In today’s dynamic and competitive job market, HR and People Ops leaders know that attracting and retaining top talent goes beyond traditional salary offerings. We’re witnessing in real-time a transformative shift in the realm of talent acquisition, where prospective employees are increasingly prioritizing a comprehensive compensation package over a singular focus on monetary rewards.
This paradigm shift underscores the pivotal role of innovative benefits strategies in securing and maintaining a competitive edge in the race for top-tier talent.
Much of this shift can be attributed to the evolution of employee priorities themselves, so understanding the nuanced dynamics of what truly matters to them becomes imperative. Research consistently highlights a desire for a holistic work experience that balances financial considerations with non-monetary factors. For example, the Los Angeles Business Journal shares that providing employees with a more holistic experience increases their satisfaction by 15%.
The intricacies of designing and implementing innovative benefits strategies that not only align with organizational goals but also resonate with the diverse needs of today’s workforce can provide both obstacles and opportunities for HR and People Ops leaders. Those who take advantage of those opportunities will begin to reap the benefits when it comes to both attracting and hiring top talent and keeping them happy long-term.
Innovative Benefits Strategies Elevate Your Hiring Hit Rate
First, let’s talk about what we mean by “a holistic work experience.” The term “holistic” gives people a funny feeling sometimes, but in the case of an employee’s work experience, it essentially boils down to an approach that considers the whole person and their overall well-being in the workplace.
Successful organizations embrace innovative benefits, and today’s innovative benefits must be holistic in their application. Every organization is different and has an employee population with different needs. Finding out what matters to them, from the source, is the best way to understand how your strategies need to evolve to meet the demands of the future of the workforce.
To demonstrate how viewing your benefits through this holistic lens of considering the whole person, we’re going to focus on one such strategy that has proven to positively impact employees across an organization and help make your organization a more desirable landing spot for top-tier candidates: Modern Leave of Absence Management Software
Incorporating modern leave-of-absence management software is the perfect example of considering your employees as a whole person, one who faces real-life ups and downs outside of the 9-5.
By successfully and seamlessly supporting an employee who needs to take time away from work, you not only promote a healthier and happier work environment within your walls today, but you send out a bat signal to all potential candidates that you don’t just view employees as a cog in a machine, but as a real human with real demands outside of work that may require putting deadlines and KPIs on the backburner temporarily.
How Modern Leave Software Is Your Competitive Hiring Edge
Keep in mind that not all modern leave management software is the same, so let’s take Tilt’s approach which is to leverage technology and empaths to make the leave of absence experience as human and easy as possible for all parties involved.
Why is this important? Well, you may offer the most robust leave policies as part of your benefits strategy, but when the rubber meets the road and an employee actually needs to take a leave, the experience they have on that journey can make or break the employee/employer relationship.
There’s a reason why some employees don’t come back after a leave of absence, or if they do, their experience was so subpar that they return only to collect a paycheck while they look elsewhere for employment.
If their leave of absence experience doesn’t meet their expectations, you can quickly find your strategy of providing big benefits go up in a big puff of smoke as the experience of taking one is cold, confusing, and difficult for employees to navigate.
The reason this happens is the experience for HR and People Ops leaders to administer, track, and manage a leave of absence is cold, confusing and difficult as well. Antiquated systems, manual processes, changing leave laws…today’s leave management requirements are too complex and compliance-risk-ridden to be done the old way.
Tilt’s leave management software solution turns this cold, confusing and difficult process into a warm, streamlined, and simple journey for all parties involved, making Tilt an innovative and indispensable benefit for employers and employees alike.
There is finally a single solution that takes your benefits strategy into the modern age of holistic employee support, and it’s used at your employee’s most critical life moments.
The way an employer responds to an employee’s critical life moment serves as a defining moment in the employee’s life cycle at your organization. As Lance Haun of the Starr Conspiracy puts it, “These defining moments are touchstones, so be thoughtful and think about what that experience is like for them.”
A solution like Tilt is the difference between simply having a benefits strategy and having an innovative benefits strategy.
Underneath the Hood of Modern Leave Management Software
Now that we’ve established that a holistic approach to leave management is a prime example of leveling up your benefits strategies, let’s see how it works.
1. No more manually managing spreadsheets
Tilt’s software eliminates the need to manually update spreadsheets when it comes to tracking your organization’s leaves of absence. Everything you need to know about all your leaves is automatically updated in your HR dashboard in real-time.
2. HRIS sync
Tilt automates the transfer of employee data through your HRIS so you can rest assured your leave management process involves working from the latest and greatest demographic data from your employee population.
3. Automated payroll
Payroll calculations can be messy when it comes to leaves of absence, and nothing causes more stress for your employees taking leave than confusion around how much they’re getting paid, when they’re getting paid, and through what sources (your org, your STD carrier, state programs, etc…).
Tilt automates pay calculations for employees so they’re always in the know, as is your payroll team. Tilt also auto-adjusts payroll calculations should any changes occur mid-pay period such as leave start and stop dates or salary rate.
4. Step-by-step customized leave plans
When a leave is entered into Tilt a personalized leave plan gets built for your employee without you or them having to lift a finger. These leave plans provide step-by-step guidance on everything they need to know about their leave and everything they need to do (and by when).
5. 1-1 human support for employees
Even the most straightforward leave of absence an employee can take has the potential of taking a real-life detour. For some, this may be the first leave of absence they’ve ever taken, which can be a scary experience on its own.
Tilt has an in-house team of Leave Success Managers (AKA Empathy Warriors) who get assigned to every single one of your employees taking a leave.
They’re your employee’s best friend when it comes to navigating a leave, and they’re there to answer any questions they may have, work with state departments and insurance carriers if necessary, and pretty much be an extension of your team dedicated to the success of your employee’s leave journey.
6. Secure file storage
Compliance is a major component of leave of absence management, and Tilt has made that easy too. Want to know a quick way to get employees questioning the capabilities of their employer? See what happens when sensitive information gets mismanaged. Tilt safely provides one single source of truth for all sensitive leave documentation by making direct uploads to our platform simple and secure.
7. Leave law expertise
Leave laws change all the time, but you can’t be expected to stay current at all times for all states (though if you like geeking out on leave laws like Tilt does, you can bookmark our Leave Law Report page to stay in the know). Tilt’s in-house team of leave law experts removes any doubts that not only is our platform primed with the most current leave laws, but should you or your employees have any questions, Tilt has the expertise to help when needed.
Innovative Benefits Strategies Don’t Have to Be Hard
When looking to incorporate innovative benefits strategies into your organization, it’s best to do so by viewing the employee as a whole person, and finding opportunities to make the quality of work life (and “life” life) easier for you and the employee you’re supporting.
Tilt takes your benefits strategy to a new level by leaps and bounds, making everyone’s lives easier and more supported every time a leave request comes up. The reason your employee leave experience might be bad today isn’t that you’re not putting in the effort to make it great, it’s that you’re trying to accomplish an extremely difficult and modern task with antiquated tools and technologies.
Attract and retain top talent by focusing on providing more than amazing benefits, but by having the best tools available to make utilizing those benefits a breeze. And there’s no more important opportunity to leave a lasting positive impression on your people than coming through with holistic support when they need it most.
Tilt is the type of innovative benefit that tells prospective employees that you’ll be there for them and their colleagues if life suddenly takes a turn for the worse, if new life is being welcomed into the family, or if mental stress is just too much to bear and they need to step away.
Benefits come in all varieties, but the truly innovative ones take the entire employee experience to heart and will accelerate your organization toward being an employer of choice for years to come.
About Tilt
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
