The job market is highly competitive. This is where corporate benefits come into play. But what exactly are they? Can they save taxes?
Corporate benefits: Individuality is important for retaining top performers
Employee satisfaction - What do satisfied employees have to do with corporate success?
Corporate Benefits - Good for your Recruiting and Employer Branding
Tax benefits for employers - An overview of the limits of tax-free benefits
Conclusion: Benefits for employees - Is it also worthwhile for your company?
Right now, the labor market is highly competitive. Employers have to come up with a number of ideas to retain employees and attract new ones. The right marketing is not the only important factor here.
This is where corporate benefits employee offers come into play. Corporate benefits are designed to help companies strengthen employee loyalty and make work more attractive. But what are corporate benefits? Which products are included? Can they save taxes? These and many other questions are answered in this article.
Corporate benefits are nothing more than additional benefits for the employees of your company. These employer benefits are provided to employees in addition to their actual salary. Examples include job tickets, meal allowances or health benefits.
Corporate benefits can also be described as employee benefits, employee offers, employee benefits or additional benefits.
Although there are many different offers, not all benefits are equally suitable for every company. This is because every company has its own corporate culture, different services and, accordingly, different employees with different needs. So employee offerings should always be specific to everyone on the team in order to lead to success.
This is especially true for employees who hold key positions in the company. These employees usually know their market value and are therefore more likely to churn. A good salary is hardly the only way to keep such top performers in the company. They can be motivated first and foremost through appreciation, empathy and communication at eye level. The right tone is also important here. If a company loses employees in several areas within a short period of time, this usually leads to massive problems in the workflow. An appreciative, exclusive and tailored range of corporate benefits is therefore indispensable for staff satisfaction and employee retention.
Employee satisfaction is the foundation of every successful company. The stronger and more positive employee satisfaction is, the more committed they are and the more willing they are to do something for their money. A change of job is sought significantly less than with dissatisfied employees. For employers, this means that it makes perfect sense to positively influence the attitude and well-being of employees through incentives such as flexible working hours or corporate benefits.
If employees are happy, that can have many benefits for employers:
If benefits are offered by the employer, the employees benefit directly from them. They enjoy benefits that have not been contractually agreed. If employee benefits are paid instead of a salary increase, this has a further advantage for the employees. Since some of the allowances are tax-free, it does not increase gross income.
Especially when a salary increase would mean a higher payment of taxes, employee benefits are more advantageous for the employee in this case.
If staff live healthier lives, they fall ill less often and remain more productive. This creates a win-win situation for both employer and employee. Promoting health is therefore one of the core areas of corporate benefits.
One of the greatest wishes of employees is to better combine family and work. Entrepreneurs can provide the following employee offerings for this purpose:
Millions of employees commute between home and work every day. As an entrepreneur, you have numerous options for contributing to the costs. This is achieved, among other things, through
It can therefore be said that corporate benefits help to improve employer branding and employee offers play a major role in today's working world. For applicants applying for a new job, employee offers can be important arguments for choosing an employer.
On the other hand, corporate benefits provide motivation and satisfaction for employees already working for the company.
Employees enjoy major financial benefits. It is irrelevant whether these are benefits in kind, special conditions or price discounts.
Companies that offer corporate benefits become more attractive than the competition, both for their employees and for applicants on the labor market. Companies that offer their employees corporate benefits significantly promote employee loyalty to the company.
In addition, tax savings on certain benefits reduce costs on the part of the company as opposed to a salary increase.
Everyone is happy when their achievements are recognized and rewarded. Employee offers therefore not only promote motivation, but are also good for the working atmosphere.
If corporate benefits precisely meet the expectations and needs of employees, employee identification with the company also grows. A good example of this is childcare in the company, which significantly reduces the workload of working parents.
Employee benefits involve costs and effort for companies. But corporate benefits offer clear advantages for both the company and the employees. Companies that offer employee benefits strengthen their employer branding. The better this turns out, the more suitable and attractive applicants the company has to choose from.
Depending on the benefits in question, these can represent a unique selling point and thus be the deciding factor in whether an employee decides in favor of or against an employer. Many employees perceive corporate benefits as an appreciation of them as a person and for the services they provide for the company.
This appreciation can lead to less unrest and turnover within the workforce. In addition, employee benefits can promote both loyalty and retention.
Those who offer their employees corporate benefits should take care to document the individual benefits precisely. It is not enough to state what the benefits are or what the value of the individual benefits is.
The expenses must be converted to the individual participants. This is the case, for example, with health promotion courses.
Whether your employees also use company property such as laptops or smartphones privately, on the other hand, does not need to be checked.
If fuel vouchers are involved, you must prove that they cannot be converted into cash.
If you pay your employees subsidies for kindergarten, you will need the relevant receipts for the care.
In addition, companies should take care not to indiscriminately throw around any employee offers that only superficially represent an advantage at first glance. Here applies completely clearly: Class instead of mass. As a company, ask yourself what your employees really benefit from and what is worth your effort. Unconvincing benefits can even be perceived negatively by employees.
The limit for tax-free benefits in kind was raised from 44 euros to 50 euros as of January 01, 2022.
Drinks and meals at the workplace are generally tax-free if they are consumed by employees at the company and not taken away.
Likewise, meal vouchers and meal allowance subsidies fall under the tax exemption.
Job tickets provided by the employer at the price agreed with Deutsche Bahn are also tax-free.
The situation is different for travel allowances. These are generally taxable and must be taxed at a flat rate of 15 percent plus solidarity surcharge and church tax.
However, if there is a double household or if the travel allowance relates to travel to vocational school, it is tax-free.
The employer can provide its employees with courses and measures amounting to 600 euros tax-free per year as part of a company health promotion program. However, this must be a certified health promotion program.
In order to find corporate benefits partners suitable for your employees, there are various providers who offer you a corresponding platform to facilitate the search for suitable offers. It is very easy to use and only a few data such as your e-mail address are required for login. Examples are: Corporate Benefits and Belonio.
Around 400 companies have integrated the Corporate Benefits purchasing portal into their company intranet and can access the platform using an app or via a special program. Employees buy directly from the providers, who pay a fixed fee to the platform.
The advantages for the providers are obvious: This way, they gain new customers without having to lower prices in general.
A large number of partners are already represented on Corporate Benefits. Among them are
It's hard to imagine today's corporate world without corporate benefits. There are additional benefits in every conceivable form. Applicants nowadays look very closely at what a future employer can offer them.
For companies, it is part of modern corporate branding to provide a suitable range of additional benefits in order to attract the best employees.
You should therefore equip your offers with generous corporate benefits - it will also pay off for your company!
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