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Increasing benefits can improve employee loyalty

Posted on July 28th, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes

A recent survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found factors affecting employee loyalty to be shifting. Furthermore, a correlated study revealed human resources administration may face greater challenges creating it.

According to MetLife's 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, only 44 percent of small business employees – both permanent or contract workers – feel a strong loyalty to their employers, with 34 percent of respondents signaling they would like to work for someone else.

Employee benefits are a central contributor to loyalty. While the majority of small businesses maintained pre-recession offerings when it came to benefits, the status quo may not be enough, the study found.

Of those employees not satisfied with their benefits, 50 percent hope to be working for a different business, while 72 percent of small business workers who are "very satisfied" with their benefits feel strong loyalty to their employers.

"One area small businesses may overlook is whether their benefits programs are designed as strategically as they could be," said Jeffrey Tulloch, vice president of U.S. business for MetLife. "It is not necessarily about spending more, but optimizing offerings to attain three top objectives: employee retention, increased productivity, and cost control."

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