The happier your workforce is, the harder employees will work and the more productive they will be. Thus keeping your business profitable! Offering employee benefits will give your company a competitive edge showing that you have your workers best interests at heart. It will demonstrate you care about employee wellbeing, which will help attract and retain employees. Engaged employees will perform better, take less sick days and are more likely to stick around.
Employee benefits help salaries go further saving your staff money, and providing a mixture of fun and practical options. They are an indirect and non-cash payment within a compensation package. When looking into employee benefits for your company, consider how will it make your staff’s lives easier. Think about what will it bring to their lives and will it help them flourish.
Gym memberships
Offering physical activities as an employee benefit can improve your staff’s physical fitness and overall wellbeing. Healthier workers mean more productive workers! Exercise can boost concentration levels and cognitive ability, meaning your intellectual skills benefit from it.
GymFlex has become a household name within the corporate industry! They’re the leading provider of corporate health club memberships to the employee benefit markets in the UK and Ireland. Following on from an article in the Harvard Business Review discussing the most desirable employee benefits, it is evident that both men and women value fitness related perks such as gym memberships and fitness classes. The Employee Wellbeing Research 2017 has highlighted that discounted or free gym memberships are one of the top current wellbeing initiatives.
Cycle to work schemes
Cycle-to-work is an initiative where employees can rent a high-quality bike for healthier journeys to work and reduce environmental pollution. Cycling to work can help employees save money, improve their health and reduce the volume of traffic on the roads. The scheme works by letting you hire a bike via salary sacrifice and pay for it over the course of 12 months.
Flexible working hours
Benefits providing flexibility are becoming increasingly popular as it helps employees to improve their work-life balance. It is very useful for parents as it allows them to spend more time with their children. The notion of working 9-5.30 is slowly changing and workplaces are allowing their staff to choose their hours. Consequently, meaning they can adapt their work hours to suit their lifestyle.
Virtual GPs
Booking an appointment in with your local GP can be quite difficult at times. Along with also taking up a significant portion of the average working day. Nevertheless, the introduction of virtual GP’s allows workers to have access to 24-hour tele-doctors via telephone or online. Thus, they do not need to take time off of work. There has been significant growth in the last 12 months in regards to employers offering virtual GP’s and is 40.5% according to The Employee Wellbeing Research.
Free Fruit
The Employee Wellbeing Research revealed 60% of respondents considered free fruit to be the most popular wellbeing initiative among staff. Providing fruit in the workplace is becoming a fixture within the business industry as it highlights said companies support for healthier lifestyles. Fruit boosts productivity, supports healthy immune system functioning and helps combat serious illnesses such as cardiovascular problems and chronic illnesses. Therefore, providing essential nutrients such as natural energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre.
Working from home
Working from home can benefit employers as much as it can employees! Whilst some believe that those who work from home do not do as much work. However, others do more work and are more productive. Research has shown that working from home can increase productivity and decrease stress. It also saves them spending money on travel!
Childcare Vouchers
Childcare vouchers are taken out of an employee’s salary before tax and national insurance through salary sacrifice. They are great for working parents as it is taken out of their pre-tax salary. In addition to this, offering childcare vouchers helps retaining staff returning from maternity or paternity leave, and help reduce absenteeism. Furthermore, it allows parents to save money and parents can choose from registered or approved childcare providers.
More holiday/annual leave time
Extra holiday can be great for morale as employees will come back refreshed, relaxed and happier. A bonus for employers is that it doesn’t cost them any additional money. It can be offered instead of a pay rise or bonus, and could be a reward for hitting a certain target or gaining a new client.
Health screenings
Employee health screening is a range of checks and tests to help identify risks to health and improve wellbeing among staff. They can help staff overcome health problems, conduct tests that may catch serious health problems early, offer lifestyle advice and support. All of which can help to reduce absenteeism and lower the number of sick days.
