What Are Company Perks?
On top of core employee benefits, job perks are additional benefits that can help improve staff motivation and promote job fulfilment. Having a good offering of job perks can help when trying to attract new staff as well as to retain existing employees. Many things can be considered as job perks that your staff may not have even thought about, so it is also a good idea to ensure they are communicated clearly.
Why Are Company Perks Important?
Offering benefits and perks to your employees is important for a number of reasons:
- It helps you to attract new and retain existing staff, by offering something above and beyond a basic salary.
- A good benefits package shows that you care about your employees and their wellbeing, from their physical and emotional needs to their financial wellbeing.
- They can help to boost staff morale, which is likely to have a positive impact on productivity and employee achievements.
- Perks at work can help staff to create a healthy work-life balance and take control of their schedules.
What Company Perks Examples Can Boost Productivity?
This list is not exhaustive and depending on your industry, the demographics within your workplace and many other factors – there are a wide range of company perks that may work for you to help you engage with and support your staff.
Emotional Wellbeing Support
Employee Assistance Programmes can be a great place to start. By offering 24/7 access to confidential help and support, you would be giving your employees a way to deal with any stress or anxiety, without them feeling pressured into asking for help from you directly or feeling judged. Preventing emotional health issues before they develop into something more serious can avert potential financial and productivity issues that may ensue.
Mental wellbeing support is more important to workers in the UK than ever before, with 1 in 6.8 people (14.7%) experiencing mental health problems in the workplace. [1]
There are also other more comprehensive options available through healthcare benefits such as Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plans.
Salary Sacrifice Schemes
By utilising salary sacrifice (salary exchange), employees and employers can often see significant benefits including tax and National Insurance savings. Following the rush toward more renewable and sustainable transport the green car revolution is gaining momentum. Employers offering green car leasing schemes can often provide ways of their employees making significant savings on the purchase of a more environmentally friendly vehicle. As time goes on, more schemes are offering more choice than ever before.
Offering flexible benefits on a salary sacrifice basis can go a long way towards a more positive employee-employer relationship, encouraging staff to take control of their own financial wellbeing.
Employee benefits consultancy services often go hand-in-hand with such schemes, as impartial consultants can help to work out how much you could possibly even save in the long-term by offering such schemes as part of your benefits programme.
Monthly Team Lunches
A relatively low-cost option for additional job perks is a monthly meal on you. Whether it’s breakfast in the office or a lunch social– it will encourage bonding amongst colleagues and allows you to engage with your employees outside the normal boundaries.
A free lunch will persuade people to step away from their desks, collaborate with one another and improve their overall morale. Not to mention it will save them a little bit of money, give their eyes a break from their screen, and generally recharge for the hopefully productive afternoon ahead.
Cycle-to-Work Scheme
Cycle to work schemes are a great way to encourage employees to stay fit and healthy, and it also helps to reduce their carbon footprint at the same time. On top of this, it could save some staff money too, as they won’t need to pay any parking fees nor think about the cost of fuel or in some city centres – congestion charges.
Salary sacrifice schemes were mentioned previously; but this is worth highlighting on its own due to the numerous benefits that providing one to your staff can have. As far as company perks go, cycle to work schemes are increasingly popular – especially due to the tax and National Insurance saving that is to be had – of up to 47%! Even if staff members live too much of a distance from the office to cycle the whole way, parking halfway and cycling the rest or even considering an electric bike can help encourage their uptake as a benefit.
Discounts On Food and Drink
65% of employees now stress the importance of financial wellbeing to help combat the risingt cost of living [2]
A little goes a long way when employers consider offering company perks that can save their staff some money. A good employee discount scheme can be one of the most well used benefits that an employer can offer to their staff.
They usually offer savings on high street retailers and online shopping – but also on a weekly grocery shop, as well as meals out. We are social beings, and so offering discounts on a person’s favourite restaurant, or allowing them to save some money on their big shop can go a long way to helping your employees to look after their overall financial wellbeing.
What Company Perks Should You Offer?
Once you have decided to offer more job perks and/or employee benefits to your workforce – you’ve already taken the first step. It goes without saying that offering a range of company perks will boost morale and go a long way toward improving employee wellbeing – making you a more attractive employer which massively benefits you. It’s important to make sure that new recruits are aware of what’s available to them, and existing employees are regularly reminded of the value of their benefits package – which can be done through benefits champions, videos or even reminders on your intranet.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to which company perks you should offer to your staff – it all depends on what matters to them and how you want to represent your brand. Whether you are looking to start from scratch, add to your existing benefits, or would like some information about the perks that companies like yours are implementing – we are here to help you.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss your options.
[2] https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/reward/surveys
