Welcome to Dear HBR from Harvard Business Review.

I'm Dan McGinn.

And I'm Alison Beard.

Work can be frustrating, but it doesn't have to be.

We don't need to let the conflicts get us down.

That's where Dear HBR comes in.

We take your questions, look at the research, talk to the experts, and help you move forward.

Today we're talking about benefits with Mike Fenlin.

He's the chief people officer at P PWC. Mike, thanks so much

for coming in. Alison, thank you. It's great to be here. What benefits are people most interested in

getting from their employers nowadays? Just like every other aspect of business, benefits are evolving,

too. And it's important to think today, maybe more than ever, of the complete picture

of what you're getting from your employer. It seems like people are becoming much more vocal if they

think their company isn't offering the right kind of benefits. Is that something you're seeing?

Absolutely. You know, it goes to a broader point around, am I going to work for an

organization that understands, I actually do have a life outside of this place. It's also about

competing for talent, too, right? There's a market, obviously, for talent. So as an employer,

you've got to make sure that you're being competitive. You obviously want to offer as much as you can, but all of that comes with a cost.

So how do you weigh the cost and benefits?

These are investments, so they have returns.

And part of the returns are reflected in your ability to attract the very best talent.

But it's also about retaining,

...