How to maximize workplace benefits

Losing a loved one, dealing with illness, or caring for a dependent with special needs can all be life-altering challenges that impact your personal life and career. Even stress can take a toll over time, making it harder for you to manage the different responsibilities we all juggle in life. There’s a silver lining, however: the varied world of workplace benefits can help you with these and other circumstances. 

In the past, most employer offerings were limited to health insurance, dental insurance, and an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Nowadays, your employer may help you with a variety of other personal needs for you and your family. Some employers may offer education and tuition assistance while others could help you find mental health professionals, just to name a few.

Look beyond the usual benefits

There’s more to the benefits landscape than just the typical health and dental plans. Newer support tools can help employees handle student loans or medical debt, connect them with legal support, provide mental health support, and more. 

The broadening world of workplace benefits is designed to help you take on more of life’s challenges with better support. It’s crucial to make sure you’ve opted into some of the biggest benefits programs at work: health and life insurance, as well as retirement planning, being among the most important. 

Your employer may also offer complimentary programs to these, though: financial literacy programs, student loan repayment support, or employer-sponsored gym memberships are becoming more common. Whenever you start a new job, experience a qualifying life change, or enter the open enrollment season, look at the full breadth of benefits your employer offers.

Determine what you need

When looking through the list of benefits offered in your workplace, consider your needs: do you need an expansive (and potentially more costly) health care plan? Can you benefit from help paying student loans? It's good to know what's being offered and the potential role it can play in your life.

When you know the full range of benefits available from your employer, the more you can focus on those that may play a beneficial role for you. You may not need the full range of benefits being offered, which also means you may be able to avoid unnecessary expenses by concentrating instead on the services you have an established need for. Keep in mind that you can always re-evaluate what’s being offered if your circumstances change.

Some benefits don’t require you to wait until open enrollment to opt-in. Services like childcare and dependent support can often be accessed as soon as you need them, meaning you won’t have to wait to take advantage of them.

Check your benefits often

Your needs may change, sometimes unexpectedly. Determining your needs, as well as how your needs may have changed, requires you to keep a close eye on what your company offers. If you’re one of the 32% of employees¹ who do not know what your employer offers, now is the time to learn. Benefits may change and, in many cases, employers may add new programs. To take advantage of them, however, you need to know they are available in the first place.

It’s also important to check in on the benefits you’re currently enrolled in. Many people may opt into benefits programs only to not fund them or not use them. A flexible spending account is only as helpful as you make it — not funding your account or forgetting to use it means losing out on what you put in. Be sure you're using what you signed up for, especially as some benefits are use-it-or-lose-it and your balance rolls back to zero.

Consider new opportunities with benefits in mind

There is a strategic advantage to considering a company’s benefits in mind when looking for a new job. Although salary is an important financial consideration, it may only be one part of the total financial advantage of one employer versus another. Benefits programs, when used well, can save you money you’d spend less effectively on your own. In this case, these benefits can help you cut costs instead of raising your income.

If you don’t know what your would-be employer offers, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Recruiters and hiring managers may be able to help point you in the right direction for more benefits information. Getting this information can help you make an informed, important decision between job offers.

Make the most of your workplace benefits

Your workplace benefits are designed to help you navigate life’s challenges. Sometimes they’re small, helping you save on pre-tax commuting costs. In other cases they can be much larger, such as a life insurance policy paying out when you lose a loved one. The offerings that employers provide are growing every year, and your employer may have new plans you’re not aware of. Improving your knowledge and strategic use of workplace benefits may help you manage your finances and circumstances better to help you reach your financial goals.

Check out these videos on what to consider when maximizing your workplace benefits