Staff leave organisations for a variety of reasons. Often it’s to chase a pay rise. But it may surprise you to learn happy, engaged and productive workers are attracted by other factors.
This is great news if you are a small or medium sized business. It means you could offer employee benefits that will cost you very little, yet help you to outshine the big end of town.
Seek recently surveyed 2000 Australians and discovered 24% believe employee benefits (or perks) are an important part of the overall salary package.
So what do Australian workers want?
1. Flexible Working Hours
According to Seek, this is the most important benefit for Australian workers. It may not be possible for some roles, such as retail assistants and those on the factory or showroom floor. But if you can accommodate it, flexibility is something you can offer at no or minimal cost to your business.
Flexible working hours means:
– Staggered start and finish times
– Taking time off or reducing working hours – especially for people juggling family and career responsibilities
– Working remotely – this can benefit your business by widening your pool of candidates and reducing office space requirements
2. Time In Lieu
Everyone wants more time. For committed teams where additional hours are required to complete important projects or cover absent colleagues, this is a great reward. Simply knowing management recognises and appreciates their efforts will produce highly motivated teams that are happy to put in the extra effort.
3. Working From Home
While there may be issues around workplace safety and cyber security, allowing staff to work from home can be well worth the effort. How often do you hear people say “I get more done when I work from home. There are no interruptions!” The key here is to ensure you have strong KPIs and policies in place. We can easily help you with that.
4. Health Insurance Cover
This benefit may surprise you but with Australia’s rising health insurance premiums, this employee benefit is growing in popularity.
5. Training And Upskilling
Motivated people want to expand their skills and these new skills could help your business grow. Therefore, subsidising education or offering personal development training should always be considered.
Become an employer of choice
Business growth is more than increasing sales. It relies on having the right people, performing at their best. The great news is, it’s quite easy for your business to become an employer of choice. All it takes is a little creativity and flexibility about the benefits you offer your staff.
To start exploring your options, contact the team at End2End Business Solutions on 02 8977 4002.