What Benefits Do Your Employees Want? How About Asking Them to Find Out.

A few years ago, when I was working with a popular fast-casual restaurant chain through my Future Forward Strategies consulting firm, the CEO shared something that left him perplexed. He had recently opened the 401(k) program to all employees, which gave them a chance to invest in their retirement while earning additional dollars through the company’s matching program.

None of the newly eligible employees enrolled.

“How can this be?” he asked, genuinely stunned that his act of generosity was so poorly received.

From his perspective — that of a skilled, educated leader with a contractual golden parachute and disposable income — signing up for a retirement savings account was a no-brainer. I suggested he think about it from the perspective of a front-line worker making $11 or $12 an hour. These employees probably would prefer (or need) him to spend the same amount of money on a different benefit, like child care subsidies, more paid time off or transportation stipends

He admitted that he’d never considered that. 

And he’s not alone. For the leaders of many companies today, the needs of their employees is a complete mystery. Sure, HR departments have reams of resumes that reflect who workers were when they initially applied for the job. But how have they changed since then? Have their families expanded and created the need for child care? Are they caring for a sick relative and need more flex time? Did they earn new credentials or degrees that qualify them for a promotion? 

I’m convinced that these questions will be a central part of the conversation in terms of business competitiveness in the coming years. Since the pandemic, we’ve seen evidence of this trend in the way different generations of workers approach their jobs. Gen Z and Millennials crave a work-life balance that Baby Boomers never assumed was possible. Meanwhile, Gen X middle managers who “learned” work from those Boomers are desperately searching for ways to provide that balance amid fears among top leaders that it will lower productivity and undermine earnings. 

All of this means one thing: employers must understand who is in their workforce, including how their employees have changed during their tenure. Leaders also must learn to manage differently, understanding what work means for their employees and what benefits can make their lives — and in this age of job attrition, their continued employment — more sustainable. 

On this point, I advise C-suite executives to do two things:

1. Listen to your employees. Discover their hopes, fears and priorities. Collect depersonalized data about their family situations, their recent educational pursuits and career aspirations. Then use that information to guide the benefits you offer and the culture you create. 
2. Make sure all that listening isn’t just performative. Hear them with an action orientation. When people keep telling you the same thing is wrong and nothing changes, they begin checking out, creating a situation that in many ways is worse than not listening at all.

Guild , which partners with employers to provide job training and upskilling, is an example of a company doing this the right way. When Guild first started, many workers (particularly women) stressed the importance of child care. So the company created on-site daycares that charge a sliding scale: those who are paid more pay more, and some don’t pay at all.

That one act has had an outsized impact on Guild’s workforce, which has benefitted from having access to affordable, high-quality care for their kids. And it was borne from listening to employees, learning about their lives and, most importantly, acting on that information. 

We’re living in a time of sweeping changes in the workplace — from the increasing role of technology to shifting views of where “work” fits into “life.” Businesses have just one way to weather these changes gracefully: by listening to their employees and taking their concerns seriously.