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Employee Benefits
Types of employee benefits in Malaysia that attract and retain talents
February 3, 2022
"Is offering competitive salary, promotion or increments the only way to retain and attract talents?"
What if the answer is 'no'?
What if there are dozens of other ways — more budget-friendly and practical — to attract new talents and keep your employees?
That's exactly what you'll discover here.
Plus, you'll find out:
- Dozens of ideas to inspire your employee benefits package
- Why salary is not the #1 magnet to attract and retain talents anymore
- What benefits Shell, Nestle, and Intel are offering that helped them win the Most Attractive Employer of 2021
Let's jump right in.
What are employee benefits?
Before we get into the details, let's start with the basics.
Employee benefits are compensations or rewards that reimburse your employees on top of their base salary. Some benefits are made mandatory by the Employment Act 1955, such as annual leave, sick days, working hours, etc.
Any other benefits are considered optional such as insurance, retirement plan options, training, and many more. This area is where companies utilise their creativity to develop outstanding benefits to win the talent war.
But why would companies in Malaysia use nearly one-third (30.67%) of their total yearly expenses on benefits?
Why are employee benefits crucial?
Because Malaysian employees are unhappy in general.
A survey by Hays Malaysia found that 46% of employees in Malaysia were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their current compensation packages, the highest in Asia.
As a result, 52% of Malaysian employees are actively seeking a new job.
But here's where things get fascinating.
Conversely, salary is not seen as the top attractor for employees.
What actually keeps them in your company are:
- Work-life balance (41%)
- Salary or benefits package (38%)
- Work location (37%)
- Management style and company culture (36%)
- Training and development opportunities (26%)
Why do employees prioritise work-life balance?
If this doesn't make any sense to you, let us explain why this is happening. It goes back to our psychology of money.
We all need a specific amount of money to live the lifestyle we want. Some of us need RM5,000 a month to live a comfortable life. Those with family may need more, like RM15,000.
But the thing with money is, once we've reached the amount we wanted, any more doesn't make us happier. It's just more money in the bank.
What makes us happier is work-life balance, relationships, family, autonomy, freedom, love, and more.
This is why once those 52% of Malaysian employees have found a salary that supports their lifestyle, the next thing they automatically crave is work-life balance, personal and professional development, time, relationships, etc.
Companies need to understand that salary is not the #1 benefit anymore. There are so many other areas of your employee's life that you can support.
What are the most common benefits for employees in Malaysia?
The good news? A lot of companies in Malaysia are waking up.
Besides the mandatory benefits, they are also offering a lot more optional benefits, such as:
- Insurance (medical, life, dental, or optical)
- Parking allowance
- Internet or mobile allowance
- Personal or professional training
- Employment injury coverage (SOCSO)
- Additional paid leave
- Additional paternity leave
- Remote working
- Flexible work hours
- Paid or subsidised gym membership
What benefits attract and retain employees the most in Malaysia?
To answer this question, it's worth finding out what employee benefits the top 3 winners of the Most Attractive Employer of 2021 offer.
Shell, Nestle, and Intel.
Randstad reported that the top 5 reasons why Shell, Nestle, and Intel won the award are:
- Financially healthy
- Good reputation
- Attractive salary & benefits
- Job security
- Career progression
Clearly, attractive benefits are one of the top priorities for employees.
But is there a specific set of benefits these companies have in common?
The answer is "Yes".
Even better, it's not rocket science, and every company is capable of following in their footsteps.
The employee benefits that Shell, Nestle, and Intel have in common are:
Health and Wellness:
- Insurance (health, dental, vision, life, disability, and accidental death)
- Mental healthcare
- Gym membership
- Sports facilities
Financial and Retirement:
- Car allowance
- Housing allowance
- Pension plan
- Retirement plan
- Performance bonus
- Company stock options
Family & Parenting:
- Mother's room
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Extended maternity leave
- Compassionate leave
Vacation & Time off:
- Sabbatical leave
- Paid leave
- Medical leave
- Volunteer time off
Perks and Discounts:
- Employee discount
- Flexible work hours
- Part-time work
- Remote work
- Company social events
- Casual dress code
Unique benefits that make them stand out
Shell:
- Career break
- Working beyond retirement age
- Childcare support subsidy
- Half pay leave
- Leave bank
- Unpaid leave up to 3 months
- Mobile phone discount
Nestle:
- Company car
- Freeflow of foods and drinks (including ice creams!)
- 13th month salary
- Infant feeding scheme
Intel:
- Prepaid legal
- Severance pay
- Profit sharing
- Additional employer EPF
- Wellness coaching
- Free health checks
- Maternity expenses subsidy
- Travel discounts
- Examination leave
- Convocation leave
- Marriage leave
- Tertiary education subsidy (employee's children)
Conclusion
Shell, Nestle, and Intel are huge companies with big budgets. But that doesn't mean other companies can't have attractive benefits.
You don't have to strain your budget to get a long list of benefits.
It is more about listening to your employees' needs and finding out what benefits they need most to support their lives and family.
Your employees' need is the best employee benefits to help you attract and retain your best talents.
We have curated 3 resources to help you enhance your employee benefits:
About Mednefits:
Mednefits helps businesses take care of their employees with its automated, affordable, and accessible employee benefits platform.
Request to join Mednefits for free to help process and track claims in real-time, while controlling costs.
