More Ways to Keep Good Workers

How can you help make your workplace fun and productive for your employees and yourself? Treating your employees to special perks will help them feel glad they work for you and can improve retention as well.

Here's how to perk up your workplace with no- or low-cost benefits. (And we don't mean just donuts.) Plus share a client-friendly version of this article with your own clients.

Perks Count

Even if you have a limited benefits budget, you can add lots of perks that will help your employees feel satisfied and recognized. Perk up your workplace with these no- or low-cost benefits.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, statistics are from the 2007 Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Benefits Survey. While the survey is available to members only, this site offers useful news stories and other information to nonmembers.

1. Compressed workweek. Allow employees to work longer days and let them take half-days or full days off. One-third of small businesses (defined as companies with less than 100 employees) and over half of firms in the financial industry implement this perk.
   
2. Social activities. Go beyond the traditional holiday party and company picnic. For the cost of a DVD and popcorn, Sue Murray, President of EduCorp Training and Consulting, Inc. of Irving, Texas, holds movie night for her employees. The employees select the DVD, get comfortable in one of the firm's newly decorated training rooms, and enjoy their peanuts, popcorn, and a little camaraderie while watching the big screen.
   
3. Telecommute part-time. Let employees work from home for part of the workweek. Fifty-six percent of financial firms and 28 percent of small firms offer this perk. Only 15 percent of small firms allow telecommuting on a full time basis.
   
4. Customized recognition. Tim Durkin, a Dallas-based professional speaker, worked for a hospital in Atlanta that asked each employee how they'd like to be recognized for good work: gift certificates, time off, sports event tickets, cash, or publicity, for example. When the time comes, the firm honors the employee in their special way, knowing that each person has different feelings and tastes about the way they'd like to be recognized.
   
5. Bring child to work in case of emergency. An employee whose child care just evaporated will appreciate this benefit; 43 percent of small firms allow this perk. Some firms provide childcare referral services and eldercare referral services.
   
6. Classes. In addition to on-the-job cross-training and professional development through continuing education and conference, topics cover self-defense training (offered by three percent of small firms), on-site fitness yoga (five percent), English as a second language, a foreign language, and CPR first aid training.
   
7. Stress reduction techniques. Ten percent of small firms hold stress reduction classes and eleven percent offer massage therapy. Cindy Hampson, RMT (Registered Massage Therapist), MMP (Medical Massage Practitioner), of Frisco, Texas frequently serves corporate accounts in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area. She sets up a chair in an empty office or conference room, adds candles, music, and aromatherapy, and performs 10-minute shoulder and neck massages. Not only is it a nice perk, massage serves a medical purpose by moving toxins through the body that are not otherwise eliminated, Cindy says.
   
8. Casual dress one day per week. Sixty-seven percent of small firms offer this relaxing benefit, while 44 percent of small firms allow casual dress every day.
   
9. Postal services for employees. Over a quarter of small firms provide this low-cost convenience. Other errand-reducing perks include dry cleaning services, concierge services, photo developing drop-off/pick-up service, prepared take home meals, and vaccinations on-site according to the 2007 SHRM Benefits Survey. Other ideas include a free car wash and lawn mowing. You can easily set these up by partnering with small businesses that offer these services and negotiate a quantity discount for the bulk purchase.
   
10. Transportation subsidies. Some companies offer a carpooling subsidy, a parking subsidy, or a transit subsidy. One large bank offers a reimbursement for purchasing a hybrid car, according to a careerbuilder.com article. (Some of these ideas come from CareerBuilder.com's advice for employers)
    
11. Employee discounts on services or merchandise. One Fort Worth media consultant receives 50 percent discount on merchandise at her new workplace. She has also received a subsidy on hairstyling services from the cable TV company she previously worked for. Consider giving your employees a discount on your services or products or the related services or products that they need to do their jobs.
    
12. Time off. Besides the traditional time off for holidays, vacation, and sick leave, five percent of small companies give employees a paid day off on their birthdays. Nine percent of small firms allow employees to volunteer during paid work hours.
    
13. Create a culture where employees thrive. Jeannie Ebbighausen, Customer Service Instructor of Southwest Airlines Co. in Dallas, Texas, says the culture at Southwest is a perk in and of itself. "There is a mindset of respect and value for every employee, especially the ones on the front lines," says Jeannie. For Southwest employees, coming to work is like coming home to family. Individuals get to know each other, celebrate each others' successes constantly, develop deep relationships, and rally around each other in time of need.

Benchmarking Your Level of Spending. From a statistical overview, companies spent 38 percent of payroll on benefits: Twenty percent were mandatory costs, and 18 percent were voluntary, according to the 2007 SHRM Benefits Survey. Your individual situation will vary.

Let Employees Choose

Here's one last idea to leave with you: take this list to your employees, and let them pick which perks they like the best. Then implement the top one or two most popular perks to make your workplace a little bit brighter.