6 Ideas for Great Work Perks That Go Beyond Dental and Medical

While giving your employees a huge pay raise may not be within reach this year, there are some great perks for work that can help cultivate a productive and positive work environment. Perks are a huge draw for staff members—in fact, 80% of Americans would rather stick with a job with benefits than get a pay raise and lose their benefits. So why not look beyond the usual medical and dental coverage to give your employees a boost?

1. Wellness Stipends

Health and wellness stipends can be used by employees to purchase wellness products that appeal to them—everything from yoga classes to fitness trackers, meditation apps to gym memberships. Microsoft offers its employees $800 a year in wellness stipends, while Eventbrite gives its staff $60 a month. According to the Well-Being and Engagement Report by Quantum Workplace & Limeade, 91% of employees with higher well-being are less likely to leave their jobs, so it’s a great way to retain good employees.

2. Flexible Working Schedules

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned in 2020, it’s that being in the office from 9 to 5 every day isn’t as essential as we once thought. Whether it’s leaving early to pick the kids up from school or working a condensed week, flextime is one of the most attractive perks you can offer your employees — so much so that 51% of U.S. workers say they would change jobs for an employer who offered it.

3. Generous Leave for New Parents

Of the world’s 41 wealthiest countries, the U.S. offers the worst maternity leave to new mothers. As an employer, you can counter this with generous leave for new moms and dads. At Netflix, there are no official working hours. Employees are tracked on productivity rather than hours clocked and new parents are encouraged to take 4–8 months off to bond with their baby.

4. Financial Tools

Empowering your staff to take control of their finances is one of the best ways to play a part in helping your employees improve their lives, and boost productivity at the same time. One report found that 78% of employees felt stressed at work because of their financial situation, 58% saying they find their finances more stressful than their job.

Offering ScoreMaster as an employee benefit can be an absolute gamechanger. A pioneer in the credit score space, ScoreMaster uses a gamified dashboard to help users achieve their best possible credit score within 20 calendar days. Perfect for those who tend to bury their head in the sand when it comes to their bank accounts, ScoreMaster makes tracking and improving your score fun and interactive, helping you become the person you want to be tomorrow, today.

5. Continuing Education

Keep your employees motivated by offering them appealing continuing education options. This could be in the form of an on-campus learning and development program, inspiring guest lecturers, or cash toward continuing education. For example, Starbucks offers its employees the opportunity to study for an online degree at Arizona State University, with all tuition fees reimbursed.

6. Matching Charitable Contributions

Studies show that the younger generation of Americans value charitable giving much more highly than their parents and grandparents. Many companies are looking at ways to appeal to this charitable generation. For example, Google donates $50 for every five hours a staff member volunteers and matches whatever they donate themselves.

So there you have it. You don’t need to run a fancy office with an in-house masseuse and beer on tap to keep your staff happy — there are plenty of affordable perks to transform your workplace.

*Legal Disclaimer — ScoreMaster is a patent-pending educational feature simulating credit utilization’s effect on credit scores via payments or spending. Your results may vary and are not guaranteed. 

References

1. https://blog.accessperks.com/2018-employee-benefits-perks-statistics
2. https://www.statista.com/chart/8326/perks-of-persuasion_-the-benefits-employees-would-change-jobs-for/
3. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5134-cool-job-benefits.html
4. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/27/maternity-leave-us-policy-worst-worlds-richest-countries#:~:text=7%20months%20old-,Maternity%20leave%3A%20US%20policy%20is%20worst%20on,of%20the%20world’s%20richest%20countries&text=According%20to%20a%202019%20report,of%20leave%20at%20full%20pay.
5. https://www.compt.io/health-wellness-stipends-perks#:~:text=A%20health%20%26%20wellness%20stipend%20is,They%20are%20taxable%20items.
6. https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/why-millennials-are-more-charitable-14445741
7. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cfsi-innovation-files-2018/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/24163214/FHN-MorganStanley-Infographic-FINAL.pdf
   
   

Categorised in: Workplace Tips

This post was written by David B. Coulter