Running a Business? Here Are Some Employee Benefits You Should Offer

Whether you own a big or small business, one of the top priorities is to always hire and retain the right employees. There are many reasons for an employee to decide to stay with a company, and the benefits package is often one of the most important factors.

This article will share a number of employee benefits that you should consider offering at your company to help boost employees' morale and their satisfaction and productivity.

Health insurance is one of the key employee benefits that candidates look for in a company. The experts from Zenefits explain that healthcare can determine if an employee wants to stay with a company long-term or not and also make or break a potential employee's decision about whether to join your company. If your business is small and cannot offer a generous healthcare package, there are still several things that you can introduce to promote health and well-being, boost employee happiness and strengthen their attachment to the workplace.

Offer in-office yoga or Zumba classes at lunchtime or after work as this will make employees feel more excited about going to work and more energized and productive. Organize a walkathon or marathon on a weekend or a specific holiday as an activity that everyone can join in to boost employees' engagement.

If your company does not operate from a specific location to serve customers all the time, you may want to consider giving your employees flexible work options. Every employee loves a healthy work-life balance, and sometimes working for too long at the same place causes stress and employee burnout and that can directly lead to employee turnover. In fact, some studies have shown that employees can be more productive at home than having to be at work all the time.

Hence, if the work they do can be done just as well via telecommuting, you may want to offer a flextime policy. This policy can specify that if an employee works for 2 consecutive weeks, they can work from home on the next Friday; or employees can choose to work from 8-5 or 9-6 as their schedule preference. Sometimes, these small changes can really make employees happier and less stressed about going to work and following a set routine.

It is always a good idea to engage your employees' families in team-building or retreat activities. This is a great way to help employees grow their love for the company and want to stay with the company, and at the same time, they will also feel more connected to their co-workers.

Depending on your company's budget, you can consider organizing more team-building trips for all your employees and their families, or organizing one-day activities for family members to participate in, such as auctions for charity, bring-children-to-work days or Christmas office parties.

Providing technical training or other types of training to your employees is not only beneficial for the employees' morale but also helps to improve employees' skills and productivity, which in turn reflects in the company's performance.

Look into what sort of skills are required for your employees to excel in their jobs, and try to offer that training as free classes they can take online or after work. This can be language training, sales pitch training, or soft skills training. The topics are limitless as long as they are relevant to the work and your company.

As one of the strong motivators, awards and recognition for employees can do wonders at any company. Not only are you rewarding top performers, but you are also motivating others to work harder and try to perform better. The award will be even more meaningful if it is peer recognition, where staff will vote for someone they think is most deserving of the award.

This person may not be the best salesperson, may not be in a leadership position, but he or she is someone with great work ethics and is recognized by everyone in the team. These kinds of awards will help boost employee morale and give everyone a fair chance to be recognized.

These are just a few suggestions of employee benefits that would really help motivate employees, make the workplace a better and more exciting environment, and strengthen employees' loyalty and attachment to the company.

These are not necessarily costly options, as they can be implemented in big and small companies alike. It is really the thought that counts because when an employee feels that the employer is trying to make their every day at work a more pleasant one, they will be much more likely to devote their time and efforts to work harder and contribute to the success of the company.