New approaches to employee compensation and benefits

Alternative benefits packages are a result of the collective realization that long-term work and reduced turnover have as much or more to do with non-financial incentives as they do the financial aspects of work for wage. Larger companies and even some smaller ones are recognizing that alternative forms of reward mean a lot to employees, and especially those that allow individuals to balance work and home life in a less stressful manner. (Cohany, 1996, p. 36) (Marler & Moen, 2005, p. 337) Companies like Ernst & Young, Google, Nike, Yahoo and many more have seen that employee retention has as much to do with work/life balance and issues of empowerment as it has to do with the right balance of work for wage. (Arthur, 2001, p. 225)

Some examples of these package benefits are work cite gyms, or gym membership benefits, on site daycare, tuition reimbursement, family leave, job share programs and even telecommuting options. ("Bill Proposes Tax Incentives," 2005, p. 20) (Ellison, 2004, p. 23) (International, 2007, p. 36) Companies are also offering a greater diversity of options with regard to traditional economic benefits. ("Company Benefits Stem from," 2008, p. 19) Other modern types of employment benefits even include family benefits coverage for same gender partners. (Henneman, 2006, p. 58) The trend is in fact so strong that many companies and researchers have directed their efforts toward finding out which of these alternative benefits, many listed above are more profitable or save the company more money on turnover and other unforeseen costs of doing business. (Meyer, Mukerjee & Sestero, 2001, p. 28) Some companies have done internal as well as external research to come to terms with reasons for turnover, and many have found that the increasingly diverse workforce requires variations in employment benefits that are different than they have been in the past to retain quality employees.

One company that takes turnover issues very seriously is Ernst & Young, a leading professional services firm. It has created an Office of Retention (OFR) with a director, who reports directly to the firm's chairman and CEO, and seven other employees (the OFR started out with three employees). The company believes that it will be able to retain talent by attacking, head-on, the issues that cause employees to leave. This commitment and development of the OFR stemmed from a 1997 survey of more than 17,000 Ernst & Young employees, which revealed that the workforce needed more of a personal life/work balance, and that women, more than men, left the firm because they felt excluded from mentoring and net- working opportunities. (Arthur, 2001, p. 225)

The diversification of the workforce, even at the very top to include a greater mix of women and men, as well a culturally diverse employees has created a need to better understand what exactly and individual needs to remain in employment with any given firm.

Actually, employee satisfaction and involvement can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Research has shown that, if your employees are happy and satisfied in the workplace, they will usually be more motivated, more productive, and have positive self-esteem and improved morale. (Champion-Hughes, 2001, p. 287)

The ways in which various companies have adopted to help improve employee moral are many, and many are non-financial benefits that better fit the needs of a more modern workforce, attempting to balance life and work in a more meaningful and effective way.

Many of today's workers are experiencing great difficulty trying to juggle both work and family responsibilities. Because so many employees are single parents or members of dual-income families, often there is no one available at home during working hours to care for the family. Therefore, a number of companies have begun to institute work and family programs as part of a "totally integrated employee benefits system" in an effort to help employees cope with these problems.[2] Examples of such programs are as follows: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power instituted the following programs:[3]* reduced cost for child care* care for mildly ill children* parenting support groups* a "beeper-alert" program (in which employees are loaned beepers when they have an imminent family emergency) RJR Nabisco has a time-off program in which parents can take time off to accompany their children on the first day of school or to attend parent-teacher conferences.[4] Stride Rite instituted an interesting concept referred to as an Intergenerational Center (that is a day care for children and elder dependents of employees).[5] In addition to the programs listed, many organizations now offer nontraditional work arrangements, such as telecommuting, flextime and job sharing, to help workers cope with their personal and family-related responsibilities.[6] Most successful organizations realize that, generally speaking, employee satisfaction equals success. (Champion-Hughes, 2001, p. 287)