All business owners should put together a great company benefits (also known as employee benefits) package.
They’re an excellent perk for your whole team, and there are tax benefits too! But where do you start, and what benefits can you offer your team?
Why should I offer company benefits?
An attractive employee benefits package is a really strong way to make your company stand out from competitors and attract new talent, whilst retaining your current team.
If you’re looking to hire soon, offering a whole selection of benefits in comparison to a competitor who offers very little, could help a potential employee make the decision to apply to your company.
They’re also a way for your team to feel more valued, better provided for and can help increase overall job satisfaction.
As we mentioned earlier, there’s also tax advantages to many company benefits, which means they can be cost effective to implement and manage.
What can I offer my team?
Holidays
This one should be a given with any job, but instead of simply offering the legally required holiday allowance, you could look at offering your team more. Everyone needs to take time away from work and additional days can help them do exactly that.
Pension Scheme
Pensions can be a tax-efficient way to put money aside for your team, your company gets a corporation tax deduction on the money they pay in, and you’re helping your team prepare for life after work, which will be greatly appreciated. It’s a win-win!
Cycle to Work Scheme
The Cycle to work Scheme is a great way to encourage healthy living and eco-friendly travel amongst your team.
The scheme works as a salary sacrifice employee benefit. This means the cost of the bike is taken from the employee’s payslip before tax and taken as a monthly instalment.
This means there’s no upfront cost, and that your team will pay less Income Tax and National Insurance (NI) on the cost of a bike, making it cheaper for them. You can also reduce your overall National Insurance Contributions (NICs) bill.
Trivial Benefits
While the name doesn’t inspire much confidence, trivial benefits are a great, tax free way to reward and recognise your team throughout the year. Each director can spend up to £300 a year and there’s a cap of £50 per gift.
Trivial benefits could include a team lunch, maternity/paternity hampers or recognising an employee’s birthday/work anniversary with a gift voucher (gift vouchers can’t be given for performance).
Health Care and Insurance Policies
Support your staff when they need it most with access to health care and insurance policies. No one likes to think of worst-case scenario situations, but having that extra layer of protection should something happen, can help give your whole team extra peace of mind. You may find your team in general are more health conscious and aware due to the pandemic, which definitely isn’t a bad thing, so this might be even more appreciated now.
Some policies can even be classed as allowable costs for your business, which means you can save on tax overall.
Need to discuss your company benefits package?
Reshaping your benefits package or putting an initial bundle of benefits together? Feel free to get in touch, we work with businesses of all sizes!
Over the years we’ve given insight on employee benefits and the tax implications, to directors who have small, medium and large teams.
