1. Employee benefits are important for retaining employees and maintaining long term prosperity of a business.
2. Benefits have objectives like improving employee morale, motivating employees, and providing security against risks.
3. Benefits can be categorized as employment security, health protection, old age and retirement, and personnel identification and stimulation.
4. Examples of benefits include insurance, leave, bonuses, medical care, pensions, and recreational activities. However, excessive benefits can cause issues like feelings of paternalism.
2. INTRODUCTION
Once you have great employees on board, how
do you keep them from jumping ship? One way is
by offering a good benefits package.
Many small-business owners mistakenly believe
they cannot afford to offer benefits. But while
going without benefits may boost your bottom line
in the short run, than penny-wise philosophy could
strangle your business's chances for long-term
prosperity.
3. OBJECTIVES OF FRINGE BENEFITS
The view point of employers is that fringe benefits form an
important part of employee incentives to obtain their loyalty and
retaining them. The important objectives of fringe benefits are:
1.To create and improve sound industrial relations
2.To boost up employee morale.
3.To motivate the employees by identifying and satisfying
their unsatisfied needs.
4.To provide qualitative work environment and work life.
4. 5. To provide security to the employees against social risks like old age
benefits and maternity benefits.
6. To protect the health of the employees and to provide safety to the
employees against accidents.
7. To promote employee’s welfare by providing welfare measures like
recreation facilities.
8. To create a sense of belongingness among employees and to retain
them. Hence, fringe benefits are called golden hand-cuffs.
5. (i)Rising prices and cost of living has brought about
incessant demand for provision of extra benefit to the
employees.
(ii)Employers too have found that fringe benefits present
attractive areas of negotiation when large wage and
salary increases are not feasible.
(iii)As organizations have developed ore elaborate fringe
benefits programs for their employees, greater pressure
has been placed upon competing organizations to match
these benefits in order to attract and keep employees.
(iv). The growth and strength of trade unions has
substantially influenced the growth of company benefits
and services.
Need for Extending Benefits to Employees
6. TYPES OF BENEFITS
Organizations provide a variety of benefits. The
benefits are classified under four heads as given under:
Employment
Security
Health
Protection
Old Age and
Retirement
Personnel
Identification,
Participation
and Stimulation
7. Employment Security
Benefits under this head include unemployment,
insurance, technological adjustment pay, leave travel pay,
overtime pay, level for negotiation, leave for maternity,
leave for grievances, holidays, cost of living bonus, lay-
off, retiring rooms, jobs to the sons/daughters of the
employees and the like.
8. Cont.…….
Physical and job security to the employee should also
be provided with a view to promoting security to the
employee and his family members. The benefit of
confirmation of the employee on the job creates a
sense of job security. Further a minimum and
continuous wage or salary gives a sense of security
to the life.
9. Safety Health Protection
Benefits under this head include accident insurance,
disability insurance, health insurance, hospitalization,
life insurance, medical care, sick benefits, sick leave,
etc.
10. Old Age and Retirement
Benefits under this category include: deferred
income plans, pension, gratuity, provident
fund, old age assistance, old age counseling ,
medical benefits for retired employees,
traveling concession to retired employees,
jobs to sons/daughters of the deceased
employee and the like.
11. Personnel Identification, Participation and Stimulation
This category covers the following benefits:
anniversary awards, attendance bonus,
canteen, cooperative credit societies,
educational facilities, housing, income tax
aid, counseling, quality bonus, recreational
programs, stress counseling, safety
measures etc.
12. Other benefits are:-
Payment for Time Not worked
Extra Pay for time Worked
Retrenchment Compensation
Lay-off Compensation
13. Payment for Time Not worked:
Benefits under this category include: sick
leave with pay, vacation pay, paid rest
and relief time, paid lunch periods,
grievance time, bargaining time, travel
time etc.
14. Extra Pay for time Worked:
This category covers the benefits such as:
premium pay, incentive bonus, shift
premium, old age insurance, profit
sharing, unemployment compensation,
Christmas bonus, Deewali or Pooja
bonus, food cost subsidy, housing
subsidy, recreation.
15. Retrenchment Compensation:
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 provides for the
payment of compensation in case of lay-off and
retrenchment. The non-seasonal industrial
establishments employing 50 or more workers have
to give one month’s notice or one month’s wages to
all the workers who are retrenched after one year’s
continuous service. The compensation is paid at the
rate of 15 days wage for every completed year of
service with a maximum of 45 days wage in a year.
Workers are eligible for compensation as stated
above even in case of closing down of undertakings.
16. Lay-off Compensation:
Layoff is the temporary suspension or
permanent termination of employment of
an employee or (more commonly) a group of
employees for business reasons, such as the
decision that certain positions are no longer
necessary or a business slow-down or
interruption in work
In case of lay-off, employees are entitled to lay-off
compensation at the rate to 50% of the total of the
basic wage and dearness allowance for the
period of their lay-off except for weekly holidays.
Lay-off compensation can normally be paid up to
45 days in a year.
18. Employee services
In addition to benefits, organizations
also provide services that employees find
desirable.
These services are provided at low or no
cost to the employee.
These are provided at the discretion of
the management with consultation with
the trade unions.
19. These services include
Services related to type of work performed- includes
subsidies for the purchase and upkeep of work clothing
and uniform.
Eating facilities
Transportation facilities
Child care facilities
Housing services
Financial and legal services
Recreational, cultural and social programs
Educational services
Medical services
Outplacement services
Flexible time
Cafeteria service
20. Problems raised by benefit programs
Charge of Paternalism = When too many benefits &
services are offered to employees , a feeling develops that
employers are playing the role of parents and workers are
looked upon as children.
Excessive Expenditure = It’s a very costly affair and
involves a great deal of paper work
Maintenance of least productive worker = With
increase in benefits and services employees ,particularly
when they are not very productive ,tend to stick to their jobs
and are not interested in changing them.
Neglect of other personnel functions = Due to
excessive concern from management they stop emphasizing
on other aspects of personnel programs which can develop a
concern among the employees .
21.
22. RECREATION FACILITIES
Gymnasium at Electronics city campus of
Infosys at Bangalore is one of the largest
gymnasiums in Asia and a mini golf course
among others ...
They even have boating and saloon facilities
in their campus so that employees can relax
and can take break in their hectic schedules.
rest and recreation facilities such as a
gymnasium, swimming pool, tennis,
basketball and volleyball courts, in addition
to cafeterias offering international cuisine
23. Food Courts,
Health Club, Fitness Center with a
special enclosure for Aerobics, Golf
club.
Amphitheatre, , a well-stocked
Library, High speed connectivity,
transportation facilities, stone-laid
walking paths connecting each
building (or one can use the bicycles
provided to move around the campus)
Medical facilities, Bank, ATMs,
Travel Counter.
24.
25.
26. SCHOLARSHIP TO THE CHILDREN
AS PER THE LAST
ANNUAL REPORT,
INFOSYS SPEND LOT OF
MONEY AS
SCHOLARSHIP FOR
EMPLOYEES children.
27. HEALTH ASSESSMENT PROGRAMMES FOR EMPLOYEES
Measure to help employees to be
proactive about their own health and
well being",
It is also called health assessment
and lifestyle enrichment programme.
(HALE PROGRAMME)
Programme includes hobbies,
interests, sessions for
dance,aerobics, Yoga, painting, and
Pranic healing.
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