Innovative Company Benefits to Consider Implementing in Your Company

Talented employees look for more than the traditional benefits package, and this is your chance to get yourself up to date with the latest workplace benefits in tech.

Employee benefits are crucial in attracting and retaining top tech talent for your business. See below a list of 9 innovative employee benefits that have recently proven to have a significant impact on employee satisfaction and performance.

Employee Well-Being?

The well-being of your employees can be said to have one of the largest effects on the success of your company. There are many different things you can do to contribute towards the well-being of your employees, without necessarily going over budget. For physical well-being, you could offer some kind of fitness perk, such as a gym membership contribution, a cycle to work scheme, or even spa and massage packages. For mental well-being, offering private health or cash back on doctor costs could be highly valuable to your workers. You might even consider offering access to therapy to improve mental stability amongst your team. In turn, this will induce better quality of life for your workers, which will have a positive influence on the success of your company.??

Remote & Asynchronous Work?

Especially in the case of global teams, with workers spread across the world, remote and asynchronous work life is one of the most important benefits you can give to your employees as a tech business owner. Allowing your workers the flexibility to work when suitable for them, including relaxed start and finish times, and taking into consideration different time zones is fundamental to ensuring a successful business.?

Hybrid Work Stipends

Hybrid work is very common among most employees within the tech industry. So, you can demonstrate to your workers that you recognise this by improving their quality of life on the days they are working from home. This could include providing desk supplies, or other equipment such as standing desks and ergonomic office chairs. Click here for some more information and suggestions for implementing ergonomics in your tech team. Some tech workers are now even becoming used to companies paying their internet bills, or offering discounted phones if that is something required in their role. By considering your employees working day and showing that you want to make it as comfortable and easy as possible for them to do their job, this is a great way to show how much you value your workers.

Professional Development?

By offering career development, such as courses and books to further teach and allow your employees an outlet to continue learning, not only will your company’s workers feel satisfied from a career progression perspective, but you will end up with an even stronger workforce. If you keep your employees in the loop regarding tech talks, training and conferences, allowing them time off work to attend such events and covering any costs for them to attend, you will ultimately end up generating increased knowledge and stronger skillset among your company members. Moreover, consider personalising career development plans for each employee, to ensure they are evolving in a direction that makes sense for both them and the company, which ultimately increases motivation.

In Office Perks?

While your employees enjoy working from home, making the office comfortable for those? in office working days is essential. You can consider office perks that will make their day just that little bit better. For example, arrange your office set up into a flexible workspace, such as promoting coworking areas and an open office type environment, where everyone feels comfortable and able to socialise with their colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere. Providing office snacks, refreshments and even free lunches every now and again will also act as an incentive for employees to come into the office. You can also organise things like sweepstakes if there is a big football championship everyone is invested in, which can help to generate an even stronger sense of community, while allowing a little bit of fun for your workers.

Four-day week

The four-day week is becoming a popular incentive to retain employees. Is your company not prepared to be offering this benefit yet? How about starting by giving a free afternoon per week for a limited period of time, and if all goes well you may want to slowly consider applying this for longer periods. As stated in an article by Tech UK , the world’s largest pilot of a four-day working week has concluded it having a positive impact on employee retention, improved employee mental health and increased revenues, with 92% of over 60 participating organisations deciding to implement it permanently. While the salary doesn’t change from a five-day working week, it is expected that employees work 80% of the week, while maintaining 100% workload and productivity. This allows for more time off, enabling employees to be well rested and ready to be fully productive during working hours. It is at the very least certainly a highly attractive incentive to employ if you are looking to source the top tech talent out there. But, as we say, perhaps start slowly with this one, and figure out what works the best for your company. Every tech team is different, after all!

PTO

PTO (Paid Time Off) has also become more common within larger companies. Whether it be as little as one paid day off every year for your employees’ birthdays, or you go as far as unlimited. Unlimited, you ask in disbelief?! Yes,that’s right. An innovative company incentive is to offer employees ‘unlimited PTO’, which is exactly what it says. Employees can take holidays whenever they want, and forever long they want, with no limit. Now of course, abusing this by taking 300 days of the year off probably wouldn’t be the best thing, but no one who is happy with their job and feels valued would ever think to do that. So, you see, it kind of works out. According to a study of US businesses , unlimited paid time off plans tend to see employees requesting less leave overall. Employees who had unlimited leave took an average of 13 days – compared to 15 days by those on the traditional paid time off plan. By giving employees trust and control over their time off, this builds respect between business owners and their team members.?

? Hangouts

It is worth fostering a non-work community that allows tech employees to get to know each other in a casual and sociable setting. Whether these are virtual hangouts, such as Friday afternoon zoom calls where people are encouraged to switch off from work and have a drink and chat, or in person hangouts, perhaps going to the pub and leaving the office a little earlier than usual, this kind of thing truly benefits a company. Not only will the relationships between your team be improved as they get to know each other more, but they will have more work satisfaction overall if they are working among friends who they can get on well with. Community in the workplace, whether remote or face-to-face, is fundamental to the success of a tech company. It will also help to promote your company name around the tech industry, as if your workers are happy and enjoying themselves, they might tell other friends in the industry that your company is a great place to work, attracting the right kind of tech talent you want working for you.

Sabbatical

Now this last one is well-known and has been around for years. Previously it was used when employees had been working for many years in one company. Today, it seems as though companies are starting to offer sabbatical periods to employees, provided they are committed to the company, have demonstrated they work well, and have plans to return to work after their sabbatical comes to an end. If you have built up a strong team and are established enough to allow for workers to take a period of prolonged time off, then this could be an enticing benefit to bring in the most talented tech talent in the industry. With countless tech start-ups and larger businesses, each of them working hard to develop a working atmosphere that draws in the strongest candidates, offering a sabbatical would make your company highly desired by some of the best workers around. Sabbaticals can also enhance employee confidence, maturity, knowledge and mental well-being, so when they return, they have progressed and grown into an even better worker than before.

Innovative Company Benefits to Consider Implementing in Your Company: Final Thoughts

We hope this article has given you an insight into all the kinds of things? you can put into practice to make your employees feel valued and satisfied at work. From employee well-being, professional development and hybrid work, to flexible holidays, four-day weeks, work socials and sabbaticals, there are countless ways to incorporate benefits into your company without going over budget.

If you want to find out, amongst all the corporate benefits, which ones developers value the most, click here to read our article which specifically considers the preferences of IT professionals. Furthermore, click here to explore further retention strategies your company can employ to ensure a strong and stable workforce.?

Finally, if you would like to partner up with KWAN and access employee benefits such as career coaching, provided by our in-house specialists, our People Managers, get in touch , and let’s assess your project’s needs today.