If you’re in charge of hiring at your company, then you know that we’re currently in the midst of a highly competitive moment. As many companies rebound along with the economy, they’re ready to bring on staff again, but the best employees today are likely to have new demands. Not only are new norms like ongoing access to remote work a key negotiating point but, with more businesses hiring, workers are in a position to demand more, especially when it comes to benefits.

Though many businesses have reduced their benefit offerings down to basic health insurance, expanding your benefits may be one of the best things your company can do to stand out. Here’s what comprehensive benefits look like according to today’s applicants.

Not Just Medical

Unless you’re a very small business, below the cut-off for employer-provided insurance, you’re already offering medical coverage for your employees. The ACA doesn’t, however, require employers to provide vision and dental insurance – but you should be, for several reasons.

First, offering vision and dental coverage can substantially improve quality of life for your employees, and for those who know that they have these needs, knowing such policies are offered demonstrates that your office is a welcoming environment that prioritizes its staff’s well-being.

Another reason to expand your basic health insurance offerings when developing your comprehensive benefits package is that it’s good for your company. Dental health issues are known to increase absenteeism and can actually worsen physical health if not promptly addressed. They aren’t supplemental to overall health, despite how insurance treats them.

Disability Coverage

Illness and injury happen. This is why health insurance is so important, but when these problems last, health insurance alone may not be enough. If you’re going to describe your company as offering comprehensive benefits, you should also be offering some kind of disability insurance.

Disability insurance is defined as any policy that protects or replaces part of a person’s income if they are unable to work, and may cover either short- or long-term limitations. Most workplaces offer at least some short-term coverage, but you should consider looking into whether your business can provide employees with a discounted buy-in option for long-term insurance as well.

Whole-Person Wellness

Wellness and health, while intimately connected, aren’t the same thing and real wellness often requires helping workers establish work/life balance. At the same time, office-based wellness challenges based on movement or weight loss have been shown not to work and actually harm worker well-being, so it’s important to separate the two. Look into offering wellness benefits like reduced gym membership fees, discounts on healthy meal prep programs, or company-wide access to meditation apps, not as a replacement for other health coverage, but as an added way of showing support for all the things that go into living a balanced life.

There are a lot of other parts to a comprehensive benefit package, some of which are understood to be quite standard and others of which are part of an evolving sense of what the best employees can require of their employers.
At the same time, though, benefits can be costly, so consider what works and what doesn’t, offer opt-in additions, and listen to requests. You don’t have to offer everything, but the right complement of services will go a long way in making your company stand out to applicants.