Benefits and the Correlation to Employee Retention

47% of employees are looking for new opportunities due to role confusion or dissatisfaction with their current employer. The cost of a replacing an entry level employee can cost up to 50% of their salary and upwards of 3x or 4x as you reach mid and upper management levels.  Factor in record low unemployment levels and it’s critical for businesses to retain their best employees. The importance of benefits is instrumental to retaining employees in today’s world for any business, and even more so in the cannabis industry.

People are attracted to the green rush and companies can take advantage of the attractiveness and potential of the booming industry. However, in order to attract and retain the best employee, it is critical to offer competitive compensation and benefits to keep pace with traditional companies. Take a look at WeWork offices plush full of trendy sofas, on-site baristas and kombucha on tap. These are the benefits sweeping the corporate world and flooding into the small business world and raising the bar. It’s hard to keep up, and if you as an employer are not yet offering health benefits, you are behind.

While it’s not essential for the employer to provide 100% coverage for health benefits, ensuring enrollment options are available and competitive if your budget permits. If you’re unable to provide significant employer coverage, incorporating soft benefits and promoting a positive culture is an efficient way to provide an inclusive and attractive culture at an affordable cost. 75% of employees say they are willing to stay at their current company due to the inclusive and positive culture, even if their compensation isn’t where they’d like it to be. Creating a positive work culture can be an entire full time position in itself depending on the size of your company, but here are a few simple offerings that promote an inclusive culture.

• The occasional catered lunch or on-site barbeque are budget friendly ways of gathering everyone together on work hours to share some time and create an experience. Introduce a quirky theme and set a contest based on it for a small gift card or office trophy to make it fun. Not enough room in the budget? Make it a potluck or chili cook-off.
• Organize an optional company walk or hike before or after work hours to encourage everyone promote a healthy lifestyle and get to know one another.
• Bring in a yoga or fitness instructor for a guided class during lunch.
• If budget permits, bring in a masseuse once or twice a year with 15-minute sign-ups to relieve stress from the work day and offer something special.
• If you don’t have them already, create company t-shirts and give them to your employees to wear as they see fit. Wearing a shirt that has your company logo on it gives them a sense of pride, ownership and its extremely cheap advertising for you.

Contact us today for more information!