It’s often said that an entrepreneur is the mind of any business, whereas employees are the hands and legs that bridge the gap between goals & their execution. With that in mind, it quickly becomes obvious that maintaining a happy workforce is important to the success of any company. Ensuring your employees have a quality workplace & working experience has been proven to improve both proficiency and productivity in a business. If you haven’t already, a great place to start is by offering various benefits to your employees.
Respecting your employees and appreciating their work are among the many factors that contribute to the success of a business. Various studies have shown that a decrease in employee satisfaction is directly proportional to a decrease in motivation and productivity, so it’s important to cater to your employee’s requests. Employees often look for long-term benefits in addition to competitive wages, so you’ll want to take that into consideration.
Unfortunately, overall employee satisfaction has taken a turn for the worse as more and more employers are switching to work-from-home models. With remote work, the needs and requirements of workers have dramatically changed, so you’ll want to think outside the box to address these needs. While traditionally, options such as PTO or worker’s compensation would be enough, but nowadays even little things such as diet should be considered. Did you know that employees are 20% more likely to improve productivity and overall performance just by eating fruits and vegetables at least four times a week? Think of everything you haven’t addressed yet (no matter how small) as having potential to boost success.
The small changes needed will vary by business, so it’s impossible to know which ones to make – you’ll simply have to try and see! However, we’ve done the research when it comes to company must-haves, so here are ten benefits you can offer to ensure a happy workplace.
1. Health Insurance
Providing financial stability in case of a medical emergency is a great way to show compassion and care towards your workforce. Having company health insurance coverage available to your employees (and their families) can help them manage challenging times such as accidents, death, or disability with far lower out-of-pocket expenses.
2. Tuition Reimbursement
Helping your employees with educational expenses is a great way to quickly become a highly sought-after employer. The employee reports the course costs to you, and once the course is completed, your company reimburses them for part (or all) of the incurred expenses.
3. Corporate Discounts
Offering corporate discounts is an easy way to get on an employee’s good side. Employees with this benefit can buy goods and services at discounted rates from their company. These discounts are especially effective when dealing with electronic products.
4. Paid Vacation
As time goes on and businesses cut costs, fewer and fewer companies are offering vacation time to their employees. Simply allowing vacations is great, but offering paid vacations makes your company extremely attractive to potential (and current) employees. While you will incur some expenses for the paid vacations, your employee retention rate will be higher than companies that don’t offer this benefit.
5. Stock Options
Employees are more invested in a company if they own part of it. Offering stocks at a discounted rate to employees will motivate them to achieve new heights in their work, as they feel like a significant part of the business.
6. Retirement Benefits
Most employees plan on retiring someday. Retirement benefits, such as pension plans, offer them financial security in the future and are considered to be one of the most valuable benefits available. They benefit the employer as well because employees who have pension plans through a company are much less likely to change employers.
7. Profit-Sharing
This program incentivizes employees by offering them a share in the company’s profits. An allotted proportion of pre-tax profits is distributed among eligible workers, motivating them to achieve goals more efficiently (in order to maximize their returns).
8. Office Perks
One of the easiest ways to ensure your employees stay happy is by breaking away from the monotonous strict working environment. Free meals, recreational games, and chill zones are a few of the office perks you can offer to your employees. Best of all? They’re relatively low-cost to implement, and can actually improve work efficiency!
9. Employee Training
Employees don’t just want a job; they want an opportunity to grow, so having employee training available can help retain employees. By providing multiple training programs and facilities, you’ll enable workers to expand their area of expertise while improving the overall workforce.
10. Performance Bonuses
Employees love to feel appreciated, especially by the higher-ups. Verbal appreciation is a good start, but providing performance and other bonuses to employees really lets them know you value their work. All these little things add up to make them more likely to stay in the company.
Employee retention is a complicated and complex matter. The modern business world is full of fierce competition, so it’s vital for a company to consider offering multiple benefits to employees if they want to retain talent in their workforce.