An employee benefits package that people actually want!
What people want out of a benefits package is changing and with a lack of people looking to change jobs, employers are really having to evolve their benefits offerings in order to remain attractive to the best people when recruiting.
One way to be an attractive employer is to have a great employee package. One that goes beyond a competitive salary. One that gives people what really matters to them.
How do you do this?
We believe it’s a combination of two things; offering some of the benefits corporate companies do, with a mix of something unique or special to you.
To help you achieve this, we have broken down what the big employers are offering and suggested how this might work for you. And we’ve included some research about what people really value.
Corporate packages
There are always trends in what the big corporate companies are offering, and these do filter down to SME businesses. It used to be all about extras in the office; table football, dress down Friday’s, Nurf gun 5 minutes when targets were reached etc. Now it’s more focussed on how employees achieve a positive daily work/life balance and career and home life balance.
Glassdoor recently published a full corporate benefits review, here are the main takeaways:
Ikea
Among lots of other benefits, they introduced in 2017, being able to take up to 4 months of paid parental leave for full and part time employees who have been with the company for at least 1 year – regardless of role and level. And, if the employee returns to work after parental leave, they get paid for 3 months at a full-time rate but are encouraged to work part-time to ease themselves back in.
Reebok
As you might imagine, Reebok majors on fitness benefits. Their offices have on site gyms and free CrossFit classes. Each employee is encouraged to take an hour for fitness during each working day. There are also lots of organised fitness events for employees to take part in.
Being an American company, they give all their employees free healthcare insurance. They also pay for accommodation for their interns, to make sure they are getting the best people and not just the people that can afford to work for them.
Eventbrite and Microsoft
Both offer all their American employees a monthly wellness allowance. Eventbrite give $60 per month and Microsoft give an $800 ‘StayFit’ reimbursement. Employees choose to spend this how they like, as long it’s to support good health; gym membership, juices, fitness classes, healthy food box delivery etc.
Deloitte
Deloitte offer two sabbatical programs. The first is a one-month unpaid sabbatical that can be taken for any reason and the second is a three to six-month option that can be taken to pursue personal or professional growth.
Southwest airlines
They are always listed as a ‘great company to work for’. Part of their benefits package includes a confidential counselling and legal service that employees can use for any work or life situation.
Timberland
They give their employees 40 hours of paid time to do volunteer work.
How could you use these for your business?
Some of these might be a stretch too far but, you can take bits of them and tailor them for your team.
For example, you could give each team in your business 1 day per year to volunteer together on a local project. Not only will it give the team a real feel-good factor for giving back to the local community, it is also good for team building which has a positive impact on productivity, and, it’s also great for your employer brand and sharing on social media and your website.
Is there a local gym you could partner with to offer a reduced-price membership package? Great for the wellbeing of your team members, helps to reduce sick days and it’s another great, usable perk to shout about for your employer brand.
There are counselling and advice services you can get a business subscription to, which will allow your team to use it whenever they feel they need.
There are also organisations like PerkBox, who you can subscribe to, to get a whole host of different employee discounts and offers.
Or, is there something else that relates well to your type of business? It might be something as simple as having free fruit on offer or all sitting down to lunch together once a month, a walking club or even a cinema club.
Talk to your team about what matters to them. Maybe give some examples and create a poll.
If your team are already happy, great stuff, improving or tailoring your benefits package will increase their loyalty even more and importantly, it will help you when you need to recruit.
Enigma People Solutions is an award-winning technology recruitment consultancy. We find technical leaders for the emerging and enabling technology industries. Visit our services page for more information. Visit our job search page for the latest vacancies in photonics, electronics, semiconductor, software and IoT in Scotland and the UK. Check out our blog page for the latest in the technology industry. You can get in touch with us hello@enigmapeople.com or call us on + 44 131 510 8150