Low or no cost ways to keep good workers

Larry Ellis

How can you help make your workplace fun and productive for your employees and yourself? Treating your employees to special perks will help them feel glad they work for you and can improve retention as well.
Here’s how to perk up your workplace with no- or low-cost benefits. (And we don’t mean just donuts.)
Perks Do Count!
Even if you have a limited benefits budget, you can add lots of perks that will help your employees feel satisfied and recognized. Perk up your workplace with these no- or low-cost benefits.
1. Compressed workweek. Allow employees to work longer days and let them take half-days or full days off. One-third of small businesses (defined as companies with less than 100 employees) and over half of firms in the financial industry implement this perk.
2. Social activities. Go beyond the traditional holiday party and company picnic. For the cost of a DVD and popcorn, Sue Murray, President of EduCorp Training and Consulting, Inc. of Irving, Texas, holds movie night for her employees. The employees select the DVD, get comfortable in one of the firm’s newly decorated training rooms, and enjoy their peanuts, popcorn, and a little camaraderie while watching the big screen.
3. Bring child to work in case of emergency. An employee whose child care just evaporated will appreciate this benefit; 43 percent of small firms allow this perk. Some firms provide childcare referral services and eldercare referral services.
4. Classes. In addition to on-the-job cross-training and professional development through continuing education and conference, topics cover self-defense training (offered by three percent of small firms), on-site fitness yoga (five percent), English as a second language, a foreign language, and CPR first aid training.
5. Casual dress one day per week. Sixty-seven percent of small firms offer this relaxing benefit, while 44 percent of small firms allow casual dress every day.
6. Transportation subsidies. Some companies offer a carpooling subsidy, a parking subsidy, or a transit subsidy. One large bank offers a reimbursement for purchasing a hybrid car, according to a careerbuilder.com article. (Some of these ideas come from CareerBuilder.com’s advice for employers)
7. Time off. Besides the traditional time off for holidays, vacation, and sick leave, five percent of small companies give employees a paid day off on their birthdays. Nine percent of small firms allow employees to volunteer during paid work hours.