6 Creative Benefits You Could Be Offering Your Staff
Company leaders across the world – including you – have a responsibility to their employees and ensure that they have the most comfortable work environment possible. The most important thing when it comes to running a company is the employees; after all, where would you be without your marketing managers and IT tech team leaders? Probably nowhere! The staff that you have working for you are going to be turning the cogs in your company while you’re off being a hero and bringing in as much interest to your company as you can. You need your people, so it’s only fair that you compensate their efforts in a way that is equal to what they give to you. Your people are your biggest resource, and when you fail to invest correctly in your resources, they dry up and move on. The last thing that you need as a business owner is to lose the best talent in your industry simply because you haven’t worked out how to give back to them.
When you did your hiring process, you would have needed a hook to bring people in. This hook includes offering your employees something better than the next company in your industry that can do what you do. Not every benefit has to be a financial one, so before the dollar signs reel before your eyes, consider the what you would want if you were in the place of your people. What would make you feel included and considered as an individual of your company? Once you work that out, you can map out a proper plan of action and keep your people satisfied and loyal. There are companies out there that aren’t catching on to the value that offering benefits will have on their people.
One in three people from the millennial generation would turn down a role simply because their company wasn’t offering them the correct health benefits. Health benefits aren’t just about dental; they’re about insurance from places like www.insurestat.com, and they are important. No one wants to work for a company that doesn’t have healthcare as a basic on their benefit list. So, when it comes to what you want to offer the employees on your payroll, are you willing to go the distance for them? Here are six creative ways that you can say thank you to the people that work for you.
Flexible Hours. The top one on the list in our age of technology is flexible working hours. No one needs to have a manager breathing down their neck for work, and you can avoid being that type of boss by keeping the lines of communication open with your staff. If you’re worried about motivation, perhaps offer a six-month probationary period whereby they can show you their stuff and after that, set them up remotely to be able to work around commitments like children and appointments. It also means that you are giving your staff your trust, which keeps your people loyal to you.
Family Care. Working long and irregular hours takes a toll on your staff, especially those with families at home. You could go out of the box of the regular employer and arrange for your staff to have paid, healthy food deliveries to their door on the days that they get home too late and exhausted to prepare proper meals. You could even decide to bring in childcare staff once a week for a kids’ movie night in the spare office so that they can be close to their parents while they work.
Home Working. Remote working is now a possibility due to our seemingly limitless abilities to communicate. Staff can be far more productive in their own environment without the stress of a commute on their hands. You can also save yourself some cash in overheads by hiring a smaller office. Arrange to have a weekly tête-à-tête with your staff on a Friday and people will be willing to come in and have a sit-down lunch to discuss their weekly efforts.
Employee Recognition. This is a rather creative option and especially good for the big businesses among you. You could pass on gifts or gift cards for your teams to pass to each other. Peer recognition is so important, and if your marketing team have had particular success with an app that has been developed by the IT side of the business, they could show their appreciation and thanks. It’s a great motivator and allows people to see that those who work next to them every day are recognising their efforts. What a confidence boost!
Parental Help. New parents in your team need more than just a huge gift basket of baby goodies – though that never goes amiss. Juggling a commute with work and a new baby is not an easy thing to do, so why not offer more than other companies with extended leave after a baby is born? Offer this paid with perks such as food deliveries and offer a childcare service on staff that is open for them to use for free once they return. The pressure you take off new parents is going to have your staff working faster and better for you, because their gratitude will be better for your business!
Office Setup. Some of the benefits that you offer your staff can be right there with you in the office. Your ability to offer standing desks, paid for Spotify and headphones to be able to listen to music while they work and paid lunches can make a long working shift far more bearable. Offering a relaxing space to work helps to inspire and means that the pressure of deadlines often seems easier.
You are a business leader and you should treat your staff as if they are above you. Attracting the top talent is one thing but retaining them is another thing altogether. The best way to do this is to ask your staff what would keep them happy and make it happen.
