What type of benefits should your employer offer?

In addition to receiving a salary, you may receive employee benefits. However, this may be restricted to legal requirements, such as 15 days of paid annual leave.

We find out why employee benefits are important in the workplace, and we outline both the most common and the lesser-known benefits that employers offer. 

Tip: Don’t wait for your employer to offer you a savings plan. Get started today.

Remuneration, culture, and employee benefits

René Richter, managing director of Remchannel, believes that remuneration and company benefits are equally important to employees.

“The combination of the two make a compelling employee value proposition. In terms of remuneration, employers need to ensure that their employees’ salaries are market-related, so they can retain valued staff members,” says Richter.

“The most important employee benefits remain retirement funding, medical aid, and leave. However, this is not the be-all and end-all - culture plays a role too. You can have the greatest benefits and remuneration package, but if there is a toxic culture in the office, you won’t retain staff.”

This is borne out by an annual Wellness and Performance Survey conducted by Remchannel in 2021, which found that staff turnover increased by 16% across all sectors.

“Almost 69% of survey participants – mainly human resource professionals – indicated that they struggled to attract new talent and retain their existing talent. Reasons included longer working hours, fewer opportunities to take leave, and a toxic workplace culture,” says Richter.

If companies were to offer better leave packages – for example, MTN gives employees six months’ paid maternity leave – they would manage to attract and retain quality staff. If they offered gym memberships or birthday leave, they would show that they respected the need for a healthy work-life balance.

The benefits an employer offers sets the tone for the kind of culture they have in the workplace. If they offer only the bare minimum, their employees won’t be motivated to give them more than the bare minimum in return.

What are the most common employee benefits?

Ruvan Grobler, wealth manager at Bovest, says companies that provide their employees with decent benefits feel a sense of responsibility towards them.

“They aim to assist their employees by, for example, providing cover that protects their dependents financially in the event of death, or by adding a contribution towards their retirement savings,” he says.

He explains that the following benefits are the most common:   

• Retirement savings: Pension or provident funds provide capital towards your retirement after the age of 55. If you resign, you may withdraw the capital, depending on the amount. The capital can also be transferred to a retirement annuity.
• Risk cover: These benefits are meant to cover you in the event of death, disability, or severe illness. They can also include funeral and education benefits for your dependants. The amount of cover is usually based on your annual salary.
• Medical aid or hospital plans: Your employer may cover you for a specific medical aid option, and you will have access to cover for certain medical emergencies, procedures, and medication.

Grobler says that one way of allocating these benefits is for your employer to match your monthly contributions. For example, your employer may offer to contribute R100 towards one of the above options if you also contribute R100.

Some lesser-known benefits

Some South African companies are thinking outside of the box when it comes to employee benefits. Old Mutual gives its staff access to an online learning platform that’s run by Harvard, and Cell C offers employees meal vouchers and free devices.

If you’d like to suggest new employee benefits to your boss, consider some of these options:

• Covering the cost of your holiday (Airbnb offers a travel and experience stipend)
• Pet insurance, ‘pawternity’ leave, and pet-friendly offices
• Paid time off to volunteer locally (TransUnion offers this)
• Free ice cream or coffee or, in Levi’s case, free jeans
• Fertility treatments, such as freezing sperm or eggs (Yahoo offers this)
• Nap rooms, which can also host free massage appointments

If a savings plan isn’t among your employment benefits, you can get yourself started by clicking here.