Innovations
Typically, we are in a century where every aspect of life is diversifying rapidly. Organizations are not an exception either mainly when it comes to way conducting their business operations, changes in working environments, and lastly, employers’ and employee’s personal lives. To sustain operations, firms need to comply with various changes in working environments. For instance, the workers have fluctuating needs and firms need to consider them to keep them and delivering as expected (Liu & Atuahene-Gima, 2018). In that regard, employers must look for innovative ways that engage their workers by not only encouraging and supporting their commitment but also improving their overall performance.
Mainly, the innovations in employee benefits can play an imperative role in the organization by improving its competitive compensation approach colossally in an affirmative manner hence contributing to the overall company’s success and achievements. Also, the company is able to attract and retain good workers.
Moreover, the employee benefits offered to play a crucial role in the organization by not only retaining top talent in that organization but also to enhancing success in the competitive market and to improve the overall status of the firm (Liu & Atuahene-Gima, 2018). Again, in this era, the diversity of the workforce in the workplace is at a higher notch and is increasing day by day. Organizations must, therefore, comprehend and also address the varying needs of their workforce to thrive and survive in the highly competitive business world. For example, the significant increase in the number of women in the workforce, leading to an increase in dual focus worker; a worker focused on family and work which brings in divided attention in the workplace hence not being able to deliver as expected by the top management. Besides, the aging of the workforce in the organization is yet another critical aspect of shaping today’s workplace and also influencing how individuals live and work.
Further, innovative employee benefits become a significant affair for workers in the organization. Typically, during the recruitment process, there are a few of the new workers who want to learn about the firm’s innovative benefits to see if they can balance their work-life needs. Lack of innovative benefits may affect an organization significantly since employees may shift to firms that acknowledge and rewards their employees (Liu & Atuahene-Gima, 2018). Innovative employee benefits greatly influence the way workers in a company feel about their employers. Therefore, organizations must create innovative employee benefits for their workers or they will end up losing them to their competitors.
Additionally, there are some benefits that workers in a firm will expect and view them as standard. Such benefits are typically seen to be of prime concern. They include dental, medical, pension, and life insurance. Apart from priority benefits, there is a need for organizations to add their employees’ additional enticements which include performance-related bonuses and gym membership among others. Again, employers can go the extra mile to reward those employees who go or rather perform above standard employee expectations. Employers may also go the extra mile of rewarding loyal employees (Liu & Atuahene-Gima, 2018). Innovative employee benefits are not typical benefits. At times, they can be viewed as untypical but can be very rewarding. They include: telecommuting and working from home options, offering employees accommodations at holiday centers, offering subsidized housing and meals at staff canteens, flexible working hours as well as childcare centers for nursing employees. Innovative employee benefits can enhance the general competitive compensation strategy of the firm since it is essential in various ways which include increasing productivity, reducing healthcare costs, combating burnouts, attracting investors, increasing commitments and engagements, attracting and retaining talented individuals, and lastly, raising morale as well as job satisfaction.
Question 2
Mainly, with the prevailing wages in our present economy, a firm must be acquainted with the fact that the fluctuating pay rates as well as the market price of various jobs have to be present for it to remain highly competitive. In that regard, innovative employee benefits can be utilized by executives to tie specific jobs (Shin, et.al., 2017). For instance, if workers start their shifts too early and finish very late, the firm can provide employee buses to enhance their safety. Primarily, the urge to attract first-class professionals and retain them should be the main objective of every organization. Again, tailored benefits can increase worker’s job satisfaction but this can only occur if at all the plan employed by the company perfectly fits the employee’s work-life needs. For example, some individuals, especially the young employees may not be interested in retirements benefit plans, but the same benefit may be of great interest to the older workforce. Moreover, innovation benefits are so much closely tied to worker’s motivation, morale, and satisfaction, whereby, the workers are driven to carry out their tasks at levels that are beyond the standard. Employee benefits must also exceed the competition to make sure that all workers feel valued and appreciated (Shin, et.al., 2017). Moreover, providing customized benefits closely tied to specific jobs can be well structured enough to enable designing of specific behaviors, rewarding top performers as well as instilling pride in the firm. Again, executives should be ready to design tools and commit to communicate with the workers reminding them how much they need to be appreciated. Various firms such as Google Inc. Is currently leading the way by rewarding and motivating their workers, providing free meals, onsite child care, onsite fitness centers mainly depending upon one’s job, and lastly by raising the bar of total rewards through aligning it with one’s specific job.
Question 3
Typically, equity-based rewards refer to what a worker receives in their bank account: merit pay, bonuses, company profit sharing, base wage or salary, bonuses, commissions, and overtime (Shields, et.al., 2020). The other innovative benefits are part of the cumulative reward package along with direct payments such as subsidized meals, health, and life insurance as well as subsidized entertainment such as movies. Executives mainly utilize equity-based rewards to motivate and encourage workers to succeed and meet the organization’s goals and objectives (Shields, et.al., 2020). Examples of equity-based rewards include employee stock ownership plans and stock options. Consequently, equity-based compensation rewards align the interest of an organization, the workers as well as shareholders. With these rewards, organizations build motivation, attract and retain employees as well as conserve resources such as getting tax advantages.
On the other hand, more creative approaches are employed by executives to supplement cash compensation received by workers. While they focus on cost-saving for their employees, executives also commit to assist the workers within the firm (Shields, et.al., 2020). Such creative benefits enable workers to balance the time they spend at jobs and time spent with their families as well. The use of more creative approaches is also an effective way to show workers that the company cares for them. The two approaches, equity-based rewards, and more creative approaches aim to create workers’ motivation, commitment, decrease turn out as well as attracting and retaining talented employees. Using either of the strategies mainly depends on the organization’s business strategy as well as its vision and mission. In that regard, I think both equity-based rewards and more creative approaches are very effective with an effective communication strategy. Again, effectiveness in this case mainly relies on the workers as well. For instance, some workers mainly care more about their families while others are interested in making more money.
Question 4
Mainly, new and Total Rewards at the workplace, as well as controlled and benefit programs are all designed to maintain and answer any question arising from a homogenous workforce. Attracting and retaining good employees is a vital component of a firm’s overall success. This is the reason as to why successful firms mainly consider a lot of elements when communicating with current or prospective workers. In that regard, total rewards entail everything that a worker perceives to be of value (Karell & Widlund, 2019). Primarily, an executive provides rewards for his workers’ value in exchange for their efforts, tome, talent as well as the results. In today’s organizations, there are various key aspects necessary for integrating innovation into a traditional total rewards program. They include culture, environment, attraction, retention, and motivation. Culture entails collective behaviors, attitudes, thoughts as well as the identity of a firm. Environment entails all the external factors that include changes in legislation as well as new competition for talent (Karell & Widlund, 2019). The attraction is the capability to draw the right talent for the right individual. In this case, high-class professionals will be imperative for a firm’s survival. Retention is the capacity to retain workers who are considered to be top contributors to the firm’s success. Motivation serves as the main driver for organizational success.
Question 5
In today’s businesses, competition is at the core. In that regard, workers are searching for that unique organization that can significantly adapt to their work-life needs. From the discussion above, it is evident that the employer’s main goal is to find top talent and as such, they do not mind providing their employees a few extras to not only attract and retain them but also to improve the overall performance and productivity in the organization. I would recommend the PRIDE success strategy as an excellent way to accelerate employee-based suggestion program to progressively refresh the total rewards of the firm.
P-The firm should provide a positive working environment
R-The firm should recognize employees, reward them and also reinforce the right behavior
I-The organization should involve and engage employees in all its operations such as decision making
D-The organization should develop potential and skills in their employees
E-The company should evaluate and measure the level of performance of their employees
A good example of a company that employs this strategy is Sas, the largest software development firm in the U.S. The firm’s work environment is family-friendly and this acts as a key motivation for its employees. Wise employers realize the benefits associated with creating a positive working environment as it cannot be delegated. Again, if a company carefully measures and assesses what means most to their workers in terms of total rewards, then it is the most vital resource for organizational success and competitiveness. Employers need to comprehend their worker’s views on the significance and fairness of rewards and precisely communicate them. Moreover, reward systems will play a crucial role in recruiting efforts as well as implementing new rewards will as it allows a firm to remain unique as compared to its competitors (Perkins, 2018). As a result f this, a company can attract the best and even become a more unique workplace. To sum up, it is essential that firms recognize the benefits associated with establishing the correct and effective reward structure as it serves as a critical aspect in achieving set goals and objectives.