Recently, tons of HR leaders are talking about the cost and impact disengaged workers have on their organizations. According to Gallup Business Journal, actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity. While the reality of this number is staggering, it doesn’t have to be the fate of employees at your company. In fact, companies who recognize this risk can be proactive to ensure employees are happy and feel appreciated.
One tactic that has been proven to motivate and increase engagement is leveraging an employee perks program. These benefits are typically offered in addition to traditional health and dental care and can run the gamut from entertainment and travel to lifestyle and fitness.
Employee perks are a way to reward employees for a job well done and for companies to differentiate themselves from other companies when recruiting or retaining top talent. As many as 95% of Americans consider perks and benefits while deciding to stay or take a new job, according to Forbes.
So now that we’ve gotten your attention, what are some ways to create a successful perks program?
1. Offer a Variety of Perks
You can offer a wide variety of perks available nationwide to ensure there’s something for everyone, no matter their interest or location (it’s important not to forget your remote employees too!).
You can also offer your outdoorsy employees discounts to ski resorts or outdoor retailers like Sports Basement. For the pet lover, offer pet insurance or monthly pet boxes. Your resident fashionista will appreciate discounts at major retailers or even travel vouchers to visit their favorite shopping city.
2. Let Your Company Know about the Program
There’s nothing worse than having an employee perks program but having no one use it. Communicate to new employees about how they can take advantage of the perks and why the company finds employee perks programs like these so important. Perks should reflect the overall culture of the company and hopefully be utilized by a significant portion of the workforce.
3. Circle Back to the Bottom Line
If your ultimate goal is employee retention, you can introduce new perks based on an employee’s tenure. One options is you can establish that employees who have been at the company for a year are introduced to an entirely new set of perks. Or you can offer gift cards and additional vouchers to their favorite perk.
If your goal is revenue based, reward employees based on that revenue and their contribution to that number. Directly tying the reward to an action is what has made incentive compensation so successful and the standard for sales positions. Following an incentive compensation model, perks would be rewarded once an individual reaches a certain pre-determined goal. In sales, this goal is typically a quarterly quota and once it’s met a monetary bonus is paid out, company perks could be granted the same way.
If you’re considering adding a new employee perks program to your benefits offering, look no further. Fond has you covered!
This article was authored by Courtney Hart. Courtney is the Social Media Manager at Xactly. With Xactly, companies unleash the motivational power of their incentive compensation. Our cloud-based, secure solutions help customers take control of their incentive processes and inspire performance. Learn more at XactlyCorp.com.
