Recruiting and retaining top talent has a lot to do with the benefits and incentives offered at your company. Today, it can be difficult to discern what it is that really attracts employees, and then what continues to motivate them once they’ve been hired. There needs to be a balance between over-the-top perks and a good package of traditional benefits.
No matter which direction your company chooses to take, benefits and incentives can help drive employee engagement. Here’s how:
Encourage work – life balance
Workers who feel good about their work-life balance tend to work harder than those who don’t feel fulfilled in this area. It can even help lower absenteeism and reduce stress among employees.
There are many incentives you can offer that help to encourage a work-life balance to help drive engagement and productivity, many of which won’t cost you a dime. Consider allowing a work-from-home policy that grants remote work one to two days per week. Similarly, encourage employees to choose their own office hours, within certain parameters. This provides the opportunity for staff to work out in the morning if they prefer or get their kids to daycare on time.
Additionally, opportunities and incentives that promote work-life balance have been found to improve retention, thus, reducing time and costs spent on recruiting and training. Additional cost-friendly options include providing more paid time off, gym memberships, wellness days, or time off to volunteer.
Establish incentive programs
Ultimately, one of the main things that employees want is for their hard work to be recognized. Praising great results and success in the field should be always be done, as it can encourage employees to continue their hard work and helps to drive engagement. Implementing monetary programs for a job well done on both an individual and team level can help increase motivation and productivity as well.
Leverage ‘bonus’ perks
Many companies see perks such as catered lunches, office happy hours, and free fitness classes as replacements of more traditional benefits. If you’re worried these incentives will break the bank, distract employees, or aren’t necessary because of a well-rounded benefits package, think again. If you want to drive engagement and see lots of smiling faces in your office hallways on a regular basis, consider implementing low-cost ‘bonus’ perks.
These can include things like flexible hours or fresh fruit and snacks in the kitchen. In addition, freshened up break rooms can drive social connections among different teams.
A well-designed employee perk package can help the employer day-to-day as well. Happy employees, who actually have fun at the office, are more likely to feel connected to a company, its goals, and its mission. Even small, inexpensive gestures like donuts in the middle of the week can go a long way in helping employees feel valued, which translates to engagement and productivity.
Moreover, driven employees who are passionate about the brand, can be great ambassadors who promote the company culture and your employer brand. An office filled with satisfied workers is apparent immediately, just as a space filled with unmotivated, unhappy employees is as well.