Following The Great Resignation, employees these days are considering perks above everything else. Of course, salary is still the best perk of all, but in addition to that, employees are looking for added benefits that help them with work-life balance. Because our work has changed, employee perks have changed significantly. The employee perks you have for someone who works remotely will differ from another employee who works in-office. But with so many employee perks out there, how do you know which one best works with your business? In this article, we’ll share the best employee perk ideas to help you keep your team engaged, motivated, and passionate about their work, while still enjoying their time off too.
Declutter The Mind is a meditation app for your workplace to help make your team happier and culture healthier. In an average 9-to-5 work day, just 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation can release stress, improve focus, and boost creativity. For your company, a more mindful team means better workplace culture and teamwork.
12 Employee Perk Ideas to Retain Your Best Talent
1. In-house training programs
Have you watched one of those movies where the central character starts as an intern at a particular company before eventually rising the ranks? Luckily, that can be a reality if you work with the right company.
Several leading enterprises and businesses offer professional development programs that are geared to prepare and train employees to level up.
This is an excellent employee perk idea, and many motivated interns look forward to this benefit when starting employment. So, if you are really driven to attract and retain talent- this is one of the best ways to go forward. Plus, when employees know there’s room to grow, you’ll encourage employees to try their best while seeing employee engagement shoot up.
Offering growth opportunities to those who work remotely and not just in an office environment can boost employee satisfaction tremendously.
2. Declutter the mind
If you want your employees to be more productive while also getting their much-deserved break, you might want to provide yearly access to meditation. Apps like Declutter the Mind not only help employees become more effective but also help them sleep better, improve relationships with coworkers, and experience health benefits like less anxiety. Thus, access to a meditation app is one of the best employee perk ideas for their well-being and work-life balance.
When your employees meditate, they become more mindful of how they communicate. In toxic work environments, having every employee meditate can drastically change the company culture in a positive way while supporting their mental health. Meditation can also boost employee morale. Subscribing to Declutter The Mind at Work can be a win-win for both the management and the employees. For teams under 1,000 employees, the Work plan costs $40/per year for each employee. And for teams with over 1,000 employees, the Work plan costs $20/per year for each employee.
Within the Declutter The Mind app, you’ll find meditations for as short as 5 minutes and as long as 60 minutes. You can also find stress management courses, sleep courses, and other courses for wellness that will support the wellbeing of employees at home and at work.
3. Recognize your employees
If you want to see a rise in employee happiness consider employee recognition. Let’s face it, it feels fantastic when someone recognizes or compliments a task you’ve completed. The simplest compliments can be transformative if communicated the right way. Giving recognition and praise is one of the best employee perks, and it’s one of the most cost-effective things you can do.
Vocalizing praise in a monthly meeting with a gift card for outstanding employees of the month can make employees feel good about the work they do. When you praise employees for their excellent work, they’re inspired to perform better for more recognition.
Most bosses are quick to give negative feedback, which can be hard to hear when you’re always trying your best. Shifting from constant negative feedback to positive feedback can help employees enjoy their work hours more. Plus, it creates a better culture. It’s also great for employee retention.
4. Uncapped time-offs
It’s crucial to provide enough time off, so that employees can unwind and relax every now and then. These can include vacation days, but also a summer break or a Christmas break for people to spend more time with their families. You can also offer uncapped time-offs, mental health breaks, and sabbaticals to keep them motivated.
You need to understand that employees have a life beyond work, and they should have enough time to enjoy life. One of the easiest ways to do that is by implementing flexible schedules wherein your employee can complete their tasks according to their convenience and take a break without questions when they need to.
When you create a culture of flexibility and openness, your employees report better at work because they feel comfortable doing their regular tasks. Gone are the days when you would need to establish an artificial sense of pressure to keep employees motivated. If you want to motivate employees, gift them flexible schedules so they can plan work and other errands accordingly.
You can either establish different shifts of employees to work on or let them work flexibly in existing shifts. You can offer something like a sabbatical on a milestone anniversary, such as the four or five year mark at a company, allowing an employee to get an entire month off of work to do their own thing. And this would be an added bonus on top of their vacation.
Offering unlimited vacation can allow employees to take as many vacation days as they need when they need it.
5. Team lunches and dinners
This isn’t just an excellent way to collaborate but also one of the best employee perks. When management sets aside a specific budget for team lunches and dinners, every team member gets a chance to collaborate with other members, living up to the fun, excitement, and engagement beyond the workplace.
You can organize monthly or quarterly lunches or dinners according to your employees’ convenience. For example, if you are operating in a hybrid or a remote model, you can send this amount to the employees and encourage everyone to collaborate over video.
This is a nice break from the regular hustle and bustle of work and offers employees a space to connect with their peers outside the workspace. For example, suppose the concept of lunches and dinners seems to work out. In that case, you can also use them to congratulate employees on their successes or celebrate specific business milestones.
Also, for those company with in-office employees, consider bringing in healthy snacks to the office. Most companies bring in chocolates and desserts, which are often high in sugar. However, when working in the office, many employees prefer healthy snacks as it’s a better alternative for their diet or lifestyle. So, look for sugar-free, low carb snacks. And stock your fridges with free coffee like cold brew, flavoured sparkling water, and more to help employees enjoy the office environment.
6. Healthcare packages and perks
Another popular employee perk is insurance and healthcare. Although almost every leading organization is mandated to provide these packages, you can always leave some customizable options for the employee that will enable them to get the kind of healthcare package they need.
You can introduce healthcare apps to your employees and tie up with third-party insurance providers to offer basic health insurance. Most insurance companies cover the employee and their family members, which is why it’s highly recommended and loved by all. Explore healthcare packages in your country and provide something that covers both the physical and mental well-being needs of your employees.
You can also introduce reimbursement schemes where employees can reimburse healthcare costs as and when needed.
Avoid getting the cheapest plans for prescription medication, as in some cases generic prescriptions can’t be taken by employees and can cause issues.
7. Tuition reimbursement
Offering tuition reimbursement to employees for their professional development or furthering their education can be so helpful one of the employee benefits you can offer. Student loan debt can cause so much havoc in a person’s life. Reimbursing some of their tuition fees can allow employees to learn without added debt.
Some employers might even have student loan debt relief programs for interns or employees who recently graduated. For instance, you might offer an expensible $5,000 each year to expense student loans, pay down bills such as phone or internet, or fertility treatments. Giving employees various options to choose from can keep it open to those who have student loan debt while still offering flexibility if an employee no longer has debt.
8. Industry conferences reimbursement
Attending conferences for your trade or industry can be helpful for leveling up employees fast. Staying up-to-date on the latest learnings and trends can allow your employees to be the best performers on your team.
Consider offering reimbursement for flight, hotel, and conference fees for your employees as an employee perk idea. While this can cost some money, have employees create a proposal on why this event is worth attending to ensure they’re choosing a conference based on the topics or because they’ve learned a lot from previous events.
9. Financial benefits package
The best employee perk ideas are financial perks. Of course, high compensation will be the one employees ask for the most. However, there are multiple other financial benefits you can offer for employee engagement.
Equity is a great financial benefit as it makes employees partial owners, which makes them work harder to help the company grow. Offering equity to employees can improve the company culture, as it helps bring a culture of togetherness and teamwork.
Employee discounts are another financial perk you can offer. Not only can you offer discounts for the product you offer, but also discounts on partner’s products. For example, if your company is based in a specific industry, you might offer discounts for other products in your niche, such as a gym membership if you’re in the wellness space.
Another great financial benefits is retirement plan matching programs. Some companies don’t even allow employees to save for retirement, but it’s definitely a worthy investment to help your employees save for retirement and a better future.
If your country has a government savings account, you can also allowing employees to start saving money in that account, with easy access to it. This can allow employees to save for a rainy day.
10. Remote perks
Allowing employees to have a remote work environment budget can allow them to spruce up their home office. You might pay for an employees standing desks, ergonomic chair, or other office equipment to improve their work environment at home.
Since remote workers tend to be more sedentary than someone who works in an office, offering free health trackers can also be a great perk to ensure employees take enough steps during the day, get a good night’s sleep, and have a low resting heart rate.
11. Company retreats
Hosting a company retreat can allow you to connect with your employees in-person. You might use it to host office parties, improve the office culture, and align your employees.
At these work events, you can offer free food, give away company swag, and play board games or do other team-building activities to help bring the company together.
Having employees travel to a destination abroad can be great for younger employees but difficult for employees with families, so keep that in mind when planning company retreats abroad.
Alternatively, taking your employees to sporting events can be a great way to bring employees together locally. Or you can host lunch and learns on a monthly basis online during work hours so it doesn’t disrupt an employees’ flexible hours.
12. Other Employee Perk Ideas
There are many smaller scale employee perks you can offer. Gym memberships can help rejuvenate employees while keeping them healthy.
A well stocked library filled with books employees can keep can allow your team to read the books that inspire your leadership team. You can also allow employees to expense books from Amazon.
Offering reimbursement on stress relief activities, such as a meditation app like Declutter The Mind or yoga studios can be a great alternative.
And having game rooms in your office with the latest video games and systems can also help keep the work environment fun when team members need a bit of a break.
A charity donation matching program can also be helpful for employees who are passionate about specific causes.
You can also pay for certifications and licenses of professional organizations for those in human resources, public relations, accounting, and more.
Having perks for new parents or hopeful parents can also be a great perk for employees. Reimbursing employees fertility treatments, adoption fees, or childcare costs can be life-changing for those who aspire to be parents. It can keep the company morale high too. Plus, offering a strong parental leave plan can allow new parents to recover from childbirth and exhaustion and bond with their children.
Lastly, having a pet friendly workplace can be great for company culture as well. Many people feel uncomfortable leaving their pets at home alone, so the freedom to bring them to the office allows team members to get more work done. Pet insurance can also be helpful as a perk for pet owners.
Conclusion
Now that you know all about the employee perks that will help your business stand out wait no further and choose the best for your company. Because we have listed multiple options, you can always do a mix and match of the options. A good workplace trumps everything else and to make the workplace good, you need to enable employees on the latest technologies, give them ample time off, provide mental health breaks and introduce meditation apps for better sleep and employee productivity, recognize employees more frequently, and provide vouchers and gifts on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and nationwide festivals among others.
