Social benefits instead of bonuses - how to engage your team?

Motivating staff is a critical factor in the success of any business. Both in their personal lives and in the workplace, people are different and not everyone reacts the same way in a particular situation. It is important that organizations not only understand the different characteristics of their employees, but also know what would motivate these particular individuals. Armed with this information, organisations can adapt the way they incentivise staff and dramatically improve engagement levels in the workplace.

One of the most recent theories is that of Frederick Herzberg. According to it, people have two basic types of needs - hygiene and motivational. Hygiene needs relate to the work environment, pay, and working relationships, while motivational needs include employer appreciation for work done, promotions, and opportunities for various occupational achievements.

Companies that want to create a workplace with satisfied and motivated employees must find the balance between building a harmonious work environment offering competitive wages and security, while encouraging employees and providing opportunities to work their way up the career ladder.

Types of social benefits

There are different types of social benefits, but we can group them into several types: health-related, workplace and time-related, leisure-related, employee training-related. As we can see from their names, these benefits cover almost all aspects of the relationship between the organisation and the employees. The first type, those related to health /physical and mental/, are most often supplementary health insurance, sports and fitness cards, vouchers and cards for sports shops, fruit and vegetables available to employees on the office premises.

Those related to workplace and time are flexibility of working hours - start and end of the working day, time for breaks, entertainment (provided on office premises). Employee leisure-related benefits are most often vacation vouchers or cards, meal vouchers or gift cards. These benefits, which are related to employee training, can be scholarships, covering the cost of paid courses, organizing training by external and internal trainers who improve the qualification of employees.

What makes them more effective than bonuses?

From Herzberg's theory we understand that if only hygiene needs are covered for an employee, it is not enough to motivate him. In other words, if we just pay his salary and bonuses and maintain a normal working environment, the employee will feel satisfied and relaxed, but not quite motivated.

Greater employee engagement

A study by Idea Connect showed that a benefits program can increase employee productivity by up to 44%*. A truly well thought out and designed benefits program offers employees more consistent and tangible appreciation than a cash bonus once a year or a cash award for 10 years of service. As a result, we get much more engaged employees who also bring higher performance to their jobs.

Work-life balance

As you can see from the different types of benefits, most of them enable and incentivize the employee to lead a more balanced work-life balance. Sports, travel, good nutrition, even training, provide the necessary for an employee to "recharge their batteries", take care of their health and have time for their loved ones.

Increased productivity

With a good selection and balance of benefits, in the medium term we will get from our employees a significantly improved productivity of their work. When they are rested, energised and motivated, tasks are taken on with interest and enjoyment, leading to a good end result for both parties.

How do we choose the right benefits for our team?

Social benefits cost the company money, so it is very difficult to offer absolutely all possible options, no matter how much we would like to and no matter how much we value our employees. Choosing the right and balanced benefits to offer is the key to a successful program to give us a competitive edge in the job market and retain quality employees.

What are the most common benefits offered

Before we look at which are the most used benefits that employers provide to their employees, let's look again at Frank Herzberg and the tools his theory gives us. Why is this theory so important for managers and owners of a company? It gives us information on which factors increase motivation and which factors guarantee that an employee will be satisfied with their job. It is important to distinguish between satisfied and motivated.

An employee is usually satisfied /so-called hygiene factors/ when he receives his salary on time and in full and the working conditions allow him to work in a normal and safe environment. This includes additional monthly benefits to which he is accustomed, such as food vouchers, supplementary health insurance and even paid leave. These factors make the employee feel satisfied and secure at work. What motivates him and makes him put in extra effort to achieve the company's goals are the so-called motivating factors. These are linked to personal development, challenging tasks, the opportunity to take responsibility, a clear career path and bonuses for achieving difficult targets or completing major projects.

In Bulgaria, food vouchers, which benefit from tax breaks from the state, supplementary health insurance, as well as cards or funds for sports, are the most common. More and more companies are also looking at additional incentives such as digital social benefits like the Pluxee virtual card in an effort to be attractive and relevant to their younger employees. It is these benefits that can be used as a motivational factor as they allow the employee to develop professionally and personally and are given as a reward for achieving a difficult goal or project.

What is a digital social benefit?

A Pluxee Virtual Card is an opportunity for employers to provide a modern digital social benefit to their employees. They are a virtual Mastercard that enables shopping online or at physical merchants in the Sodexo partner network. The product is a time-saving and less administrative alternative to paper gift vouchers. It is much more environmentally friendly as there is no plastic or paper associated with the use, it is used via the mobile phone and as we know, especially young people do not part with it. All these advantages make the Pluxee virtual card extremely popular among employees who are young, dynamic and committed to environmental protection.