Books as an employee benefit – the ultimate guide

Boosting your employee’s benefits package should be of main concern if you want to increase employee satisfaction and promote employee retention. Health insurance, life insurance, and other standards don’t seem to be sufficient anymore. Consider adding book subscriptions to the game to bring your benefits package to a new level.

What are employee benefit programs?

Employee benefits are integral to any company’s success in the modern-day labor market. These initiatives keep employees happy and play an important role in employee retention.

Numerous forms of employee benefits exist today. They all refer to a form of compensation or perk for the employee on top of their base salary. Examples of employee benefits include:

• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Life insurance
• Retirement benefits or retirement plans
• Company profit sharing
• Other forms of indirect payment to the employee

While some benefits are a must, others are nice added perks. Different states have different benefit requirements, notably around sick leave or expenses for remote work.

Some must-include benefits for federal employees include:

• Jury duty, voting, and military service day(s) off
• State and federal tax payments
• Short-term disability insurance
• Family and Medical Leave Act compliance

Non-obligatory benefits include:

• Healthcare plan (only a must for applicable large employers (ALEs) and full-time equivalent employees (FTEs)
• Retirement plan (according to ERISA)
• Vision plan or dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off like holiday or vacation
• Flexible spending account (FSA)
• Health savings account (HSA)

Employee benefits are of utmost importance for employees in all industries. Most employees will consider the benefits package detrimental to whether they will take a job or pass.

If you want to learn more about employee benefits, check out the book by Jerry S. Rosenbloom called The Handbook of Employee Benefits: Health and Group Benefits (ISBN-10: 007174598X).

As a business owner, if your goal is to retain top talent, boost morale, and highlight your company’s worth, you need an attractive benefits plan. Adding books into the equation may just be what you need.

Why offer books in your employee benefit plans?

Offering books or audiobooks as part of your employee benefit plan is worth considering for many reasons.

Provide additional training and knowledge resources

Books aren’t just for past-time enjoyment. When chosen correctly, they can educate your employees and help them grow in all directions. You can use books as additional resources during training to solidify the trainee’s knowledge or show examples of the principles you’re teaching.

Leaders can distribute books to make workers more efficient and ensure access to quality material at all stages of professional growth, from entry-level to senior management.

Aid professional development

Books in business, finance, and other work-related fields help employees gain new insights and grow further as professionals. Besides using books as training resources, you can integrate books as your long-term care plan for your workers’ professional development.

Help employees boost their mental and physical well-being

Offering books is an easy way to promote the mental health of your workforce. The health benefits of reading books are undeniable. From stress relief, increased focus, and better self-awareness to more empathy, reading books makes us better people in all senses.

Improve trust and transparency between the team

If you want to discuss a sensitive topic and build trust within the team, group benefits like books can help you get there faster. As a transparent business owner, you want to bridge the manager-employee gap by making sure everyone has access to the same information.

Brings different departments closer

If you have a large company, chances are people working in different departments have trouble understanding each other’s work. This misunderstanding can lead to other negative effects and potentially cause a large team gap.

Bringing in a book that connects these departments and gives them common ground can do wonders for boosting interaction.

Reinforce your company’s core values

A good book that aligns with the core principles of your business can create an excellent opportunity to reiterate the values you strive to accomplish and bring as a team. As a result, you get a healthier company culture and an inviting work environment.

You can create an office book club

Book clubs are trendy; there’s no doubt about it. If your employees like reading, they’ll love having a chance to share impressions and discuss their readings.

Encourage communal engagement

When you have employees read a book (and enjoy it), they’ll most likely want to share their experience with others. They’ll tell their sisters, sons, parents, or partners about the new insights or potentially even share their new knowledge online. As a result, they make personal connections.

In a business setting, sharing book details during client meetings can serve as an icebreaker and conversation starter.

The bottom line is, if you want your employees to appreciate their time at work (and off work), increase employee retention, and promote a healthier work culture, consider adding books as an employee benefit.

Speechify Audiobooks for Enterprise – offer audiobook subscriptions to your employees

Speechify Audiobooks is your go-to solution for offering audiobook subscriptions to the whole team. With more than 60,000 audiobooks in all genres (business, non-fiction, self-development, historical fiction, etc.), you’re in for an exciting and valuable benefit deal.

A special deal with audiobooks for enterprises and businesses is available for business owners who wish to invest in entire teams. The affordable subscription plan makes this a valuable long-term investment that pays off in multiple ways. Learn more by visiting the official website and getting in touch with our team.

FAQ

What are the 5 most important employee benefits?

Flexible hours, retirement benefits, paid time off, health insurance, and childcare and family benefits are some of the most important benefits.

Does Books a Million offer benefits to employees?

Some benefits Books a Million offers employees include health insurance, dental insurance, accident insurance, gym membership, major cell phone carrier discounts, and a 30% store discount.

What are the most common benefits offered by employers to their employees?

Insurance programs (health, retiree, dental), paid time off, and flexible schedules are some of the most common employee benefits.

What is the importance of a good benefits package?

Employees feel appreciated and rewarded for their work when they have a good benefits package.

What is the difference between a benefit and a perk?

Perks are auxiliary, while benefits are part of the total compensation of the worker.

What are the benefits of reading as a hobby?

Better brain connectivity, vocabulary and comprehension boost, sleep readiness, less stress, higher empathy, and prevention of cognitive decline are some of the benefits of reading as a hobby.