Creative Benefits That Matter to Your Employees
In a competitive labor market, companies want to look beyond salary and traditional benefits if they want to attract and retain the best employees.
You want to understand what your employees really want from their jobs. First, they want a good salary, health benefits, and retirement contributions. Next, they want unique and purposeful benefits packages that matter.
In this article, we look at creative benefits that matter to your employees. In addition to standard benefits, you might wonder if these are beneficial, and if employees care.
The general answer, is yes, they do care. We know this from an Aflac study that indicated more than 55% of people would likely accept a job with lower compensation but better, creative benefits options. In the same study, 34% said an improved benefits package would help them convince them to stay in their current jobs.
Standard benefits are costly, but they are important to your staff. And, yes, unique, creative benefits are costly, too, but they are also important to your staff.
When putting together benefits packages for your staff, make sure you know what is important to them. This will help you craft the perfect packages to attract and retain top talent.
The Option to Choose Benefits
One novel idea for creative benefits is letting your employees pick from a menu of a la carte benefits.
For example, they could choose a 10% salary bump, free cleaning services, and a gym membership. Or they might choose the top tier health insurance, retirement benefits, and flexible time off.
By offering your team a menu of benefits to choose from, you put them in the driver’s seat, making them feel more empowered and loyal to your business.
You can let employees choose from a menu of personal benefits like these:
Personal Benefits
Take larger burdens off your team by offering big-time benefits such as:
- House cleaning
- Lawn services
- Grocery gift cards
- Monthly grocery delivery
- Meal subscriptions
- Gym memberships
- Yoga studio memberships
- Self-care benefit
- Restaurant gift cards or discounts
- Dry cleaning gift cards
- Online classes
- Movie or theater tickets
- Student loan pay off
- Monthly book subscriptions
- Pet daycare
More personal (out of the box) benefits like these impact whole households and families. This can take the burden off your team members, allowing them to focus and be more productive for your company.
Flexible Work Hours
Ask most employees, and they’ll tell you they’d love a flexible work schedule. They appreciate being able to leave work early to go to a child’s soccer game with the ability to make up the time elsewhere.
Don’t forget flexible time off as well. This is a benefit many staff appreciate.
More freedom equals more loyal teams.
Work at Home Options
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees are working from home and feeling more productive and happier.
By offering your staff work from home options and flexible office days, you again empower them to get their work done in the best way for them.
Because of the coronavirus, many companies will look toward work at home options. Not only do they increase productivity, but these options can also decrease your in-office costs.
Free Food at Work
Many companies offer free food or snacks. But have you ever wondered if this is a game changer for employees? Would your staff prefer other benefits?
Generally speaking, your team enjoys a free lunch and snacks, but they’d also prefer more tangible things such as a gym membership or free house cleaning.
If you want to offer free food, consider offering a paid subscription to one of the meal delivery services. They would certainly appreciate having free dinner instead of (or certainly in addition to) free office snacks.
Final Thoughts
Your team is composed of humans who thrive and function on emotions.
As such, you want to pay attention to these emotions and play to their strengths.
When your employees feel like you as their employer cares about their well-being and the well-being of their families through the benefits you offer, you impact their lives in positive ways.
You help them eliminate stress and anxiety and free up their time to balance their work and family life.
Give your employees what they want. It may not be free lunches, snacks, and beer. It may be paying for house cleaning services, so they don’t have to worry about it. By doing this, you take stress off their plate, and you free them up to be more productive.
Bottom line: know your staff, know what they need, and do your best to provide to them. Consider any benefits that help remove stress, enhance their lives and help them achieve their personal growth goals.
Ultimately, creative benefits help your business attract and retain the top talent.
If you’re looking to fill positions, Carbon Three can help provide you with the most qualified candidates and ones who can match your cross-functional team needs.