Perks Your Company Can Use to Boost Employee Wellness
People need motivation, and perks go a long way in providing that motivation. They boost employee morale and give employees a reason to stick around and continue climbing the organizational ladder. Sure, they aren’t mandatory or even necessary to building a “successful” workplace, but their effects on employee wellness mean that they’re worth exploring for any business. In fact, four out of five people prefer new, useful perks over a pay raise.
Employee wellness has been on the minds of many throughout the pandemic, which has been the cause of stress and mental health challenges for everyone. This is perhaps one of the few upsides of the pandemic, as it has shed light on employee wellness and in turn stressed the importance of things like perks and work-life balance.
Poor employee wellness inevitably leads to poor performance, decreases in productivity, and in some cases, employee burnout. In order to avoid these things and foster a happier, healthier workforce, it’s up to businesses to find out what moves the needle for their employees from “meh” to “amped.”
Listen to your workforce for maximum effect
We’re way past the era where you could have a yoga instructor come into the office once a week and offer some free lunches as a complete employee perk program. It’s easy to simply offer something as a benefit, but is it what your people actually want? Employees crave perks that are going to add value to their lives, especially if it means making their time in the workplace easier or maximizing their time away from work. Before you implement perks and expect them to automatically improve employee morale and increase productivity, it’s probably a good idea to ask your workforce what they want more or less of, what they value most, and what would make their lives easier.
By knowing what your employees want and value, your efforts are far more likely to have a positive effect and will actually be appreciated by members of your workforce. Not only will they appreciate the perks and be able to improve their professional lives with them, but they’ll appreciate the fact that you surveyed them before hastily implementing perks or benefits that could have had absolutely no effect on wellness, morale, or productivity.
The perks your employees actually want
Once you’ve gotten an understanding of the kinds of things your employees see value in and what they would consider to be a waste of time and resources, you can start outlining a plan. Remember to focus on things that will genuinely bring value to the lives of your employees. We’re talking about wellness, after all, and what good is a perk if it doesn’t contribute to the overall wellbeing of your employees?
One of the most attractive perks an employer can offer is flexibility, whether it be flexibility around where employees work from, or flexibility around working hours. Giving your employees the freedom to work fully remotely or choose a hybrid work model allows them to opt for the environment in which they’re most comfortable. A huge amount of people still want the ability to work remotely, whether or not the pandemic is the reason for doing so, as it’s often a more comfortable, less stressful environment to operate within.
Choosing your own working hours can be a huge incentive to employees - not everybody works the same way, and so allowing early risers to work earlier in the day or late starters to get work done later in the day can go a long way in improving quality of work and increasing efficiency. Not only is flexibility a perk to many employees, but it can have a significant effect on performance and productivity. Employers should be less worried about the fact that not all employees are working at the same time, and more worried about whether or not workers are making the best of their time spent working.
Another emerging trend in workplace wellness is the idea of a shortened work week, which allows employees to get work done productively without any dip in quality in order to strengthen their work-life balance and enjoy time away from the office. A shortened work week seeks to drastically cut down on the amount of meetings, conference calls and busy work a typical employee engages in each week, instead allowing them to concentrate only on the task at hand with the reward being another day of rest, relaxation and time with loved ones. This is an extremely attractive perk to most employees, even when the idea carries with it slightly longer days in the office.
Time away from the office, in general, is one of the most valuable perks an employer can offer their workforce, whether it be in the form of mental health days, additional paid sick days, parental leave, or a longer sabbatical to recharge batteries, travel, and spend time doing the things that matter most. Work can’t be everything for employees, and most employers can understand just how beneficial an extra day off here and there can be.
Wellness and development
While we’re on the subject of wellness, it’s important to note that employees want to know that their employers care about their overall wellbeing, both mental and physical. A healthy employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee is infinitely more likely to consistently meet or exceed expectations. Show your employees that you’re invested in them by offering perks focused on their wellness.
These wellness perks could be things like a gym pass or a significant discount on a gym pass, free workout and meditation apps or programs that employees are interested in, onsite health services or access to virtual health services, ergonomic office furniture (whether they’re working from home or not), and mental health support services for those in need.
In addition to wellness perks, employees want to know that they’re valued and secure in their position. Offering professional development opportunities to employees who wish to improve their skills, move up within your organization, or broaden their existing role can go a long way.
With top talent being tough to come by at the moment, going out of your way to offer professional development opportunities like continuing education, certification courses, workshops, and mentorship programs will show employees that you’re investing in their success, see a bigger future for them, and are 100% behind their success. Professional development perks give employees a reason to stick around for the long term, making it far easier to retain your most talented workers.
Office perks don’t have to be boring or redundant. When handled correctly, they can have a transformative effect on your workplace, allowing you to foster a happier, healthier and more productive workforce who want to stick around for the long-term instead of exploring other opportunities. Remember to seek feedback from your employees, and develop perks and benefits that actually seek to improve their personal and professional lives in meaningful ways. Before you know it, your business’s new focus on employee wellness will lead it to unimaginable new heights.
Prodoscore is every manager’s dream - a productivity intelligence tool that can give you genuine real-time insight into how your employees are spending their time at work, whether in the office or working from home. Prodoscore makes it easier than ever before to measure engagement, gauge utilization of apps and programs, and understand what drives your workforce. For more information on how Prodoscore can transform your workplace, schedule a free demonstration with us today.
