As the old adage goes “A happy workforce is a productive workforce”, people who work for a company which supports them reciprocate with increased output, enthusiasm and devotiveness i.e. they go the extra mile. One way to increase staff morale is to provide them with employment benefits, often referred to as “perks of the job” these come in an variety of forms and help to ensure an individuals economic security, thus increasing happiness. So with that in mind here is a roundup of the most popular staff benefits which are commonly offered by employers…
Insurance
Providing staff with insurance offers peace of mind and can help to increase their personal security. There are several types of insurance an employer can provide their staff with including health, dental and life. The business benefits of providing health insurance include include reduced sickness related absence, increased productivity and improved employee morale
Retirement Pension Funds
Employers can setup a trust fund which they contribute to and then when you retire the scheme will pay you a pension based on rules set out by the scheme. The rules may include: the number of years you’ve been a member of the scheme, your pensionable earnings i.e your salary at retirement and the proportion of those earnings you receive as a pension for each year of membership.
Gym Membership
Providing employees with free or reduced price gym membership can help to make something regarded as a luxury by some people accesible and affordable. This also provides employers the benefit of promoting staff fitness and wellbeing, which is known to increase engagement and motivation.
Profit Sharing
Although some may detest otherwise everybody loves money, therefore, when a company sets up a profit sharing scheme it can help to a) attract and b) keep talented individuals. The concept is simple… a company will designate a percentage of their annual profits as a pool of money to share with employees. This pool of money is then divided amongst the employees using a set formula. Some individuals may decide to forget about this extra money and invest it further into stocks, bonds, savings accounts which could turn into a nice little nest egg one day. However, one thing to regard is that this type of benefit tends to work best in organisations where profit is the principal focus. And finally a bizarre example courtesy of google…
Death Benefits
Yes you read that right Death Benefits! An article by Forbes.com highlights What Happens To Google Employees When They Die the article states “Should a U.S. Google employee pass away whilst under the employment of the search giant, their surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a cheque for 50% of their salary every year for the next decade. There is no tenure requirement for this benefit, thus most of Google 34,000 employees qualify. In addition to this generosity, surviving spouses will also see all stocks vested immediately and any children will receive a $1,000 monthly payment from the company until they reach the age of 19 (or 23 if the child is a full-time student).
