Companies to Work for in America” seem to recognize the importance of offering a wide assortment of benefits. They offer the assortment in order to meet the needs of the employees and address many of the needs in Maslow’s hierarchy (Maslow, 1954).The companies appear to use a total rewards approach to compensation to attract, retain, and motivate their employees. In addition to what has become rather standard as a set of rewards including medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and ample room for career growth, some mix of the following benefits is often present: education reimbursement, employee training, on-site childcare services, financial counseling, and retirement benefits(Bates, 2003).But it is important to remember, just as with consumer purchasing decisions, that what is valued by one employee is not necessarily valued by all. Therefore employers must research what the requisite employees in their organization desire.
One way in which information about preferences is gathered is through surveys or interviews, and more than one method of gathering data about the important decisions of rewards is better. Information internal to the organization and outside the organization is recommended. Table 3.2summarizes a report from a survey conducted by Aon (2002)demonstrating the average range of preferences when individuals taking the survey were asked to rank the benefits from most preferred to least preferred, if given a choice. In this survey, the data revealed that the benefit most often ranking the highest was medical insurance and the lowest was wellness programs. As you read the list of preferences, think