Benefits One of the most important components of a successful company is to keep employees engage, happy, and provide them with incentives to maximize their productivity. In today’s society, there are several ways to accomplish this; however, offering employees benefits beyond the legal requirements tends to be beneficial to the employees as well as the management team. According to Meier (n.d.), “the positive side to employee benefits….offer the right benefit, and your business may just jump-start its growth. Give employees the benefits they value, and they 'll be more satisfied, miss fewer workdays, be less likely to quit, and have higher commitment to meeting the company 's goals” (p. 1). Hence, Whole Food Market is amongst the top 150 companies who has mastered the concept of leveraging its benefits package to recruit and retain its team members. This top employer prides themselves on believing that benefits to its team members is more than supporting their core values, but the right to do for members. In addition, the benefit package is created with the members in mind that encourages input, empowerment, creativity, collaboration, and a fair and equal work environment. Whole Food benefits packages includes Health plan, life insurance, generous store discount, life Insurance, retirement savings plan, vacation and sick paid leave, leave of Absence, team members stock option plan and emergency funds, and of course a competitive compensation plan. Internal
promotes pride in team members. All employees have access to most of Whole Food’s financial
Offer a competitive benefits package that fits your employees’ needs. Providing health insurance, life insurance and a retirement-savings plan is essential in retaining employees and bonuses. But other perks, such as flextime and the option of telecommuting, go a long way to show employees you are willing to accommodate their outside lives.
Average wage is $18.89, which is significantly higher than the retail store national average. Workers always earn a 20% discount from store items, with a potential of a 30% discount given that their cholesterol, blood pressure, and body-mass-index (BMI) are within a healthy range. Whole Foods provides their workers with a company website where they can monitor their eating patterns. Employees are able to access wages of anyone working for the corporation, from hourly workers to CEO’s. Voices are not left unheard as Whole Food’s encourages workers to present ideas, hence they have became known for taking the good ones. Their bestselling bread recipe came from a worker in Santa Fe, and their model of a bicycle delivery was written by a cyclist from Austin, Texas. Employee “perks” include language classes, massage therapy, and yoga. They have created alluring and joyful environments which reflect their intentions. The motto goes: “We celebrate success and see failures as opportunities for growth.” Thus, the company progresses through using the judgement and imagination of their workers.
There are a few benefits that employees will expect as standard. These benefits are usually seen as priority and can include pensions, medical, dental and life insurance and. Aside from priority benefits a number of companies need to add extra enticements. These employee benefits can include discretionary bonuses, performance related bonuses, profit sharing, gym memberships. Employers who then go the extra mile above standard employee benefits packages may be looking at some extra loyal employees. Innovative employee benefits are not the normal or standard benefits. They can sometimes be seen as unusual but can actually be very worthwhile. Examples of innovative benefits can include:
Healthcare benefits- Thousands of Americans die every week because they have no healthcare. They cannot afford it or it is not offered at their place of employment. Offering these benefits for employees are important because they cover outpatient care, prescriptions, outpatient care, pregnancy, mental health services, lab tests, therapy, pediatric services. and dental services. Having healthcare benefits would help gain employees and keep them around longer. That benefits us both, employer and employee. I believe that is a good practice.
I consider this benefit as a great opportunity to engage an excellent relationship between the job and the employees. Trust and relationships are totally related, and if a person is conceded with this benefit, you can assure not to lose him/her. This can be seen as a great management principle; because you offer the best you have to your workers in order to have a better performance on a job.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. has long been admired as an innovative company with quality standards, a devotion to community and environmental responsiveness, a healthy growth model and highly-regarded employment practices. However, the company has faced recent difficulties as a result of the economic recession, increasing competition, and complications from acquisitions. To revitalize the company from historical lows in its toughest year in history, Whole Foods Market must reassess its costs, refocus its expansion strategies, and promote its brand to compete for the diminishing consumer spending dollar.
Consumers view Whole Foods Markets as being very expensive and have given the retailer the nickname “Whole Paycheck”. Whole Foods carries a wider variety of organic foods and healthier brands besides their private brands. Whole Foods is experiencing a decline in sales due to other stores; like Wal-Mart, who are stocking organic foods at much lower prices; which has decreased differentiation (Lutz, 2014). Its decentralized business model decreases efficiency in procurement, distribution, and marketing efforts.
Benefits is an imperative factor that employees need in order to be satisfied and engaged in their place of employment. There are benefits that are required which include giving time off to vote, jury duty, withhold and pay certain taxes and applying with FMLA. Although some benefits are required, there are some that’s not required such as retirement, health, dental, and life insurance plans and paid vacations, holidays and sick leave (Basics of Employment Benefits, 2017). Managers should use these benefits to their advantage to maintain their
The team approach promoted strong corporate culture and a work environment where team members could flourish, build a career, and reach their highest potential. Team members are motivated and inspired by Whole Foods’ strategic vision. The process for bringing in a new team member was thorough and the whole team at a store is involved. Team leaders at each store receive a salary and a possible bonus based on EVA (Economic Value Added), a system Whole Foods used to measure performance. In 2004, 86% of employees said they enjoyed their job and 82% felt empowered to do their best work at Whole Foods Markets. Whole Foods Markets offered gain-sharing programs to reward team members according to the store’s contribution to Whole Foods operating profit (additional 5-7% of team members wages). Whole Foods encouraged stock ownership through three programs: A team member stock option plan (based on job performance and length of time employed at Whole Foods), a team member stock purchase plan (based on purchasing stock at 95% of market price), and a team member 401 (k) plan. To maintain high customer service all team members are continuously evaluated and take place in competitions against other Whole Foods Markets in that region. In 2007, around 750 team members were on the EVA-based incentive compensation program. EVA calculations were used to measure profitability and encouraged and motivated team members to succeed.
As a mid-sized organization of 100-250 employees the goal is to provide the widest array of employee benefits possible, without breaking the bank. The company wants to offer a benefit package to support the needs of its employees and serve to motivate, when taken as part of the total rewards package. That said, there are some benefits in which the company is required to offer and need will to consider their cost and benefit first, before adding in other non-mandated benefits. The company’s obligations are explored below in more detail.
Chapter conclusion: Benefits for employees are very important for companies. Benefits for employees include various insurance plans, paid vacation days, paid sick leave, paid days off, etc. Different companies need to establish different benefit plans based on their company conditions. In brief, benefit in one of the bridge between employers and employees.
Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.
Employee benefits are a tool used by businesses to attract potential applicants, improve employee satisfaction, reduce turnover and maintain competition. Benefits that most employers offer include, but are not limited to, medical and dental coverage, time away from work, retirement, and additional assistance during life changing events. The majority of employers in the United States offer benefits to their employees and include an annual enrollment yearly to select benefits and make any needed changes.
In today’s competitive workforce, compensation and benefit packages plays a crucial role on recruitment and retention for both the organization and the employee. Bumpbie finds itself in a situation where it could positively affect its employee’s morale, turnover rate and longevity; by making a strategic decision to implement compensation and benefit packages that will encourage current workers to stay and entice new applicants. Money is not always the inherent reason businesses experience high turnover rate, the constant shifting in the job market will always be a contributing factor as well as employee’s moral. Mayhew, R. (2016), explains that an “employee compensation plan” refers to all the components offered as well as the way in which they are paid, and the reason behind the employees getting the compensation case bonuses, salary increases and incentives. The fact that there are voluntary and mandatory benefits that organization provides to their employees give employees the freedom of choice, as well as the option to make the whether to stay with or leave an organization based on the benefits it provides. Variable Pay is also an option that some employers offer their employee which is performance based or results oriented. Whether it is profit sharing, merit based programs or incentive bonuses; it all comes down to which organization can provide employees with the compensation or benefits packages that best satisfy their needs.