It has long been a fact that the key to the successful attainment of your goal of providing great customer service lies in the retention of your "front line" associate. Many organizations that have undertaken a review of turnover in their ranks, are now focusing a considerable amount of energies on exit interviews, employee opinion surveys and simply put . . . asking the worker what they like and did not like about the employee benefits program. Not surprisingly and in spite of the significant expenditure of operating income, many organizations are discovering that their best attempts at meeting the needs of the worker are falling miserably short. Herein often is the reason for employee dissatisfaction and one's motivation to seek employment with other organizations that offer more contemporary and user friendly total compensation programs.

Employees need affordable benefits . . .

The often undervalued and non-understood retirement plan is now quite typically competing for a worker's discretionary income. Escalating health costs and the resulting cost shift to employees is leaving a bad taste in the consumers mouth and often is a bone of contention when one "values" their employer's benefits programs. As employers seek to get more value for this significant expenditure, there seems to be a resurgence of recognizing length of service when developing and revamping benefit programs and in particular strategies for cost sharing with the workforce. These strategies include a methodology, which shifts greater costs to the above average income worker and phases out the sharing over a certain period of employment. This obviously translates to a worker's willingness to not make a career move as the relative value of their total compensation program takes on new meaning and increases over time.

"Value added" programs can also address retention . . .

A common theme coming out of many employee surveys is not having enough time for personal business and the competing demands on one's time as they attempt to balance their personal life with their work life. This has led to the development of many "value added" programs to the benefit mix of more progressive employers. Common in the mix are services that do everything from pick up laundry at the work site to photo processing and the like. The shift from paternalism by the employer, i.e. direct company involvement in retirement and traditional health and welfare benefits, to this employee empowerment philosophy of picking benefits that have a certain life cycle appeal, must be done carefully. It is advisable to not just crank out programs of this type without any wisdom or forethought. Following the trend and doing what's in vogue typically will not translate into any meaningful or quantifiable results and more importantly, will do little to distinguish you from the employer down the street.

Technology is driving the way people want to do their work . . .

Technology advances are also allowing many to reevaluate the way they accomplish their work and is offering opportunities for more flexible work arrangements. Telecommuting, flex scheduling and the like are taking great strides in improving employee satisfaction and morale. Studies are now confirming that these career/family initiatives are translating to high job performance, employee satisfaction and employee retention.

Evaluate your benefit programs . . .

As you focus your efforts on continuity of your workforce, it is prudent and wise to evaluate the effectiveness of your benefit programs and the resultant role they play in the retention of your employees. It is quite likely that reallocating the mix of total compensation expenditures will produce significant contributions to morale, productivity and loyalty by those with whom you partner to achieve your mission and goals. This evaluation does not necessarily have to translate into greater expense, but rather a redeployment of the benefit delivery system to accommodate the changing world and workplace of today.

Gary R. Thornton, MBA, SPHR, CEBS, RPA, GBA is the Principal of Thornton & Associates, a human resources management consulting firm located in Scarborough, ME. He has more than 25 years’ experience in human resource management for both private and nonprofit organizations. He holds credentials as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS), Retirement Plan Associate (RPA) and Group Benefit Associate (GBA). He currently serves as a Special Expertise Panel Member - Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  He has also held leadership roles in the Maine Employee Benefits Council and the Human Resources Association of Southern Maine.  For more information about the information contained in this article, you may contact him at 207-885-9333 or email gthorn@ThorntonAndAssociates.net