4 Ways to Build Benefits to Attract and Retain Nonprofit Employees

Many nonprofits are feeling the pressure of today’s challenging labor market. How can you attract and retain employees when other organizations have more resources to win talent?

Nonprofits can compete by focusing on the right priorities — a critical one being discovering what employees want in their benefits packages and making those benefits inclusive and flexible for each employee at their stage in life. 

Samantha Stark, director of human resources at Opportunity Development Centers (ODC), expressed that quality benefits help the organization, which employs 214 team members working in 13 counties in Wisconsin, compete for talent and keep valued employees. 

“For ODC, providing quality benefits is really important to our workplace culture,” Stark said. “It's something we're always looking at  — What can we add? What do people want? — while always acknowledging that every employee has different needs.”

Stark handles all things human resources for the nonprofit that has a mission of empowering people with disabilities to achieve their work and life goals. She has learned a lot in her 13 years as an HR professional. Stark shared four steps to creating an inclusive and robust benefits package to bolster company culture, as well as to attract and keep talent.

1. Understand Employee Needs and Values

A common mistake many organizations make in providing benefits is neglecting the different needs of individuals. Employees need benefits that work for their unique situation, so employers must work to understand and address those specific needs. 

Stark said ODC utilizes surveys to reveal what employees want and need and what aspects of the current benefits program work and which do not. Included in the surveys are demographic questions to learn if certain groups benefit more than others; comprehension questions to see if employees understand their benefits and how to best utilize them; and a feedback response field where employees can voice their thoughts. 

Most ODC employees reported that flexibility and paid time off were extremely important, so the organization has prioritized paid time off benefits, like birthdays and increased accrual rates.

2. Build Cornerstone Benefits

Once you have a better idea of what employees value, build cornerstone benefits, with a focus on health benefits. Cornerstone benefits generally cover medical and paid time off, and potentially vision, dental and retirement. Start small because it’s much more complicated to remove a benefit than to build up your benefits program over time.

Because of ODC’s extremely diverse and multigenerational team, Stark said the organization requires an innovative and inclusive benefits solution to accommodate varied employee needs. For instance, an employee who has built a 30-year career at ODC has different health and wellness needs than a recent college graduate. ODC has utilized a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), an affordable and customizable approach to benefits administration. 

An HRA is an IRS-approved, employer-funded health benefit used to reimburse employees, tax-free, for their healthcare expenses. Employers set a benefit allowance that employees can use on insurance and qualified medical expenses. Employees submit expense receipts to their employers for reimbursement. HRAs are a departure from the traditional one-size-fits-all group health insurance and accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce, multi-state employee base and organization budgets of all sizes.

HRAs have emerged as a viable option for nonprofits that want to build inclusive and attractive cornerstone benefits. Great Falls Rescue Mission, a Great Falls, Montana-based nonprofit providing care for those experiencing hunger and homelessness, offered group health insurance to its employees for several years. However, when rates jumped up 54% in one year, the organization switched to an HRA, offering employees a generous and flexible health benefit without substantial annual cost increases. Since switching, Great Falls Rescue Mission has saved more than $91,000 in taxes per year.

3. Guide Employees Through Benefits

Guiding and educating employees through their benefits is an ongoing process that should start early in the year to give employees ample time to enroll or make decisions. Stark mentioned that ODC pushes out communication about benefits year-round but more in the fourth quarter when open enrollment ramps up. She also makes time to meet with employees individually to answer questions.

Staff meetings, emails, texts and phone calls are other methods to foster consistent benefits guidance. Consider recording the informational staff meetings to circulate via email throughout the year.

“I didn't realize how many people don't understand the benefits they're getting. They sign the paper because health insurance is necessary and is what it is,” Stark said. “I find it so rewarding to show employees how to utilize their benefits best and that they can tailor them to their specific needs and goals.”

4. Expand Benefits and the Definition of Wellness 

Once you’ve established a foundation of cornerstone benefits, you can add to them based on additional employee insight and needs. Consider options like mental health coverage and counseling. Your employees may value wellness perks, like gym memberships, gym trackers or wearables and yoga classes.

Stark explained that when it comes to benefits, ODC is trying to expand the conventional definition of health beyond just physical condition to overall well-being. There are needs outside of traditional doctors’ visits. Health should encompass physical, emotional and financial needs. 

Employees may want to opt into certain benefits, even if they pay for them themselves. ODC has presented its employees critical illness and accident insurance that they can purchase voluntarily.

“Finding innovative ways to keep our employees happy, getting them involved and giving them control in their health and wellness has been advantageous for the organization, its culture and me professionally,” Stark said. 

Implementing these four steps will be an investment in your organization’s most valuable asset — its people.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.