Designing A Benefits/Total Reward Plan
Brianna Loeck
MPH 548
Benefits make up an important component of the employment relationship, providing
employees with financial protection, access to health care and programs to support
work/life balance (Kwon, 2013). When properly designed, delivered and communicated,
a company’s total rewards program can provide an incentive for individuals to join a
company, to perform at levels that produce desired business results and to remain with
the company as long as they continue to produce.
When creating a total rewards plan, I would dig deeper into the company to see what
types of people are employed within the company such as generational, ethnic,
personality, and age differences. There should be a selection of options within the total
rewards plan. It would not be wise or beneficial to have one set plan where all employees
are forced into one option. It is important to provide alternatives and what will work best
for employees.
If I were to design a benefits/rewards plan I would use a holistic approach for wellness
by providing tools and resources that motivate associates to achieve their physical,
financial, professional, and personal well-being goals. I would strive to focus on an ideal
wellness program. Health incentives I would offer would include:

Conducting annual health screenings and well-being assessments

Fitness membership reimbursement and/or on-site gym

Cafeteria full of healthy eating options

Weight management programs

Ergonomic style setup

Tobacco-free programs

Employee Assistance Programs

Health, dental, and eye insurance

Health savings account
Some of the incentives listed about would be a cost for the employees such as health,
dental, and eye insurance. I would offer low and high deductibles with premiums at a
low cost compared to most companies. For all three insurances, I would quote no more
than $200 per month depending on if it is for an individual or for a family. Employers
who provide health insurance are more likely to retain employees. Having insurance
through a company is considered a major benefit because it tends to be more convenient
and cost-efficient.
I believe creating a health environment is extremely important within a workplace.
Healthy workplaces are known to improve productivity. It improves employee health
outcomes, make it easier to attract and retain qualified employees, lower absences,
enhance morale, and improve job performance. There is more than one way that makes
up a healthy work environment, there are several such as:

Share an understanding that a healthy work environment not only benefits
employees through improved health and wellness but also benefits customers,
shareholders and communities

Take a comprehensive approach to promoting health and wellness

Encourage workers to take responsibility for their own health, safety and wellness
and contribute to creating a healthy work environment

Create environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice

Provide information and resources to assist their workers to make healthy lifestyle
choices and to achieve and maintain good health

Promoting work-life balance to make work a healthy life experience by creating a
healthy physical, social and psychological work environment as a core business
goal (British Columbia, 2013).
Other than health reinforcements in my ideal benefits plan, I would include several
other incentives at no cost to employees such as:

Paid holidays

Vacation, sick, and family/medical leave

Tuition assistance

Life Insurance

Retirement plans

On-site financial wellness consultant

Performance based incentive plan
“A benefits program can help to attract and retain employees in a competitive market,
so it must be well designed and cost effective” (Fried & Fottler, 2011). Creating an ideal
total rewards program on a budget can be a challenge. As a company, you want to offer
the best benefits for the employees because you want to maintain satisfaction within
business. Organizations are always looking for new incentives to add to their benefits to
win over their competitors and maintain employee retention.
If I were forced to cut the budget by 20% this would be very difficult decision. I
would not want to take anything away from the employees because one benefit/incentive
that is removed could potentially remove a handful of hard working employees. That
specific incentive could have been a good reason why they are still working for the
company.
The first idea that comes to mind would be to create a survey to send to all the
employees to get an idea of what employees find most valuable in the organization. By
doing this, the company can get an overall idea of what employees need and what would
be least needed within the total reward plan due to the budget cut.
If I were forced to choose, I would remove the cafeteria yet still offer some type of
reinforcement such as discounts to healthy restaurants. I would also remove the fitness
center but still provide fitness membership reimbursement. Both of these are very
convenient for employees and an important part of health and wellness for an
organization. The company I currently work for does not offer this options, but I would
love to see them offered. I would find these incentives to be a major advantage and save
myself time and money.
Fried & Fottler (2011) also state how important it is to pay attention to complex
federal guidelines that administer many benefits programs. This way, compliance
standards are being met and the company is being fair to their personnel. Important
major federal laws to include are Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA),
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), and Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). All three of these acts have specific
propositions for benefits management. Another important regulation that I would include
is Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). Underneath OSHA, workers
compensation is monitored and enforced and would also be included in the total rewards.
“This protects employers from possible litigation for workplace injuries and to provide
wages and benefits to employees who are injured on the job” (Fried & Fottler, 2011).
Summary
Designing a well-rounded benefits/total reward plan can be a challenge, yet very
rewarding for the organization. It is important to provide employees with the necessary
tools and resources for physical, financial, professional, and personal well-being goals.
Employee satisfaction should be the mail goal. Without employee satisfaction you
cannot run an effective and successful company. Words spread like wild fire when
people have a bad experience with a company whether it is employees or customers.
References
British Columbia. (2013). What makes a health work environment? Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/environments/workplace/healthyworkplace.html
Fried, B., & Fottler, M. (2011). Fundamentals of human resources in healthcare.
Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press
Kwon, J. (2013). Employee benefits in a total rewards framework. Retrieved from
http://www.aon.com/attachments/human-capitalconsulting/2013_Benefits_Quarterly_Employee_Benefits_Total_Rewards_Frame
work.pdf