A cafeteria system of remuneration and coffee at work. What do they have in common?

It is said that coffee is the fuel of office workers and more and more often employers provide them with unlimited access to this stimulant drink. However, the cafeteria remuneration system is not a coffee and tea machine but the extensive remuneration mechanism, which skillfully used by the employer can perfectly support its activities and achieve the company’s goals.

Cafeteria remuneration system

In this model of settlements with employees only one part of their remuneration is fixed and transferred in cash to a bank account. However, the other components depend, for example, on the financial condition of the company or the results of the work of the employee himself. The great advantage of this solution is the possibility of individualizing remuneration and matching them with the real needs of a particular person. In many cases, it is the employee who decides on the form in which he or she receives the remaining part of the fee.

Depending on the company’s policy as part of the cafeteria remuneration system, employees can choose from a variety of proposals: pre-paid or fuel cards (whose operation is limited to specific petrol station chains), flexible working hours and additional days off, financing of insurance , pension fund or investment funds, private medical and dental care, loans for housing purposes, training budget, financial or legal advice, etc. There are plenty of options offered by employers today. That is why more and more companies decide to use ready-made system solutions that facilitate the management of such a remuneration model.

A ready cafeteria system

Time is money, which is why companies focus on optimizing their work to save as much as possible. Each position is an additional, huge cost. Manual work is difficult to scale, because the possible development of the company with subsequent employees generates an immediate need to hire other people who will settle the work and remuneration of the former. Workers and work arrives, and the vicious circle and the continuous increase in operating costs do not want to stop …

With the current development of technologies, it is better to automate some processes and use ready-made tools that will simplify our work, instead of multiplying unnecessary positions. One of such solutions is precisely the cafeteria system of remuneration, which allows us to easily allocate the right elements of remuneration to employees, other than the salary they get on their account. These are benefits. And regardless of what remuneration model we decide on, whether we want to include permanent or changeable elements, and whether we want to treat employees massively or individually … the cafeteria system will allow for convenient management of remuneration in each of these variants.

The cafeteria system of social benefits

Solutions such as cafeteria platforms are most often used by companies to manage the Company Social Fund. Due to the necessity to adjust the offer of services to the requirements of the relevant act and strict control of the settlement of funds granted to employees, many employers decide to automate this process. Cafeterias are great for this for several reasons:

The proper distribution of social funds

According to the assumptions, the value of funds granted from the Social Fund should be inversely proportional to the amount of remuneration and depend on it. That’s why in cafeterias are often used so-called. “Profitability groups” – an employee declares in the cafeteria the amount of remuneration for one member of his family in the previous year. On this basis, it will be assigned to a group of employees with similar income, which is to receive a set of regulations the value of benefits. The transfer of points from the employer takes place per group – the best earners get the least points, and the employees with the lowest incomes receive the most. There may be many of these levels of pay, usually 3 or 4. Employees whose life situation has changed may choose a new income group – without the mediation of the HR department the amount of his or her cafeteria top-ups will change.

A defined range of services

Funds transferred to the Company Social Fund may be completely exempt from contributions to the Social Insurance and Tax Office. For this to happen, the company must strictly comply with the provisions of the Act, also regarding the purpose of spending the funds. In this respect, the cafeteria also favors employers, because although the offer of available benefits is very wide, we can freely control the source of payment, which will finally be available to the employee. If we have no doubts about tickets to the theater, concerts or the cinema, these benefits can be paid by employees from the Social Fund. And with a card or transfer from private funds, if the points are over.

The group of benefits, which exemptions from the Social Insurance contributions do not apply and should not be financed from the Social Fund is gastronomy. For this category of benefits, we therefore exclude the option of paying points from the CSF, but employees still see them and fund them privately. We can also give them additional funds, not from the fund, and specify that they can only be spent on gastronomy. Such payments up to PLN 190 per month will be additionally exempt from income tax.

Matching the offer and fair access

One of the key assumptions regarding the benefits program in a company should be equal access to the benefits offer. And there is no problem when all our employees work on computers, at the company’s headquarters, at one address … Complications start when employees are scattered all over Poland, when they do part of their work remotely or on the road, or do not use a computer in their everyday work . The offer of benefits should be constructed in such a way that each of them will find something interesting for them – regardless of their age, status or family situation. Therefore, we cannot limit our proposals only to sports benefits or only tourist offers. We should take into account the various needs and capabilities of our employees.

Location is also important – it’s great if we offer employees very much liked movie tickets! However, it is worth making sure that everyone will be able to use such a ticket. An all-day trip to a city located 80 km away, where the nearest cinema can be, can be too much of a burden and effectively discourage from the benefit received. And from the employer. Therefore, when designing or choosing a cafeteria system, you should take into account this diversity and include offers that will satisfy everyone – you can do shopping in the online store while being everywhere. A short trip to the lake or a holiday by the sea can also be planned while living anywhere. The points from the employer will not be lost, and the home budget will carry even more family attractions.

A cafeteria system of rewards and bonuses

Platforms such as MyBenefit are willingly used by companies to manage non-wage benefits, mainly those financed from the Social Fund. However, they greatly check as support for the basic remuneration system in the organization. How and for what? For hard work and services, employees would most likely simply receive cash. However, if the employee’s pay only allows him to meet his basic needs, this is not a good way to go. Employers are aware that cash bonuses work like a drug – each successive one should be larger to achieve the desired effect. However, because they cannot afford to constantly raise the amount of the prize, they are looking for alternative ways to transfer it.

A Cafeteria is the perfect solution that gives employers a guarantee that for the funds received, the employee will not buy, for example, alcohol, but rather an experience or something that will leave memories for longer. The employee, in turn, although without cash, can still decide how he or she will use his bonus. And take advantage of the unusual and interesting proposals that he will find in the cafeteria

And you, how do you use the cafeteria remuneration system in your organization?
If you do not know yet whether the MyBenefit Cafeteria suits your company, please contact us!