You shouldn’t just think of perks as a nice little bonus thing you do for your employees. Perks actually serve four purposes:
- They make up for wage gaps when you can’t afford to pay as much as the competition.
- They build employee loyalty so they’ll stay with you even when the above-mentioned wage gaps loom.
- They boost employee happiness, which in turn boosts productivity.
- They make your firm sexier for potential new hires, especially when your current employees do half of your recruitment marketing on social media by boasting how cool it is to have you as their boss.
Second, there’s evidence that happy employees not only have higher productivity, they also pass that happiness quotient on to clients. Happy clients make referrals and brag about you on social media. So perking up the workplace is actually a roundabout form of marketing.
Third, some perks offer the opportunity to both get to know the employees better as well as learn what they might consider to be an awesome perk (that won’t destroy your bottom line). For example, if you have a beer-tasting session once a week or so on company time, you’ll be given the chance to know what kind of music your people are into, what kind of energy drinks they prefer, if they’ve always wanted to take karate lessons, what have you. You can use these preferences to tailor further perks to individual employees, making them feel like a million bucks because you provide perks tailored specifically to them instead of something more generic.
(Obviously you have to take care to not be taken advantage of in this situation. You’re out to get ideas for perks, not to jot down a shopping list of every single thing an employee doesn’t want to pay for him or herself.)
The fourth point to keep in mind is that some perks don’t have to cost you any money out of pocket at all. For example some (or even all) work days can be done remotely. Or you can let employees bring their dogs to work on specific days, or just in general (make sure the furry friends stay off the furniture clients will be sitting on though).
With all of that being said, let’s see if we can generate some ideas for perks that won’t make your wallet scream.
The fourth point to keep in mind is that some perks don’t have to cost you any money out of pocket at all. For example some (or even all) work days can be done remotely. Or you can let employees bring their dogs to work on specific days, or just in general (make sure the furry friends stay off the furniture clients will be sitting on though).
With all of that being said, let’s see if we can generate some ideas for perks that won’t make your wallet scream.
The ultimate point is that there’s no need to break the bank in order to offer cool perks. Like anything else in building a business, choosing the best perks is an experiment. Don’t be afraid to tweak and tinker your offered perks until you hit on a combination that has your employees praising your name on their Facebook account.