Employee Benefits

Employee benefits are an indirect form of compensation that organizations provide to their workers through programs, policies, or services. Typical examples include health insurance, paid time off, and life insurance.

According to the Armstrong (2004) employee welfare programs rest mainly on the abstract ground of social responsibility on organizations for those who work for them. Organizations need highly performing employees in order to meet their goals to deliver the products and services they specialize in and hence achieve competitive advantage.

Employees Welfare is a term which includes the perks and benefits provided to the employees of the organization apart from their regular salary or remuneration, the main motive of serving employee benefits services is to improve or enhance the employee’s well-being. (Anjali-2020)

 

Figure 1: Employee Benefits

 Types of Welfare Measures

According to the Thiruvenkataraj (2018) following are the types and examples of the welfare measures.

1.Statutory Welfare Schemes

The statutory welfare schemes include the following provision;

Drinking water: at all the working places safe hygienic drinking water should be provided.

First appliances: First appliances are to be provided and should be readily assessable so that in case of any minor accident initial medication can be provided to the needed employee.

Canteen facilities: cafeteria or canteens are to be providing hygienic and nutritious food to the employees. Changing rooms: adequate changing rooms are to be provided for workers to change their cloth in the factory area and office premises. Adequate lockers are also provided to the workers to keep their clothes and belongings.

Rest rooms: adequate numbers of rest rooms are provided to the workers with provisions of water supply, wash basins, toilets, bathrooms, etc.

 2. Non-Statutory Schemes

Many non-statutory welfare schemes may include the following schemes:

Personal health care (Regular medical check-up): some of the companies provide the facility for extensive health check-up.

Flexi-time: the main objective of the flextime policy is to provide opportunity to employees to work with flexible working schedules. Flexible work schedules are initiated by employees and approved by management to meet business commitments while supporting employee personal life needs.

Employee assistance programs: various assistant programs are arranged like external counseling service so that employees or members of their immediate family can get counseling on various matters.

Objectives of Employee Welfare

Employees welfare serves the primary objective of the organization, i. e it enhances the relationship of the employer and the employees 

Some of the other major objectives of it are as follows: 

                                                Figure 2: Objectives of Employee Welfare 

Providing Motivation: Employees working in the organization are precious assets, who need to be motivated from time to time.

The company can adopt various measures to motivate them; one of the measures amongst them is providing welfare facilities as described above, i.e., Statutory and voluntary services or facilities.

·         Retaining Employees: Companies which knows the value of the talented and experienced employees provides various facilities to their employees.

So that the employee will remain in the company for a longer period of time as if an employee will not be satisfied with the organization, he/she may switch the organization.

·         Increases Productivity: Motivated employees always serves better productivity to the organization, which enhances the companies as well his personal career growth day by day.

It is one of the long-term objectives of providing welfare measures to the employees.

·         Creating Goodwill: Companies tries to create and maintain their goodwill in the market full of completion by providing relevant employee benefits to their employees.

It also helps them to attract talented employees to join their company.

·         Creates Strong employer-employee bond: Providing employee welfare benefits acts as a give and take relationship amongst the employer and the employees.

If employees need is taken into consideration by the employer, it builds a strong bond amongst them and employee also tries to give his/her best for the development of the organization by showing their involvement in their work and providing relevant results as achievements

 Conclusion

Employee Welfare is nothing but an effort made by the employer to enhance the lifestyle of the employees working for their organization.

It has become an essential factor for every organization who wants growth in the future; therefore, companies adopt various measures for providing the employee welfare benefits to their employees for providing them comfort.

 

References

Bamboo HR, 2023. Bamboo HR. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bamboohr.com/resources/hr-glossary/employee-benefits#:~:text=Typical%20employee%20benefits%20may%20include,Disability%20insurance

Verlinden, N., 2023. AIHR. [Online]
Available at: https://www.aihr.com/blog/types-of-employee-benefits/#Why

Azmi, W., 2023. Startup HR Toolkit. [Online]
Available at: https://www.startuphrtoolkit.com/employee-benefits-in-hrm/

Question Pro , 2023. Question Pro. [Online]
Available at: https://www.questionpro.com/blog/employee-benefits/

https://theinvestorsbook.com/employee-welfare.html

Thiruvenkatraj, T.R. and Tamilselvan, B(2018). A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE WELFARE MEASURE. International Journal for Research Trends and Innovation: India, Volume 3, Issue 5 | ISSN: 2456-3315  [Online]Available at https://ijrti.org/papers/IJRTI1805047.pdf