Financial and Other Benefits

Help retain employees by following these financial and other benefits suggested by The Stakeholder Advisory Group.

Direct financial benefit

  • Retirement plan – offer a retirement plan, or work with another agency to offer one jointly to share cost
  • Agency pay for continuing education,  training, in-service trainings
  • Agency offers free CEUs in-house
  • Agency creates an Employee Assistance Program
  • Agency offers tuition reimbursement for courses toward professional development – if it is part of an arrangement with a college which provides credit for work experience- the courses could be free or of reduced charge to both the agency and the worker
  • All employees on salary (versus fee for service) – this allows employees to have a more stable continuous income
  • Pay raises at a fixed percent per year or in fixed increments – this allows some predictability for employees
  • Additional fee for service opportunities to raise income – for those employees who can work extra hours, this can raise their pay and increase the income for the agency
  • Productivity incentives (pay and/or vacation time) – for completing paperwork correctly, for seeing more clients, for billable hours – allowing the employee to share in the financial benefit to the agency can help the worker financially and give them an incentive to help the agency
  • Merit and/or longevity bonuses  (pay and/or vacation time)
  • All employees get benefits
  • Conduct survey of local agencies to know whether benefits are competitive or not
  • Uniform salary ranges for job grade – if salary ranges are not fairly used for the same pay grade, this can be a dissatisfier for employees
  • Pay for training and/or pay salary for time at training (no loss of vacation time or pay) - see Phoenix House as a Massachusetts example.
  • Flexible implementation of benefits (tailor to individual needs)
  • Insurance plan where employees pay deductible only
  • Join with another organization or trade association to negotiate benefits options
  • Have a policy of paying a small percentage more than local competitors (such as 3%) – the amount may not be large, depending on the position and environment, but the policy can be attractive.

Indirect financial benefit

  • Free parking
  • Workout time
  • Generous leave time
  • Use of organization's laptop, cell phone
  • Auto deposit payroll
  • Borrow against future income if employee in dire straits