Perks to attract employees to a “new-normal” workspace

Introduction
Organisations have repeatedly shown how employees turn out to be the most valuable assets when provided with rewarding benefits. Financial incentives in the form of ESOPS, bonuses, profit sharing, or free international trips have been at the top of the game for the longest time now. But the post-pandemic world calls for a brand new approach to rekindling employee satisfaction and engagement.

Let us understand how to reshuffle the traditional work-perk approaches and smartly connect them to contemporary models of working in an all-pervasive manner.

1. Addressing mental well-being: Putting in 10-12 hours efficiently each day for 5 days a week can be highly stressful. Despite annual fitness memberships, our minds can be completely drained out with no energy to leave home after work. By offering two mental-health leaves per month for all employees, you can provide the much-needed boost to recharge your employees’ well-being. You can also invest in an onsite gym or conduct sessions by certified yoga instructors twice a week where each session could prove to be fruitful in terms of keeping the mental well-being in check and fetch pro tips for tremendous impact in overall productivity. Irrespective of what your workday or working model looks like, every employee should be eligible for time off.


2. Contributing to home workspaces: What if your workspace occupied a cosy little corner of your home? As an organisation, you can be the helping hand and assign specific vendors where the employees could shop for essentials or furniture in a cost-effective manner. Allowing basic work accessories to be carried home or offering workspace furniture/accessories can be a huge motivation to work efficiently through a home-office budget. Inspiring and customised workspaces at home can create a huge difference in an employee’s overall perspective toward work.


3. Conducting social events regularly: Work-life balance in a true sense requires employees to juggle between their 9 to 5 at the workplace and the comfort of their homes. But here’s the catch - the modern-day work culture needs more than just 9 hours of commitment to work, they require active engagement. But thankfully, it is solely directed in the interest of employee welfare. If you want to discuss a new business idea or have a series of great announcements for the team, they can be linked with social events to keep everyone engaged through a tangible perk. An expert event planner can understand your vision for a social event, manage the logistics of your team and hit the ground running — with a plan of the location, management, and activities; it all goes off without a hitch.


4. Introducing paid sick leaves: Employees are often observed on office premises working even with a health condition. But employees can only work 100% when their health is in optimal condition. In order to avoid employees from stepping into office premises with a cold or flu, it’s better to let them recuperate for holistic wellness. In such cases, giving paid sick leaves is the solution. The National Partnership for Women and Family states:
   “People without paid sick leaves are 1.5 times more likely than those with paid sick leaves to report to offices with a contagious illness such as flu or a viral infection.”


5. In-person family gatherings: What could be better than experiencing the best of both worlds? Oftentimes, it becomes difficult to devote time to our family members due to the overloaded platter of work that is placed in front of us, but bi-annual in-personal retreats can be real game-changers. Organisation-wide retreat at a resort, for instance, can be an excellent choice of venue to let employees bring their families to relax and socialise with their colleagues & their kinfolks. This approach fosters a strong social bond amongst employees of all levels in an organisation and allows room for work and play, by letting employees handle work sessions for some part of the day and relax in the other half.


6. Addressing personalised bucket list: Every employee wants to be truly recognized for his/her unique preferences as it makes them feel like they are truly cared for. To give a humanistic upgrade to your company culture, you can introduce a portal that lets you keep a database of every employee’s interest areas. By doing so, you can send out personalised treats from a wide pool of hand-curated options such as river rafting, spa-session or a bike ride in the mountains. This perk is a keeper, as it truly customises an individual’s experience by making it desirable. It is an exciting way of creating a customised list of perks for employees that serves as a powerful tool to boost employee motivation and retention.


7. Offering training opportunities to upskill: Apart from the regular work tasks offered to employees on a daily basis, it has become really important to become a source of their professional dexterity. A survey conducted by Culture Amp revealed that lack of developmental opportunities has a direct impact on employee retention and business growth. The data speaks for itself and highlights that employees who feel they aren’t accessible to learning & development are twice as likely to leave within a year. When the curve for skill growth is developed in sync with interests, there’s a 46% higher engagement from employees. Hence, by providing globally renowned training opportunities that are now just a click away, you can allow your employees to master a skill (professional or interest-based). It is an ideal perk for employees who are working remotely to indulge in training they’d always wanted to take on.


8. Running inter-team activities: Sticking to a strictly remote model for the last year and a half, it has become quite a challenge to gather people in a specific setup. While it brings a wave of excitement for some, for others it is rather overwhelming. But nothing unites employees more than team efforts when they’re in a fun competition. From indoor potlucks to picnics with outdoor sports spirit, these activities create a feeling of togetherness and connect people over relatable feelings/thoughts. It’s a huge stress-buster and an ice-breaker!
   Today’s employees in particular thrive on recognition and are accustomed to being catered to via premium perks. These perks aren’t necessarily big-budget initiatives but rather ones involving a personalised touch (making it exclusive and premium). Hence, in order to allow room for massive productivity, there should be room for engagement for employees with in-demand skill sets.
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References:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2022/07/11/8-desirable-perks-to-offer-remote -and-hybrid-employees/?sh=59d5cb4876d0
• https://snacknation.com/blog/best-employee-perks/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2022/01/14/three-office-trends-that-will-shape-the -future-of-work/?sh=28eb24ff3b51