What are the top non-monetary benefits for employees?

In a perfect world, your employees would all be super motivated and hardworking top performers. While every business will have its share of top performers, the reality is that most employees will be, well, average.

The struggle for many business owners and HR teams is in motivating these employees. Enter, non-monetary benefits. 

In some cases, monetary benefits will be the primary motivator, but in recent years, and with Gen Z becoming increasingly integrated into all levels of business, companies are finding that compensation is not the top motivator; non-monetary benefits are.

In this Pacific Prime article, we take a look at some of the top non-monetary benefits for employees. We will provide examples of nonmonetary benefits to help give you a clear understanding of what they offer and how they benefit employees.

After reading this article, make sure to check out the advantages of outsourcing employee benefits.

What Do “Non-monetary Benefits” Mean?

Before we look into the top non-monetary benefits, it would be beneficial first to define what they are.

Generally speaking, non-monetary benefits do not provide employees with compensation. Another name for non-monetary benefits are “non-cash” benefits. 

At Pacific Prime, however, we prefer to narrow the concept of non-monetary benefits.

First off, when we discuss employee benefits, we focus on those benefits that are focused on insurance, health, wellness, and more. Our experience has taught us that the most successful employee benefits solutions are built around health and other insurance solutions.

Insurance (health and others) also makes up a large portion of benefits expenditures.

For example, this document from the US Department of Labor looks at the relative importance of employer costs for employee compensation. It reports that insurance and health make up the two highest expenditures aside from wages – 8.7% and 8.2%, respectively.

Due to this, we define non-monetary benefits as any benefits that do not directly put money into an employee’s bank account.

Where this differs from the general definition is that we do include certain benefits that have a monetary value i.e., a benefit that provides employees with $500 for health checkups, as non-monetary.

From this, you can further divide non-monetary benefits into three separate categories:

• Psychological – benefits that support your employee’s mental and psychological health.
• Medical – benefits that support your employee’s physical health.
• Lifestyle – benefits that support your employee’s lifestyle.

To that end, let’s look at non-monetary benefits that are being requested by, and we have implemented for, companies worldwide.

Psychological Benefits of Non Monetary Benefits

Mental health is becoming an important issue in an increasing number of countries. Yes, many countries in Asia have a long way to go to catch up to where some Western countries are, but steps are being made by governments and companies alike to provide more support to their citizens and employees.

Common benefits we and our partners have worked to implement include the following:

• Mental health cover
• Psychologist network
• Mental health education
• Mental health wellness programs
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

In many cases, employers look at including coverage of visits to psychologists and even therapists in their health insurance package.

We also see stronger demand for education, and support resources that companies can share with employees. This can be multifaceted, but the most popular requests have been around providing written material such as articles, checklists, etc., and lists of professionals who can help with specific issues, such as psychologists who will accept direct billing from the company’s insurer.

Another emerging, yet incredibly useful, non-monetary benefit is the Employee Assistance Program. These are designed to help support your employees in times of crisis and are starting to become requested by larger companies in many markets. Some common issues that these programs can address include the following:

• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Child care needs
• Stress and/or burnout
• Financial problems
• Relationship problems

Lifestyle Benefits of Non Monetary Benefits

As the name suggests, these are non-monetary benefits that focus on supporting an employee’s lifestyle. This is a very broad topic that, in many cases, will largely depend on where your offices are located, the people you hire, your budget, and more.

Interestingly, this is often where we see companies differ the most in terms of the top non-monetary benefits they choose to offer. That said, there are commonly requested benefits that we have seen regardless of industry or location. These include:

• Flexible working arrangement
• Gym passes/yoga classes
• Childcare support
• Domestic helper coverage
• Healthy eating initiatives
• Preventative health
• Life insurance

In the past few years, we’ve seen increasing interest from companies to include certain lifestyle-related benefits in their employee benefits solutions. The most common have been preventative health-related, like health education, healthy eating initiatives, and checkups.

For companies with multiple offices around the world, we have seen continued requests for non-monetary benefits that support expat staff. These include things such as support for moving, and benefits covering the whole family in the new country, including those listed above.

Medical Benefits of Non Monetary Benefits

Medical-related benefits are arguably the single most important non-monetary benefit as, in many cases, employers use health insurance plans to build their benefits solution.

Offering medical insurance is still one of the best attraction and retention strategies that can be employed by businesses of any size to give them an edge.

When it comes to medical-related benefits, the top non-monetary employee benefits we are seeing being requested include the following:

• Health insurance (inpatient and outpatient)
• Maternity insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Family coverage

Health and medical benefits will always remain a large part of effective employee benefits solutions, and when implemented and rolled out correctly, companies can reap huge benefits in terms of higher retention, productivity, and attracting talent.

At Pacific Prime, we are expert at Non Monetary Benefits

If you are looking to implement or improve your employee benefits solutions, take a look at our video on the top 3 non-monetary employee benefits from employers to consider.

For further insight into the latest employee benefits trends, download your FREE copy of our Global Employee Benefits Trends Report 2022 today.

Looking for the ideal employee benefits package for your company? Our team of expert and impartial advisors can work with you to identify your needs and the solutions that will meet them. On top of that, they can even manage the whole program from start to finish. Contact our Corporate team today to learn how.

For further reading, check out layoff insurance: what you need to know. 

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Jantra Jacobs

Senior Copywriter at Pacific Prime

Jantra Jacobs is a Senior Copywriter at Pacific Prime with over 10 years of writing and editing experience. She writes and edits a diverse variety of online and offline copy, including sales and marketing materials ranging from articles and advertising copy to reports, guides, RFPs, and more.

Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.

Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.

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