In-kind benefits are any sort of benefits that are not related to money or currency and are given above the worker’s or director’s pay. Automobiles, vouchers, and prizes are a few examples of in-kind benefits. Almost all of them are taxable. They are proclaimed to respective revenue centers of the country.
Every company owner wishes that his/her company prospers and reach the height of success. For the very purpose all company advisors and managers suggest hiring top talents, intelligent, and hardworking loyal employees. The race of attracting greater talent has forced the company owners to hire ambitious youth to work for their company. In order to attract such workers companies offer in-kind benefits and allowances. There is not a single thing that the company owners would not provide to hire top talent. Companies are investing more in providing their workers with such allowances rather than investing directly in their company.
Also read, qualities of HR manager
Types of in-kind benefits
As we know that every country has its own tax system, and taxation obligatory on in-kind benefits also depends on the respective country you’re living in. Therefore, if we see the distinction between taxable and non-taxable benefits it might be false. Given below are some examples of both types of in-kind benefits.
- Residence
- Food
- Automobiles allowance
- Healthcare
- Educational help
- Retirement benefits
- Work-from-home stipend
Residence as in-kind benefits
A survey showed that accommodation or living place provided by the company to its workers and employees is proved to be highly effective. The reason behind this is that people often migrate from one city to another and sometimes even from one country to another in search of employment in order to improve their financial condition, so assisting them with accommodation turns out to be very effective. This residence can be in the form of:
- Room, apartment, or an entire house either large or small depending upon the rank of the employee.
- Guesthouse, hotel, or bunkhouse.
- It can even be a mobile home such as a residence on a ship.
The most frequently shared advantages of accommodation by the workers are:
- The worker is more likely to be a member of the staff for a longer period of time.
- Residency leads to improving the productivity of the worker.
- Housing has provided the benefit of saving the cost that would be utilized in training a new worker.
Food
There are many offices and companies all around the world that provide their employees with meals in the office. The advantages of it are:
- A survey shows that refreshment given to workers boosts their productivity and makes them work by heart.
Automobile allowance
In almost all countries this sort of in-kind benefit is usually taxed. Some companies offer their employees cars and motorbikes etc for working purposes while some offer only for their assistance. If the automobile is given for working purposes the employee is usually not taxed. It is to be considered that workers mostly use company cars for their personal purposes.
Several companies instead of car allowance simply provide other transport means to their employee. However, a few companies give extra payment above the salaries of their employees only for their transport. These are also some ways to benefit the employees without getting them to misuse the assistance.
Healthcare
In America, almost all young aged employees receive their health insurance from their companies. Employees need healthcare for their own selves as well as their families so that they could protect themselves from the catastrophic expense of intense sickness and disease. The main categories of healthcare are: vision and dental insurance. In certain countries, special healthcare services are must for any pregnant women who is working for the company. You can provide your workers with the following medical aid:
- Treatment of accident
- Emergency care
- Arrange a doctor’s visit to the company
- Hire a nurse
Educational help
Educational allowances are one of the most demanded in-kind benefits. According to a survey, 82% of the workers suggested that continuing their education along with their jobs made them more effective. Offering your workers training in their career and other workshops would keep your employees working for the company for a longer period of time, and they would be less likely to leave the position they are currently in.
This sort of in-kind benefit is beneficial for the company as well because it would be attracting more ambitious workers. Giving training classes to your workers as a part of their work would benefit them by making them learn new skills that will ultimately lead to being advantageous to your own company.
Retirement benefits as in-kind benefits
People often go for government jobs, and one of the major reasons behind it is that it gives a proper retirement plan to you via a pension. Thus, if you offer your workers a retirement plan, you would be attracting employees that would work for your company for a longer period and would be more loyal to your company. You can offer retirement benefits such as a private pension and residence etc.
Work-from-home stipend
In order to make remote work more effective, employees are given extra pay a part from their salary, this is termed as work-from-home feel stipend or allowance. One might that this would be costly but in actual this will make your company rank top among other remote companies. Some companies offer monthly stipend while others offer single time allowance which would obviously be a larger amount comparatively. There are several ways via which you can provide work-from-home allowance to your workers such as:
- You can arrange free internet access in their homes.
- You can provide them with the furniture and other necessities that a house office requires.
- You can provide them with the basic hardware of the office which can include laptops, printers, computers and many others.
However, in this case workers are obliged to return back the allowance to the company as it is the property of the company.
