If you have a small business enterprise, you want to offer perks that help retain valuable current employees and attract new top-flight candidates. While many business owners worry that they can’t afford to keep up with Google and Apple, what they don’t know is that they really don’t have to. Employees know that small businesses have limits to what they can offer, but they expect some perks to show their employers value them. Here are four ways that you, as a small business, can reward your workers without breaking the bank.
Work-Life Balance
One of the biggest benefits to managing a small business is that you can offer one thing many large corporations can’t: flexibility. This is a key element to helping workers achieve work-life balance, which is high on the list of many employees’ top concerns, especially millennials.
Some ways you can show your flexibility include:
- maternity and paternity leave
- honor-system unlimited sick days
- generous vacation time
- ability to work remotely, even part time
- relaxed dress code
- variable work hours or days
Many candidates would rather have these perks than a higher salary. In instances where it may initially cost your business money, such as with paid leave, you may earn that back with improved productivity and employee retention. Remember, it costs your company money every time you have to hire and train a new employee.
Health Perks
Most employees today don’t expect small business owners to pick up 100 percent of their health insurance costs. What they do expect, however, are some health-related benefits at the workplace. This starts with providing sick days and not hassling employees about taking them and extends to more fun benefits like in-house yoga classes, onsite exercise equipment, showers for those who walk or bike to work, free health screenings, stress management classes and reimbursement for gym memberships. By keeping your workers healthy, you not only make them happy but ultimately improve their work motivation and capacity too.
A Nice Break Room
A basic amenity for any workplace is a decent break room. In addition to providing a place where employees can sit down away from their desks and ringing phones to eat, you should try to make it easy for workers to obtain and prepare healthy and tasty food.
Having an Inland Empire vending service provide machines filled with snacks and lunch foods that employees have selected is a good start. In addition to traditional vending machine fare, like chips and candy, you can now get a number of nutritious items like yogurt, bottled water, nuts, cereal and dried fruits. Don’t forget to provide something for people who have gluten intolerance or diabetes, and make sure to eliminate any dangerous allergens, like peanuts, if one of your workers is sensitive to them.
If you can set up a small kitchen where employees can fix meals, so much the better. Provide a space for both fresh and non-perishable food as well as dishes and mugs. Don’t forget to offer a good quality coffee, or even an espresso machine, for those times when employees need a pick-me-up.
Investment in Long-Term Employees
Small businesses and startups may not have much to offer when they are young, but they can provide rewards in the future. Why not give employees who help you on the way up a share of the company or bonuses for sticking with you through tough times? Stock options and tiered incentives for retention benefit both you and your workers. Another way to encourage longevity is to pay for tuition or give five-year sabbaticals that don’t have to be reimbursed if the employee stays with you for a certain predetermined amount of time.
Offering perks to your workers as a small business doesn’t have to be about keeping up with the Joneses or spending a ton of money. Look at where you can make a difference in both your employees’ satisfaction and your company’s growth, and you’re likely to find the sweet spot for the perfect perks for you.
