Reward your teams with these budget-friendly perks
Your employees know the advantages of working for a small
company or start-up – the feeling of being part of a friendly close-knit team
and less like a tiny cog in a huge machine. But do their friends’ tales of big
corporation benefits like the on-site fully-equipped gym and subsidized
restaurant, or free travel and expensive days out leave them feeling
short-changed? Your staff love working for a small company – that’s why they’re
there – but how do you retain top talent when there’s so much on offer
elsewhere?
There’s plenty you can offer your employees to keep them
happy and show them you care. You know the benefit of benefits – they’re good
for morale and a happy, engaged workforce is good for productivity which in
turn is good for business. Appealing perks also attract the best talent and
develop loyalty.
But what if you just can’t afford to give your employees the
perks they deserve? Fear not! There are plenty of wallet-friendly perks for
even the smallest of companies to show your staff your appreciation.
Flex
time
Give your employees some freedom by allowing them to set (to
a certain extent) their own hours. If you have people who struggle to get up in
the morning or just simply aren’t standard 9-5 people, let them start later and
finish later. Conversely, let the early-birds start earlier and finish earlier.
For total freedom, let them work their allotted hours whenever they like over
the week – as long as they get the work done, everyone’s happy. Some companies
have core hours where they need everyone to be working but allowing your team
to schedule around this will give them a greater work/life balance and feeling
of contentment. Although the whole point of flexi-time is to be flexible, you
will need systems to keep track of who’s doing what and where.
Remote working
The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly shone a light on remote
working and shown that not everyone needs to be in the office all of the time.
Today’s technology allows people to be totally connected so, if your employees
are mostly desk-based, there’s no reason why that desk shouldn’t be in their
own homes (or elsewhere, social-distancing permitting). As an added bonus,
fewer staff in the office using the electricity and facilities will bring down
your overheads, too. Just remember to take into consideration the remote
working pitfalls that can arise.
Paid
birthdays off
This is one of the simplest but most appreciated perks you
can offer your staff. No matter how much your employees love their jobs and
colleagues, they love being able to spend their birthday wherever and with
whomever they like even more. Knowing they’ll be able to have their birthday
off each year without worrying about handing in holiday forms only to find out
it clashes with a co-worker who wants the same day off and got in there first
(a consideration those who have birthdays at popular times such as Christmas
and school holidays, etc. will be all too familiar with) is a perk they will
adore.
Loyalty bonus
You may already offer an attractive holiday allowance, but
you can improve on this by offering extra days off for each year of service.
Additionally, you could offer month-long sabbaticals after a certain number of
years. Who wouldn’t be interested in a paid month off work?
4-day week
While not sustainable for every business, a
four-day week is a highly desirable perk for many workers. There are
different ways of implementing this: some companies have teams who all have the
same day off at the same time; other companies allow their staff to choose
their weekly day off and that remains consistent; while other companies allow
complete flexibility and allow their staff to swap their day off around,
depending on what commitments they have that week.
Food and more food
You may not be able to treat your staff to full meals each
day or even blow-out meal once a month, but you’re probably providing free tea
and coffee, so why not keep the kitchen stocked with fresh fruit, nuts
(assuming no one has a nut allergy of course!) and other healthy snacks to show
your appreciation? It won’t break the bank but they’ll go down really well with
your workforce. Another consideration that adds a nice touch to what you can
offer your staff is stocking dairy alternatives to milk such as soya, oat and
rice, to save those with dietary needs having to bring their own in each day –
they’ll appreciate being catered for and the money it’ll save them.
Relaxed dress code
If your team is usually suited and booted, just relax: let
them wear what they want. Allowing them to come to work casually will create a
more relaxed atmosphere, but this doesn’t mean productivity will suffer – quite
the opposite in fact. If your team is client- or public-facing, you may want to
retain a certain dress code or guidelines: no beachwear or rude slogans, for
example, but adopting a more relaxed policy – will create a happy workforce.
Bring your pet days
This is self-explanatory and you’ll have to check for allergies and phobias among your employees but allowing your employees to have their furry friends around will make most people happy. To be honest, this should probably be restricted to ‘bring your dog to work day’, unless you want total carnage in your office with dogs chasing cats around and cats eating the rats their colleagues have brought in. Allowing dogs in the office will cheer everyone up and, not only will the owners have their faithful friends with them all day, they’ll save money on dog walkers and careers.
These are just a few of the ways you can show your
appreciation to your staff and keep them loyal, even if you haven’t got the
cash to throw around like the mega-corporations do.
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