Why make benefits more flexible in times of home office?

Remote work was already considered a trend even before the pandemic caused by Covid-19. However, the disease intensified this idea and forced many organisations to accelerate this process, implementing the home office or hybrid working model as something that is here to stay even after the possibility of normalisation with the advancement of the vaccine.

You need to keep in mind that with different working models, the needs of the employee and the company are also transformed, and you need to adapt quickly. In this article you will learn the reasons why betting on flexible benefits makes much more sense for organizations that have adopted remote service. 

Throughout this article you will learn:

• about home office and hybrid working models and why flexible benefits make more sense;
• how to implement a flexible benefits system in the company.

Home office, hybrid model and the flexible benefits

When we think of the traditional allocated work model, it is common for employees to receive certain benefits because they make sense for that reality, such as the famous VR to have lunch in the region where the company is located and the VT to get there. 

However, as soon as the work is carried out at a distance, these needs also change, because reality has changed. 

The employee no longer has to eat lunch at the restaurant next to the company, but can avail of a food benefit that allows them to shop at the market and cook at home.

He also no longer needs VT to go to work, but may need something like a home office aid to maintain his work structure at home, paying consumption bills (energy, water, gas, etc.) or even for ergonomic equipment. 

These are just two simple examples of needs that have changed, but it doesn't stop there. With the changing work model, needs have changed and the expression of individuality has become more important than ever. Therefore, companies that do not adapt and adapt to these new needs will be outdated, behind their competitors. As a consequence, the employee may choose to look for another job, for example, and you will not be doing a good job of retaining talent in the home office model. 

In this new normal, the fact is that it makes much more sense to leave in the hands of the employee the power of choice regarding where to use their benefits balance, whether they are related to food, health, education, mobility and so on. And that is exactly where flexible benefits come in. 

How do I implement flexible benefits in my company?

Understanding that your company needs to adapt to the home office is the first step, but how to continue? You need to organise yourself to understand what changes have happened so that you can make an intelligent decision. We suggest you to follow this step by step:

1. understand the main needs of employees by studying their habits and running surveys;
2. map out what can be left out in terms of benefits;
3. Map out what should be retained;
4. Map out what needs to go back into the basket you offer;
5. contact a company that offers these possibilities so that you can actually implement these benefits. 

When you're working on step five, remember to look for a flexible benefits company that allows your employee to make payments at all the types of facilities they deem necessary, such as food and healthcare, for example. 

Your organization will reap good rewards, because besides offering something that is more adequate to the current reality of the employees, it will make them even more satisfied, by the freedom they will have to choose where to spend the final value. This is, for example, an excellent talent retention strategy and can even culminate in a decrease in turnover of the organization, even helping to attract new ones.

If you don't already know about flexible benefits, you may be stuck in the past. Download our free Flexible Benefits SuperGuide and learn all about it!