Over the last 20 years it’s safe to say that the employee benefits have changed a lot! Folks expect more than just a competitive salary; they expect competitive perks as well. And in that spirit, employers often go head to head to find different ways of keeping their employees engaged, healthy, happy and motivated.
Check to see whether these top employee benefits are on your list:
Company Performance-based Bonuses
This is an excellent way to turn bi-annual evaluations into something your employees look forward to. Instead of being something everyone dreads, evaluations can serve as the foundation for performance-based bonuses. It’s a simple way of showing you’re grateful for all the hard work and effort.
Professional Development & Skills Training
Investing in your team’s development and ongoing education is another great way of showing you care. Training programs, online courses help your team and each individual be the best they can be in the field.
This category includes things from new coding, tools or softer skills like presentation and public speaking. You can also try things like free language courses.
Special Day-offs / Annual Leave
At Flux, we have so-called ‘Flux Days-off’ to ensure people have a chance for a one-day rest or to cover emergency situations that may come up. These days are flexible and considered paid leave, but the pay is not taken from the vacation balance. Thus, our team members have 20 days of annual vacation + “5 Flux Days-off ”
Staff Referral Program
Creating incentives for your employees to bring qualified applicants to the team helps your company. It lets you bring the best talent and serves as a rewarding experience for all parties involved. When you have a company that everyone is proud to be at, naturally they will want to bring friends. This is something to encourage. The team becomes closer knit and those who recommended a successful candidate are rewarded.
Medical Insurance
One of the most basic ways to make sure your team is focused is to keep them healthy. When surveyed, an overwhelming number of employees across several firms say that health insurance is a critical benefit to have. In fact, instead of just offering a standard package you might do custom add-ons like dental or vision. For employees with growing families, adding spouses or children to their insurance plan for an extra copay is also very important.
Physical Wellbeing Programs
Whether this is a gym package, massages or dance classes, keeping in shape is another major benefit. This is true specially in the IT sector where almost all work is sedentary. Morning stand-up meetings and water-cooler talk won’t cut it. When it comes to physical fitness, giving your employees this extra boost is well worth it. This is yet a way of contributing to them feeling better and being more productive.
Flexible Work Hours
Some of your employees may still be at university or need to drop their kids off at school in the morning. This doesn’t mean they are any less dedicated to their work, however, you may notice a constant string of lateness so flexible work hours can really come in handy here. For instance, if work starts at 9 and ends at 6, you may find a flexible schedule better suited for those employees who need to arrive an hour later and leave accordingly.
At Flux, we have successful experiences in creating custom work schedules for those still at university and we’re proud to say all have gone on to graduate in flying colors and join the team permanently.
Remote Working
For many companies this benefit became a given during the times of Covid. Now vaccines have gone into effect and many are returning to work. Still, having the option of working from any given location is a great advantage to maintain that will put many employees at ease. As long as deadlines are being met and you are able to reach your colleagues during work hours, remote working can go a long way to making everyone more productive.
Share/stock Options
Employee stock options (ESO) are a type of equity compensation granted by companies to their employees and executives. Instead of granting shares of stock directly, the company gives derivative options on the stock instead. These options come in the form of regular call options and give the employee the right to buy the company’s stock at a specified price for a finite period of time. This is a creative way of getting your employees to invest back into your company and ultimately back into their work. The higher sense of ownership each teammate has, the higher quality work they will do.
Seasonal Social Events
These are a great chance to take a break from work and let colleagues enjoy each other’s company outside everyday life. Decorating the office, bringing in seasonal fruits, playing mega Secret Santa goes a long way to keeping up morale, and most of all, it’s just good fun.
Wrap up
In a nutshell, surveying your own team from time to time to see which employee benefits they enjoy and which they would like to see more of is the most accurate way of gauging what’s most needed in your company. While you may keep certain benefits like health insurance fixed, you might work with each team member to develop a custom benefits package that is flexible on two or three points.
These were just some of our best practices for implementing benefits, but we want to hear from you. Whether you are an employee or employer, let us know in the comments what benefits you’ve found to be the most popular in your company.
