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Automating & Optimising for Better Administration of Healthcare Benefits
April 22, 2021Attract & Retain
Why attractive employee benefits matter more than you think
December 27, 2022
Employees in Malaysia have given the verdict: one of the top 3 most important factors when considering to stay or to accept a new offer across all generations is 'attractive salary and benefits'.
The Randstad Employer Brand Research 2022 has surveyed more than 2,500 Malaysian employees and received their take on what employee benefits matters most to them.
Organisations looking for effective ways to attract and retain top talents should know how to position their brands and employee benefits aligned with employee expectations.
The most apparent disconnect between employee expectations and employers' offerings is the importance of work-life balance.
The research showed that an employee views work-life balance as the second-most critical factor. But from an employer perspective, work-life balance is placed in the second-last priority.
In short, the bigger the disconnect, the more likely employees will leave the organisation.
So, what exactly are Malaysian employees looking for?
Surprisingly, the results were quite similar across four generations. According to the research, all generations look for 'attractive salary and benefits' followed closely by 'work-life balance'.
But what does it really mean by 'attractive salary and benefits' and 'work-life balance' to Malaysian employees?
Let's look at what the top 5 employers in Malaysia did right and how you can emulate their successes.
So, let's jump right in.
What the top 5 employers in Malaysia did right
Petronas
Petronas stood at the crown for 2 years consecutively as the top employer to work for, so there must be concrete benefits that earned them the throne.
According to Petronas employees, the benefits that are attractive to them are:
- A good salary
- 30 days of medical leave and 30 days of hospitalisation leave
- A wide choice of clinics is available
- Flexible work is allowed (e.g., work from any location)
- Additional 30 days of maternity leave
- 1 week of paternity leave
- Medical coverage includes spouse and children
- Education and training
Sources: glassdoor.com and jobstreet.com reviews.
Shell
Following the crown closely is Shell, a worldwide group of oil, gas and petrochemical companies with presence in over 70 countries.
Here are some of the attractive employee benefits offered by the company and well received by the employees:
- Competitive salary
- Flexible working hours
- Great work-life balance
- Career advancement opportunities
- Medical benefits cover spouses, children, pregnancy, and delivery.
- Dental and optical allowance
- Travel allowance
- 120 days of maternity leave
Sources: Shell.com and glassdoor.com reviews.
Nestle
Who doesn't know Nestle, the parent company of Nescafe, Milo, Kit Kat, and many other products in supermarkets?
Besides being loved by consumers, Nestle is also a preferred employer by talents because of the wide range of benefits the company offers:
- Many fitness programmes
- Free flow of fruits, drinks, and ice cream
- Employee discount
- 180 days of maternity leave
- Housing and car loan subsidy
- Flexible benefits scheme
- Career development opportunities
- Health insurance
Sources: glassdoor.com reviews.
Intel
The first IT company in the list, Intel rewards experience and performance using a wide range of benefits too, including bonuses, well-being, learning, and flexible work.
Some of the meaningful benefits offered by Intel are:
- Above-average salary
- Health and life insurance
- Vision and dental subsidies
- Well-being care such as free health checks, wellness coaching, and on-site fitness centres and clinics
- Free flu vaccinations
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers free counselling
- 20 days of annual leave
- 90 days of maternity and 3 days of paternity leave
- Training and development
- Loan interest subsidies
- Flexible work arrangement
- Free food
Sources: Intel.com and glassdoor.com reviews.
What can companies do?
From the benefits packages above and Randstad’s research it’s undeniable that the top benefits Malaysian employees look for are 1) higher salary, 2) flexible working hours and 3) healthcare benefits.
While it’s difficult to adjust salaries quickly, companies can develop and introduce new initiatives to improve overall work-life balance such as implementing flexible work arrangements and improving healthcare benefits.
According to the research, the top 5 benefits that employees are paying attention to are:
- Healthcare benefits (55%)
- Flexible work arrangements (54%)
- Fair compensation (50%)
- Compensation beyond salary (47%)
- Wellness and mental health resources (47%)
Besides medical and hospitalisation leave, job seekers are paying more attention to outpatient allowances, health check-ups and mental health support.
Wrapping It Up
Randstad is not the only company that has collected employee's voices. These surveys were conducted years ago, but the disconnect between the employers and employees remains wide.
It's time for employers to be all ears to their employees' needs and wants.
But we understand that emulating what these big MNCs did is a massive challenge for other organisations.
It is not easy to offer a competitive salary and top it with comprehensive health insurance and wellness programmes.
The good news is, there is a smarter way to work around it.
With emerging new HR technologies, it's easier than before to expand your healthcare benefits while keeping costs low. One of the alternatives you can consider is using employee benefits software.
It's the perfect tool to automate most of your human resource tasks pertaining to employee benefits, reduce paperwork, and reduce healthcare costs without compromising coverage.
Click here to learn more about what employee benefits software is and how it helps you streamline costs and expand benefits coverage.
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Mednefits helps businesses take care of their employees with its automated, affordable, and accessible employee benefits platform.
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