8 Employee Benefits That Any Company Can Afford

Provide Flexible Work Options

Not everyone is able to, or wants to, work the average nine to five day. Some of your employees may have time consuming responsibilities; such as small children or sick relatives, and thus may want more time to dedicate to them.

Alternatively, some employees may find it difficult getting to and from the office every day, and may prefer to work different hours or from home. Some roles may make working from home difficult, but providing the option for more flexible working hours could be possible.

Thanks to cloud technology, more software and storage is becoming accessible from multiple devices. This means that with services like Office 365 or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services such as One Net, employees can easily work outside the office. These solutions can not only improve your business as a whole, but they also allow you to affordably provide your employees with a seriously good benefit.

Give Employees a Chance to Invest in Themselves

Attempting to supply private healthcare or insurance plans for all your employees is an expensive venture. However, this doesn’t mean that any benefits relating to healthcare or savings aren’t possible for smaller companies.

For some employees, simply providing the opportunity to develop these savings is enough. Provide options for your staff members to contribute to their own healthcare or retirement fund from their monthly wages. Your employees will appreciate your business giving them a way to easily develop their own savings, whether it’s because they find it difficult to do or forget to do it themselves. If it’s possible, you could even promise to add to, or match, employees’ monthly contributions, but this isn’t entirely necessary.

Give Discounts and Freebies

Using your various company networks and suppliers, your business could set up some pretty enticing deals and discounts.

What makes this an especially good company benefit, is that not only does it please your employees, but it can also help build bridges with local businesses. Applying for company discounts or freebies is easy if you know how to sell the rewards to other businesses. Shaping staff discounts into a valuable marketing opportunity should have local businesses flocking to you in no time.

Of course, your employees are going to appreciate being able to spend their wages on more affordable items, and who doesn’t like free stuff? So it really is a win, win situation.

Provide Complementary Food

Another affordable, yet greatly appreciated company benefit; food is something that every one of your employees will enjoy.

Here at Redsquid, we have fresh fruit delivered to our offices every week. But whatever you decide to do, it’s going to be a small gesture that could make all the difference.

Additionally, your business could encourage a company culture wherein staff bring in food to share with others; whether it’d be birthday cake or a weekly dessert contribution. Doing this not only gives employees a chance to have something delicious to eat, but it can also cultivate a positive culture of camaraderie. Providing opportunities for staff members to bond, can dramatically improve working relations and teamwork.

Encourage Employee Exercise and Good Living

Your staff will appreciate being looked after and given the opportunity to look after themselves, which is why providing the chance for exercise and good living is something that would be embraced.

Create gym membership schemes by providing discounts to local leisure centres, or create events for company-wide sports tournaments, or encourage employees to take part in charity walks or marathons. Promoting exercise amongst your staff not only shows that, as a company, you care about their wellbeing, but it also means having a happier and healthier workforce.

Provide Workplace Parking and Commuting Benefits

Sometimes the most practical company benefits are also the most appreciated. Making it easier for employees to get to and from work, is something that could go a long way in creating a happier and more productive workforce.

Providing expenses for public travel or petrol costs, could help lighten employee burdens considerably. Or allow employees who have to travel long distances, walk into work, or take busy transport routes, more time to get to work or a chance to leave earlier. Providing reserved parking spaces for staff who drive to work, could also better accommodate their needs.

Making your employees’ travel easier not only provides an attractive company benefit, but lifting the strain can also make them happier as well.

Offer Employees a Work Mobile or Other Device

For many business employees, their mobile phones have to fill both the role of a personal and work device. But providing your employees with their own work mobile, may be a really great way of not only giving them a great work benefit, but could also solve a variety of other issues as well.

With new threats to company networks arising every day, having outside devices connected to your networks can be dangerous. So supplying work mobiles will allow you to monitor devices and protect your company network, with the addition of software like Mobile Device Management (MDM). This is possible with a BYOD policy, but many employees may object to having their personal devices monitored.

Consider striking up a collective deal with a business mobile supplier, to help save money on providing employees with devices.

Offer Vacation Options and Benefits

Allowing your employees a little more leeway in taking time off; perhaps having to give less notice to book it, can prove to be significant benefit.

Try to encourage a culture of vacation, meaning employees are not afraid to take time off for fear of everything crumbling down while they’re gone. Instead, assure them that they will be significantly covered if off, and encourage them to use their vacation time.

Also, consider providing surprise or annual holidays, such as birthdays and summer holidays. These don’t have to be entire weeks, but however much they are, they’ll be appreciated.

Doing this will not only provide a great company benefit, but your employees will be well rested and work better as a result.

Providing attractive benefits to your present and future employees doesn’t need to cost the world. These simple yet rewarding ideas provide things that your employees can enjoy, with little cost to your business and plenty of advantages. For more advice on how to run your business, have a look at our articles on how your employees can work smarter and how to increase your customer retention rates.