Benefits and Perks That Employees Value Most in 2019

There’s no doubt that millennials dominate the present workforce. As a result, the way employees perceive compensation and benefits has drastically changed in recent years. Gone are the days when traditional benefits are seen as the norm. Today, companies are increasingly seeing the trend of employees valuing flexible and highly creative perks.

As employees start to see more value in benefits beyond salary, companies are playing catch-up in order to stay relevant. This poses a real challenge to traditional companies, since startups have paved the way for creative rewards programs for employees.

Defining modern compensation and benefits

The pure definition of compensation and benefits has gone a long way from what it was decades ago. Long before the digital era that we currently live in, workers greatly valued tangible benefits like gold, jewelry, and even real estate assets. Today, the modern workforce has redefined what they really want to get in exchange for their efforts. This has set the definition of modern compensation and benefits for employees.

Businesses now look into innovative rewards, because many startups have redefined what perks can be. This culture of offering perks and benefits, which emphasizes on dynamically-changing employee needs, is setting the bar for future compensation and benefits trends as well. In fact, even top executives have noticed and realized why flexible perks and benefits could help in avoiding work burnout.

For many modern workers, what they think of compensation and benefits goes far and beyond just plain salary. Millennials, in particular, are putting more value in non-monetary compensation. These benefits include flexible work arrangements, more paid time-offs, special kinds of rewards like attendance- and performance-based benefits, and recognition and awards for being valuable employees, among many other things.

Shifting from traditional to creatively unconventional rewards

The modern workforce is drawn towards changing, flexible perks that suit their ever-changing needs and wants. They demand benefits that fit their lifestyle, and can be changed based on how they see fit. Work-life balance is also a top priority, since many employees have many interests and pursuits outside of the workplace.

Many studies affirm that today’s employees are looking for ways to make their company benefits and perks work for them – not the other way around.

One of the top things that employees value the most is training and development programs. Our most recent report on the State of Human Resources in the Philippines for 2019 shows that a significant number of employees would like companies to provide them training and development opportunities. They believe that these programs help their careers grow, which they consider as an invaluable asset.

Having flexible work hours, competitive pay, medical and retirement plans, and a company that advocates great working culture are some of the top things that modern employees value the most. Other benefits that bring great value and importance to employees include travel perks, annual or biannual all-expense-paid company outings, continuing education programs, and gym memberships, to name a few.

Understanding the needs of the modern employee

For businesses, offering creative perks is just one way to attract and maintain talent while also keeping up with today’s workplace trends. For employees, working hard also means living smart, since they can now enjoy perks that suit the way they live.

More employees want to achieve a great balance of work and play through rewards that make more sense to them. Companies should understand the fact that employees now look beyond salary to motivate them at work. Startup and established businesses alike feel the increased pressure of keeping up with today’s trends in compensation and benefits, but it’s important for them to be relevant despite economic challenges.

Employees appreciate company stability and job security. A well-thought compensation and benefits structure rounds it all out.

How new benefits and perks affect companies

Companies try to be as creative as they can to stay relevant towards current and potential employees. Startup companies are notable for standing out in their pursuit of attracting and keeping loyal talent. How do startups do it? It starts in their creative ways of delivering employee rewards.

Employees also prefer companies that offer performance-based compensation structure, as opposed to tenure-based.

While employees look for more flexible work arrangements, companies also look for ways to accommodate without impacting operations too much. Some work types can’t be made flexible, but businesses should consider it to keep employees happy and loyal.

It’s true that the compensation and benefits landscape is evolving because of the modern workforce. It makes perfect sense for businesses to motivate employees to be productive while also rewarding them with flexible perks.

Modern employees value individuality more than ever, while also aiming for their personal and professional goals. This is why formulating a great compensation structure is vital to employee satisfaction and business growth.

The post Benefits and Perks That Employees Value Most in 2019 appeared first on Sprout.

source https://sprout.ph/blog/benefits-employees-value-2019/

Career Day at Sprout: Live Your Dream, Even For a Day

7 Tips to Help You Succeed in Growing Your Startup in the Philippines

The competition in any business niche is tough and if you’re a startup, it may dishearten you a bit. Nonetheless, there are many ways to grow your startup in the Philippines. It’s true that it may be difficult at first, but if you’ll consider these tips you may find the success and growth you’re aiming for at your doorstep.

Create a Website for Your Startup

One of the first steps you’ll need to take once you’ve established your business is to build a website. It is important that you have a specific place on the web where you can show your products and tell a little about your company and its strengths. Having a website can help you gain the trust of your customers because they’ll know that you are trustworthy.

According to Blue Corona, a marketing solutions provider, Americans spend about 23.6 hours online per week and 30% of online consumers won’t consider a business without a website. Lots of people look for products and services online, which means that it will be easier for people to find you if you have a website.

After building your website, focus on optimizing your site for search engines. This helps to increase traffic to your website and drive more customers.

Utilize Email Marketing

Email marketing can be a really effective marketing strategy if you know how to do it properly.

To start with, you can build an email list where your prospects and customers can subscribe. Make good use of your lead generation skills and find as many prospects as you can. You can send them newsletters, promotional emails and personalized messages.

Email marketing can help you generate a lot of sales if your content is interesting, engaging, and purposeful. You can also rely on different email marketing tools to keep track of your activities. One great marketing technique is scheduling email blasts, making it more convenient and hassle-free on your part. Make sure to keep your email list updated so you’ll know which among your list are still active and qualified as prospects.

Run Contests on Social Media

Social media is a great platform for every kind of business. As a startup, you can use social media to engage customers and prospects through your posts and videos. 

Launching social media contests is one way to connect with your target market, because it can bring in new audiences and engage the current ones.

Everyone loves freebies! If they’re getting something by joining your contests, they will not hesitate to join. Feel free to run different types of contests, but make sure they are interesting to generate buzz and drive more people to your website and other social media pages.

Sponsor for Different Events

Events marketing may be a traditional marketing approach, but you can’t miss any opportunity to introduce your business if you want to see it grow.

Rave parties and social events happen in the Philippines almost every day. You can use these events to promote your brand. As the main sponsor of an event, you will gain lots of exposure. You can even invite people to check your website, social media pages and your physical store, if you have any. If you have a café or a restaurant, you can offer free samples of some of your bestsellers.

Leverage Customer Feedback

Whatever type of business you have, one of the goals you should have is to get positive reviews. A lot of consumers rely on public opinion; one example is that when they consider buying a product, they read a lot of customer reviews first.

Positive reviews attracts people to your business, so make sure to ask your customers to leave positive feedback on your website or review sites.

If negative feedback outweighs the positives, it will be hard to convince your customers into buying your products. Use customer feedback to motivate you to enhance your products and improve your services.

Improve Team Processes

You can have the best marketing strategies but if you have a complicated team, it will be hard to achieve your business goals.

Teamwork is a very important element in your business. Your team members should work as one and find strength in each other. Many tasks require collaboration, and it’s your job to provide your employees with resources that will improve teamwork and coordination.

Your team members should also be on the same page all the time to communicate ideas and resolve problems faster. Feedback from your employees will also give you an insight into your management and help you improve certain policies and business processes.

Keep your Employees Happy and Well-Compensated

No matter how big or small your team is, they need to feel satisfied with their jobs. If things in the office become stressful, give them a little break to recharge and become more productive at work.

Happy employees are good for your business, so always give them reasons to smile and things to look forward to every day. This way they won’t be bored and feel left out. Take them to nice places as part of your team building activity, so they can feel that they are an important part of the company. Above all, make sure all your employees are well-compensated and offer them great benefits and rewards throughout your progress.

Growing a business is truly challenging. But if you know how to keep your customers, employees, and other stakeholders happy, you will quickly find your way to success. Don’t rush and take small steps until you get the hang of it.

Manual processes in your startup can slow down growth, so make use of smart software to bring out the full potential of your growing business. Sprout Solutions can help you automate your HR and payroll processes through our suite of smart HR and payroll software. You may book a demo with us and let’s see how we can help your startup grow.

The post 7 Tips to Help You Succeed in Growing Your Startup in the Philippines appeared first on Sprout.

source https://sprout.ph/blog/7-tips-startup-success-philippines/

10 Reasons Why Payroll Software Is A Must For Your Business

Businesses are rapidly moving into the new age. A lot of things done manually in the past are taking on radical concepts as technology has taken over simpler tasks. Process automation through payroll software is a big thing for businesses, because it frees up valuable time that you can use for more important things.

Payroll software gives accurate results and is harder to tamper with. Using payroll software is a no-brainer if you see that your team frequently makes errors in manual payroll processing. Automating your payroll processes could mean fewer errors which results in happier employees. See how payroll software can benefit your company in the long run.

Efficient Use of Time

Your team can consume lots of time doing payroll every month. This can really drain your employees and result in lots of human error. You also have to spend hours, days, or even months on year-end tax preparations. What payroll software does is that it automates your processes and eliminate errors in calculations. This can save you lots of time which you can use for more important tasks. You don’t have to commit as much time to payroll when you can finish it in a few clicks.

Eliminates Errors

Manual processing could lead to trouble caused by serious errors like incorrect tax filing. Manual processing just doesn’t cut it these days anymore where errors can lead to a miscalculation in taxes, ignoring taxable items, feeding forms with incorrect information, and much more. Remember, these errors are going to cost you a lot! Using the right payroll software means you can avoid headaches down the road.

Tailor-fit to Your Business Needs

Payroll software isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The good thing about payroll software is that it’s versatile enough to be tailor-fit to your business needs. One example is that payroll software can handle different types of payroll runs, such as weekly or monthly. You can also adjust the compensation structures for various roles, benefits, and bonuses. These can be customized to suit your team’s unique needs. Less effort is required to ensure that all requirements are met.

Accessible Employee Portals

Payroll software is meant to be easily accessible. Employees can gain access to it anytime and anywhere where they can see their work information at a glance. All important employee data are uploaded in the portal for easy browsing. Payroll software lets employees experience greater control of their work life and makes it easy for them to request information.

Easy Integration and Access

You can easily manage employee attendance by integrating payroll software with other tools such as a time tracker or biometric device. Whatever the demands are, software integration features in payroll software lets you collaborate with others, which lowers the pressure on administrative work and makes all processes smoother and more streamlined. Imagine a hassle-free monitoring of your employees even remotely through integration. Moreover, you offer seamless solutions in doing so.

Reduces Costs

Cost reduction is one of the advantages of using a payroll software, since it usually results in lower operational expenses. Ask yourself: what is the level of work involved in running your payroll and what is the right solution for it? If your software can finish the task in a few clicks, you would have saved a lot of time and money. Use your money wisely for more useful things like growth and expansion efforts.

Safety and Security

There’s a need for a secure payroll software because payroll information and related documents are sensitive in nature. Payroll software restricts access to information, and can only be accessed by the company administrator or an authorized employee. This makes information more tamper-proof and results in fewer errors.

Payroll Software Keeps Improving

Software companies continuously upgrade and improve their software. Getting your very own payroll software now gives you the ability to share feedback on how it should work for you, which developers can use to make improvements in future updates. You can be sure that your payroll processes run smoothly every time.

Technical Support & Customer Service

There’s no company that’s immune from technical glitches in using payroll software. Whether you are looking for customer service or technical support, your payroll services are likely to have one in place for their customers. If you are looking around for the best payroll software, consider the level of after-sales support they offer, because this is an indication that you’re getting top-notch support for any issues you may have in the future.

Employee Productivity

Traditional payroll systems usually require manual entry of leave requests, employee claims, and overtime applications.

It takes more effort in using spreadsheets to process payroll, because errors or changes in the formula could throw out the complex calculations in place. This usually results in incorrect payments, pay disputes, and unhappy employees. Using payroll software can streamline your team’s productivity and improve overall employee satisfaction, instead of wasting time and effort in doing grunt work.

Conclusion

If your business needs a cost-effective solution for payroll processing, a smart payroll software is a must-have. Simplify your payroll processes with a smart payroll software solution. Sprout Solutions offers a comprehensive suite of HR and payroll software that lets your team do complex things with just a few clicks.

The post 10 Reasons Why Payroll Software Is A Must For Your Business appeared first on Sprout.

source https://sprout.ph/blog/10-reasons-payroll-software/

State of HR in the Philippines: 7 Emerging Trends

Can’t We All Get Along?: Managing Office Cliques

It’s lunchtime or afternoon break: you head over to the pantry and you see several small groups of your colleagues clumping together in their own little space, chatting about the fun stuff they did over the weekend.

You listen in on the conversations and wonder if you should join in or feel like you’re stepping into ‘secret’ territories, or what is commonly called “office cliques.”

A study by Career Builder finds that 43 percent of full-time private-sector employees in the US say their office is populated by cliques and that it has been affecting workplace culture and their career development negatively.  

Reluctant Adaptive Behavior

It’s common to find employees adapting new behaviors they don’t really want to do, have no interest in, or feel uncomfortable with just to fit into office dynamics. 20 percent find themselves admitting that they’ve done something such as:

• • Watching a certain TV show or movie to discuss the next day (21 percent),
• • Pretending not to like someone or making fun of someone (19 percent),
• • Pretending to like a certain food (17 percent),
• • Taking smoke breaks (9 percent),
• • Hiding political affiliation (15 percent),
• • Not revealing personal hobbies (10 percent),
• • Keeping religious affiliations and beliefs a secret (9 percent).

Solution: Self-reflection

Reflect inwardly from time to time and try to notice if you’ve acquired an office alter ego or if you’ve been presenting two different personas at work and at home. If you can relate to this, then it’s a sure sign you should be re-evaluating your relationship with your work circle.

Exclusive Nature, Being Branded the Same as Your Clique’s Image   

Engaging in gossip, bullying, backstabbing, ostracizing other employees they don’t like, only wanting to hang out with members of the clique, and requiring conformity are just some of the common things office cliques do. When it gets really bad they won’t even know they’ve demoralized someone enough for them to leave altogether.

Whatever the image your clique projects— fashionable slackers, cool bullies, chatterbox, the life of the party, among others— will be put upon you as well, whether or not you actually embody these attributes. This can potentially damage your career development when both good and bad things happen in the company.

Solution: Analysis and Variety

Analyze if you’re in a clique— if you are in a group of friends at work but you’re afraid to speak out about a specific behavior because you don’t want to go against the collective opinion, you might want to rethink your friends at work.

Then, think about bringing variety into your work relationships. Broaden your horizons by spending more time with different people who build you up to slowly lessen your clique involvement and eventually make way for a sensible departure. Allow yourself to develop new interests.

Office Politics, Bosses in Cliques

Even supervisors and the upper management are at times part of cliques, intentionally or not, that can fuel office politics—favoritism, power trips, forcing homogeneity, or driving a small pack of brown-nosers.

Coworkers in a clique meanwhile will tend to cover for another member’s faults and duties, reinforce only each other’s opinions, and fail to take account of non-clique members’ ideas, which leads to subpar output and ineffective teamwork.

Solution: Setting an Example and Clear Enforcement of Policies  

It’s troublesome for the management when one of its executives is part of a clan as the right behavior, atmosphere, and cultural tone should start from here. If you are part of management, you must show transparency, inclusion, and open dialogue in meetings to gain their employees’ trust and fuel their ideas.

You must be a good listener and show them you value their opinion even when you may have to disagree. Promote healthy competition and collaboration while rewarding individuality, innovation, and authenticity.

You should also have clear policies set about digital etiquette to avoid cyberbullying, guidelines on how to report harassment issues, and develop mentoring programs in HR, investigate employee complaints thoroughly, use standard performance review procedures, and require tangible evidence to support a promotion or pay raise.

Create interactivity—team lunch or after hours occasionally but don’t make participation mandatory. Celebrate everyone’s success and don’t just praise a few.

And while being part of a clique may seem fun, provides a safety net, even advantageous connections—most especially for the socially conscious generation of millennials— there’s absolutely no rule that you should be part of one to ensure your happiness and place at work.

 

The post Can’t We All Get Along?: Managing Office Cliques appeared first on Sprout.

source https://sprout.ph/blog/managing-cliques/

Julie — On Her Passion for Payroll and Her Team

Julie is Sprout Solutions’ Head of Payroll Professional Services. On this Sprout’s Rockstar of the Month, she speaks about how she found herself in payroll and managing her team.

 

Seeking Education, Trying Sales, Finding Payroll

“I took up BS Clinical Psychology in college because I wanted to be a teacher. After I graduated, I went into my first job as an HR assistant and on weekends, I was taking my masters for psychology.

The company I worked for was in the HR and payroll industry. Though I worked in HR I would often join events and it was then the marketing manager in my office asked me to be a part of the sales and marketing team. She said she saw my potential to be a salesperson, so I ended up working two positions: in HR and sales. I took up all responsibilities that came with being in sales and beyond— I was handling implementation as well.  

After a few years of that, I was promoted to operations as a manager, which entailed the outsourcing services of the company and software implementations. This position is where I started learning about the accounting, financial and payroll side of the industry.”

The Turning Point

“There was a situation in my job that I really had to learn payroll in depth; one of the supervisors had made a mistake in the computations and ended up paying the wrong amount to one of our clients’ employees. During that time I was on vacation but I needed to step in and resolve the issue. It was then I realized I enjoyed payroll.

At that point, I had been doing payroll since 2010, so I decided it was time to take my knowledge and venture to a new environment. I enjoy the challenges of payroll, especially in the year-end, like annualization. It could be a repetitive task but every now and then you have to check new rulings or policies and that’s when it gets exciting. So when I was looking for new work, I searched within the payroll industry and that’s where I found Sprout and joined their payroll outsourcing team as head manager.”  

On Managing a Team

“I believe that my background in clinical psychology helped me prepare for the client-facing position of payroll outsourcing. It teaches you how to understand the human psyche so it helps me be a keen observer and patient listener when I communicate with clients as well as my employees.

On top of my educational background, I also learned a lot from my manager from my past job. When I started in sales, she taught me how to present myself to clients, most especially in negotiation. By urging me to try out sales from an HR position, she took me out of my comfort zone, and it was then I gained more confidence in myself and in handling a team.”

Managing Style

“I am very maternal… People often look to me for advice. So when I first took on a managerial role, it wasn’t hard for me to adjust to having people work under me.

I believe that my team is my responsibility, so it is in my instinct to take care of them. But that doesn’t mean that I baby them either: I always tell my team that I will not be the micromanaging type because I trust that they will do their jobs. I expect my team to manage themselves and they will only hear from me when they are not meeting my expectations. However, if they need help from me, they can always approach me.”

When building my team, I value willingness to learn over skills. One of my greatest peeves is someone with an attitude problem; I would much rather handle someone that doesn’t hold that much experience but is open to learning than someone with a higher skillset but refuses to new ideas.”

Outside of Payroll and Future Plans

“Outside of payroll, I enjoy crafting. I make accessories and do hand stamping whenever I’m free. These are the activities I like to do to de-stress.

I was recently thinking about enrolling myself for a masters degree. When I used to want to be a preschool teacher I took school psychology for masters, but now that I’ve found payroll I want to further my learning again.”

 

The post Julie — On Her Passion for Payroll and Her Team appeared first on Sprout.

source https://sprout.ph/blog/julie-rockstar-of-the-month/