Looking Beyond The Salary Hike: Unique Employee Benefits And Perks To Keep Them Engaged And Happy

By Hubert

Gone are the days when employed professionals would switch jobs for a measly salary hike. These days, unless you are offering a monster-sized hike, the value of an 'industry-standard' hike simply pales in front of the value of joining a big organization that offers a lot of perks.

Thankfully, with the increasing value of perks in the minds of working professionals, the field has been leveled for smaller businesses that are looking to attract top talent.

While bootstrapped startups cannot always match the salary figures offered by the big four in their industries, they can offer the following unique benefits to attract top talent:

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Professional Development

With the rise in popularity and accessibility of eLearning tools like web conferencing solutions and learning management systems, providing employees with training and in-house professional development opportunities is easier than ever before.

In fact, employee training has become such an accessible undertaking that a ClearCompany survey revealed that 68% of employees consider training and development the most important policy of an organization.

94% of employees said they will stick to their current organization longer if their employer makes an investment in their training and development.

Investing in the training and development of an employee makes them stick to their job more often. Pixabay

Genuine learning opportunities don't just enable your business to attract and retain top talent, but over time, it also gives your business access to a better trained and more skilled workforce.

Flexible Timings

At its California headquarters, Netflix does not track the work hours or vacation days of its employees. Their managers only concern themselves with the things that they get done. Sure, there may be some deadlines involved, but there is no real 'time tracking' and ensuring that employees are working 40 hours every week.

Now, Netflix is a raging success, a billion-dollar company and while some of this success can be attributed to their ultimate take on flexible working hours, not all businesses can suddenly stop tracking their employees' working hours.

However, all businesses can introduce at least some level of flexibility in their working hours. This way, you can start building a culture of ownership at your organization, one that values productivity and not busy work.

Make Your Office Pet-Friendly

While your employees may be working from home currently, things have started getting better and soon, everyone will be back in the office. At this time, you should consider letting your employees be accompanied by their furry friends.

Having pets at work has been proven to reduce stress levels for employees, and improve the ability of your team members to collaborate with each other.

Having pets in the workplace helps to reduce the stress of employees. Pixabay

Not to forget, since many pet owners consider their pets a part of their family, having their pets at work will enable them to maintain a healthier work-life balance.

Help With Social Causes

Many of us have at least one social cause that we feel strongly about and support as much as we can. Lately, employers have started supporting their employees in helping out with the social causes they care about.

For instance, Google matches every donation made by their employees. Moreover, for every 5 hours of volunteer work that an employee does for an NGO, Google also donates $50 to that organization.

This will not just help your employees feel even better about fulfilling their social responsibility, it will also earn your business a lot of great PR.

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Conclusion

The importance of monetary compensation may still be significant for many professionals, but modern employees are placing an increasing amount of importance on the other benefits associated with an employment opportunity.

Does your organization offer any unique benefits to its employees?

(Disclaimer: The article is sponsored, and hence promotes some commercial links.)

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