected, they’re more likely to feel a sense of loyalty towards your business. Delivering personalised rewards is a great way to connect with your contingent workers and ensure they get the appreciation they deserve. Whether it’s delivering loyalty-based rewards, celebrating personal milestones, or recognising outstanding achievements, there are plenty of opportunities to boost your contingent workers with meaningful rewards.
Furthermore, implementing personalised rewards doesn’t have to be super time-consuming or costly. With the help of a smart reward and recognition platform, you can easily track your team’s milestones and achievements, and then deliver customised rewards – even on a large scale! Not only can this free up valuable business resources, but it can help you meet the demand for personalisation and appreciation.
3. Prioritise accessible benefits and rewards
For your benefits and rewards to truly make a difference to the lives of your contingent workers, they need to be easy for everyone to find and use. This isn’t a nice to have anymore – this is an absolute must to ensure your offering is well-utilised and has the desired impact. By opting for a provider that can deliver everything you need from a mobile app, your contingent workforce can enjoy all of their perks on demand and on the go. That way, they don’t need to rely on having a laptop or continuously log in on a web browser which will inevitably create barriers and prevent your offering from having an optimal impact. It’s also this accessibility and flexibility that will help you meet the changing needs of your team, future-proofing your benefits offering in the process. Put simply, mobile access is not a need it’s a must!
4. Align benefits with personal and professional goals
Here’s another excellent reason to get to know your contingent workers! Only 46% of employees feel their company’s benefits, reward and recognition programme aligns with their personal values and aspirations. Without relevant perks, your benefits programme is at risk of becoming obsolete as fewer people use it. So, keep your workers engaged and satisfied by finding out what makes them tick and choosing benefits and rewards that align. For example, if you know your contingent workers want to prioritise their wellbeing, offer relevant benefits such as corporate gym memberships or a 24/7 GP Helpline. Similarly, if your people care about professional development, provide opportunities for training and courses. As long as you choose benefits that meet your people’s needs and aspirations, you’ll help them thrive. And when people are flourishing, they’re more motivated, productive and engaged. So really, supporting your people should be a no-brainer!
5. Regularly refresh your benefits and rewards
Setting up a benefits scheme and engaging your contingent workers is just the beginning. You need to maintain that engagement by ensuring your benefits and rewards remain relevant. To do this, make sure you keep up to date with changes in the employment landscape and get regular feedback from your team. With these insights, you can improve your benefits programme by making any necessary changes such as adding new perks or more effectively tailoring existing ones. Whatever changes you make, don’t forget to communicate them too! Your contingent workers will appreciate being updated and it’s a good opportunity to show that you care about their voices.
So, there you have it! There’s no doubt that recruitment and umbrella companies have a huge opportunity to future-proof their benefits programmes by offering tailored, desirable benefits that address their team’s needs. By implementing mobile-friendly and adaptable programmes that support people’s wellbeing, companies can improve loyalty, retention, productivity and much more. But most importantly, there’s the opportunity to help contingent workers truly flourish – and that’s what we’re all about!
Here at Boostworks, we’re on a mission to help every person in every UK organisation thrive. For the past twenty years, we’ve helped a huge range of organisations boost their people with fantastic benefits and rewards. We’d love to help you do the same! Why not get in touch and have a chat about what we do and how we boost? It never hurts to explore your options, right!