It is challenging for businesses—small business, in particular—to offer competitive compensation packages because of lack of resources. In the past two years, it has become even harder for businesses to afford health insurance because of federal changes. But this is something that cannot be overlooked. If you want to attract top talents and improve the quality of life of your employees, you need to offer a compensation package that will be mutually beneficial to both of you.

Although you can’t offer the best health insurance, your employees can look for a supplemental insurance carrier. It is to your business’ best interest, however, to put together a benefits package that will suit the needs of your employees. According to the findings of Aflac’s annual employee survey, 60% of employees are willing to take a job with lower pay but better benefits.

Attract Top Talents

If you run a business that produces web designs, you want the best web designers and developers. But how are you going to compete with bigger companies who have better compensation packages? You can’t compete with the per-hour rate, but you can look into other benefits that are essential to employees. These are paid vacation time, health and life insurance, overtime pay, retirement funding, and paid medical/bereavement leave. Interestingly, although paid vacation leave and health insurance remain to be the top two most important benefits for all age groups, it is only the millennials who are more likely to prioritize paid vacation and overtime pay over health insurance.

Workers Are More Satisfied

If you take care of your employees, they will, in turn, take care of the business even if you are not looking and micromanaging them. The survey found out that a staggering 55% of full-time employees consider health insurance as the most important benefit that they receive from their jobs. The Affordable Care Act requires businesses with over 50 employees to provide healthcare coverage, while businesses with less than that number of employees can decide not to. But health insurance is part of the investment you make in your employees. When your people are more satisfied with the benefits that they are receiving, they tend to be more productive and concerned about the state of the business.

Customized Benefits Work Best

Employees have different needs. The needs of your millennial web developer are different from your accounts manager who has a toddler at home. The millennial may choose to prioritize paid vacation leave, so offer them that. But the parent with a toddler will most likely stay with you if you can offer day-care services for their child. The same goes with how maternity and paternity leave become considerations. Customizing the benefits package will go a long way to actually benefiting your workers.

Investing in people is an asset. Although health insurance is the third costliest expenses that businesses incur, big corporations continue to offer it—and not only because they can afford it—because they are willing to invest in people. They know that top talents in the work pool are looking for the right compensation package.