As a writer, I was covering employee benefits long before the COVID pandemic hit. Pre-COVID, it was normal for experts to recommend a few things employers could add to their benefits packages to enhance recruitment and retention. But things changed in mid-2020. With the start of the Great Resignation came an onslaught of new benefits employers are being told they should add. The latest big thing is 5-star travel.
Business Insider contributor Marlette Williams wrote about this new benefit in a December 7 (2023) piece. I read the piece with interest, paying close attention to the key points Williams brought out. Those points include:
- Adding value to a benefits package with travel perks.
- Utilizing travel perks to retain a company’s current talent.
- Considering perks like hotel stay subsidies and travel stipends.
I am not sure what to make of it all. On the one hand, I fully understand the need to compete aggressively for qualified employees. The Great Resignation is proof enough that American workers are no longer happy with the status quo. But I need to wonder if employers are digging their own proverbial graves by continually upping the ante on benefits packages.
A Game of One Upmanship
I am old enough to remember when a good benefits package consisted of a health insurance plan and a 401k. I was lucky to have access to my first employer-sponsored health plan before I turned 20 years old. But I was the exception to the rule. Most employees my age were lucky to get minimum wage without a college education.
Fast forward some 40 years and today’s benefits landscape looks more like a game of one upmanship than anything else. Employers are convinced that they need to keep looking for the next big thing that will impress employees enough to get them to sign and stay. I’m not sure that’s really what people want.
A Temporary Form of Happiness
Offering travel perks seems like a shallow attempt to throw employees a bone. In fairness, Williams cited survey data showing that American adults planned to travel for their summer vacations at a rate of 85%. A secondary survey looking at holiday travel revealed that 50% planned to hit the road between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I guess the assumption is that offering travel perks to employees who are going to travel one way or the other will make them happy. And maybe it will. But if so, I am guessing their happiness will be temporary. Returning to work will expose them to the same things that have made them unhappy all along.
Change the Culture
When people quit their jobs, it is not because they are not getting travel perks. It’s not because their benefits packages don’t include pet insurance, student loan repayment assistance, or any of the other seemingly new benefits employers are being asked to consider. They quit because they are not satisfied with their current circumstances. Rarely is their dissatisfaction reduced to a lack of perks.
Benefits brokers spend a lot of time working with insurance carriers to come up with attractive benefits. General agencies, like BenefitMall, encourage brokers to focus on voluntary benefits.
There is nothing wrong with working to improve employee packages. But what ultimately wins the day is changing the culture. It is implementing key changes that make employees feel like people rather than human resources, changes that make them feel like their contributions actually matter. Improve the relationship between employer and employee and you solve the recruiting and retention problem. You will not need to offer 5-star travel perks to compete for talent.
