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Surprising Benefits for Your Staff

– Contributed content –

Office window

(Alesia Kazantceva, Unsplash)

29 Jan. 2020. When it comes to making your business an attractive workplace, you need to look beyond the salary alone. You also need to look at the perks and benefits that employees tend to jump for. Below, we’re not looking at the financial benefits, such as good health care, retirement,  or paid leave, since they should be obvious. Rather, here are some of the perks that surprisingly effective.

Remote working

More and more workplaces are implementing remote working opportunities that allow employees to spend some or even all of their time working from home. People are in more need of flexibility than ever, today, as work neighborhoods become crowded and harder to commute to, and we all have more responsibilities to deal with. Of course, if you decide to work with remote employees, you do have to ensure that you can keep them connected and engaged.

Wellness programs

People are getting skeptical of just how possible it is to manage all of their daily responsibilities when most of their active hours are taken by work. Workplaces that can help them manage some of those responsibilities are seeing employees stick around a lot longer. This can include wellness programs, which may involve the use of wearable technology, paid breaks for the gym, or even workouts inside the office itself to help your team live a healthier life.

A break room

People are sick of taking their lunches at their work desk. It has been shown to be an overall drain on morale and motivation, too. For that reason, a fully kitted-out break room with games such as a foosball table, and the means to get their lunch, like vending machines and coffee roasting equipment, can go a long way. Helping them enjoy their break better means they also come back to the work more re-energized for the latter and slower half of the day.

Development plans

In the past, it might have been a given that, if you stay in a position long enough, you will learn the skills you need to climb the career ladder. That’s not the case, now. People have to go hopping from career to career, often building experience at multiple places. To make people feel assured that they have a place in the future of the company or that, at least, they will get the career boost that they need, more and more places are offering development plans.

PTO for volunteering

Similarly, people are getting more dedicated to causes outside of work. Not only can offering paid time off for volunteering to satisfy your employees, but it can also help satisfy the corporate social responsibility of the business. To be cynical about it, it will help your branding. To be more idealistic, it will help you align your company with the values of your team and your customers.

If you want to make a truly attractive workplace, then you have to invest in attractive perks. This includes not just the financial side, but the perks that also address their human needs in the office.

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