Given today’s job shortage, you might feel that your employees should be happy just to have employment with your business. Maybe you think you don’t need any incentives to keep them around.
However, the economy is on the rise, and if you’re not treating them right, eventually your employees are going to start looking for greener pastures. Keep your employees happy by giving them some perks.
Here are some perks you can offer that can make your employees more motivated, help them learn new skills, and even become significant income-generators for the company. Best of all, you can do it without breaking the bank.
Let employees work remotely. According to a recent survey conducted by 7th Sense Research, 60 percent of small-business employees reported they could do their jobs remotely, but 73 percent of the companies surveyed didn’t have a formal policy in place that allowed employees to work remotely. Conversely, more than half of the large businesses surveyed did have formal remote-working policies. Letting employees work from home either occasionally or full-time tells them you trust them to get their work done, improves productivity, and saves your business money in rent and overhead.
Give them time off to volunteer. You may not realize it, but many employees would appreciate some time off in their work day to volunteer for a charity, their church, or a child’s school event. Giving them the flexibility to volunteer also sends the community a good message about your business practices.
Encourage them to be green. Young employees, in particular, care about being environmentally friendly and consider efforts to do an important extra in their jobs. Come up with creative perks like preferred parking spots for carpoolers, or encourage employees to recycle bottles, cans, and toner cartridges and put the money made toward a party fund. Employees will feel good about doing their part in the green effort.
Teach them well. Buying business subscriptions, sending employees to training, or paying for classes and seminars that enhance their work skills not only gives employees a reason to get out of the office once in a while, but also contributes to the growth of your company. The IRS allows businesses to deduct the costs of employee education as long as it relates to the employee’s current job description. Employees can also deduct the mileage of driving to and from work-related events on their personal tax returns.
Rieva Lesonsky
Earn.com Expert Advisor
Founder and President of GrowBiz Media
Follow at Twitter.com/Rieva
Tags: employee management, employee perks, employees, empower employees, new employee training
August 28th, 2010 at 11:06 am
As a green company, I like the incentives to employees for being green-minded.
Also, volunteering is something we have as a priority in our lives and like the thought of incorporating in our business.