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How To Offer Employee Benefits On A Budget

Running a business of any size is hard work. If you’re running a reasonably small business, it can be even harder because very often everything is down to you – the owner.

You need a team behind you to lighten the load and increase your capacity – and that comes at a price. So, here are my top tips to get the best out of your team by offering Employee Benefits on a budget.

The Salary Squeeze

Typically, larger companies are in the financial position to squeeze SME and micro-businesses out of the market when it comes to salary. Perhaps they can offer bonuses and overtime that would cripple a smaller organisation. Or they can offer the ‘bells and whistles’ that are attractive to potential employees – think gym memberships, healthcare or generous pension arrangements.

How Can You Compete?

Lifestyle benefits can help you attract highly skilled and experienced staff to your business who, if the battle was purely salary based, might be too expensive for your budget.

Potential employees will have personal needs that you can meet through a package of lifestyle benefits that cannot be achieved through a higher salary.

Lifestyle Benefits

Nowadays, a key factor in attracting great talent to your business are the lifestyle benefits on offer. It’s important to offer a reasonable and competitive salary – after all, you want to be confident of engaging competent staff that will contribute to your business.

However, offering greater flexibility than your corporate competitors might be willing to offer can be a big selling point.

Flexible Working

Flexible working can take many forms, from the ability to work contracted hours over a defined period to utilising technology to support remote and/or evening working patterns.

Of course, this depends on the type of business you are running, but if you are prepared to approach flexibility creatively, you’ll be surprised how much more attractive you become as an employer.

Holistic Health

If you don’t have the budget to compete with employers offering free healthcare, perhaps you could offer holistic therapies instead. There is an almost endless choice of therapists who treat staff in the workplace.

If footing the entire bill is too much, subsidising the cost will still be attractive – especially to workers who might never otherwise take the time for much-needed self-care.

Promote A Healthy Lifestyle

Your staff often spend more waking hours at work than they do at home. You can help reduce stress, improve staff-engagement and encourage wellbeing by instilling a culture of good health.

A lunchtime running (or walking) club will get people moving and benefitting from time out and about in the fresh air. Likewise, office fruit and veg boxes are a healthy alternative to the more commonplace cake and biscuit tins and are a caring way to offer Employee Benefits on a budget.

Get Creative

Think about the personalities in your business and create ‘perks’ that resonate with them. Examples of creative employee benefits on a budget include:

  • Help reduce the guilt felt by parents and grandparents in your team by promoting time off to attend school shows.
  • Show your staff you care by giving them a day off for their birthday.
  • Giving them time off either paid or unpaid for volunteering
  • Encourage the team to express themselves with relaxed dress codes when appropriate for your business.

Keep Things Fair And Consistent

Being fair and consistent when offering Employee Benefits on a budget doesn’t mean offering everyone identical benefits. For benefits to be appealing to your team, they must resonate on a personal level.

However, you do need to be confident that you are not favouring some staff over others. This can be a bit of a balancing act but something we would be happy to help you with.

Why not take part in our survey to see how you stack up to other business and also get some great ideas!

You will receive the findings once they have been collated, and will be entered into a draw to win Afternoon Tea For Two at the Lime Wood Hotel!

 

 

Click Here To Complete The Survey!

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