August Benefits News and Posts

12 Unique Employee Perks That Don’t Require a Big Budget

FROM INSPERITY / BY AMY MARCUM

Your employee perks should be valuable to your employees and, by extension, add value to your workplace. This doesn’t mean that they have to cost a lot of money – but they do need to impact employees in a meaningful way.

What are the perks of perks?

If your employees think of your perks as nice-to-haves but not essential, then these aren’t things that add value. Your employees simply won’t care enough, and your efforts will have been for nothing. And perks aren’t about just slapping a few quick ideas together to appease people. The selection of unique workplace perks calls for thoughtful analysis.

How do you know whether the perks that your company provides meet your employees’ needs and make sense for your business? In a CareerBuilder survey released in January 2019, job seekers claimed that benefits and convenience are considered more important than paid compensation. In this study, 75% said that beyond salary, perks are the most important factors they consider when applying to a job.

Those surveyed also indicated that they would choose the following employee perks to make their workplaces more satisfying:

42% said half-day Fridays would make them more willing to join or stay at a company
23% wanted on-site fitness centers
21% desired award trips

So how do you figure out what your employees value so you can offer perks they actually want? We’ll cover this in the next section, along with simple big-business perks you can offer employees without breaking your budget.

Survey your workforce

The best way to understand what your employees consider valuable workplace perks is to ask them directly. Try to figure out what issues they’re facing in their personal or professional life. If you see a trend across many employees, then you can work to address it.

Depending on the size of your workforce, you could interview each person on your team personally, or you could distribute an anonymous online survey. Keep in mind the benefits associated with an anonymous survey:

Greater likelihood of receiving more honest, objective feedback
Employees have more time to consider their opinions and issue thoughtful responses
Possibility of enabling anonymity if desired

How to run your employee perks survey:

List the perks your company currently offers (if any), and ask employees how they feel about them. This will help you pinpoint what should be eliminated, continued or changed.
Ask each employee to rank, in order of importance, the top three to five perks they’d appreciate most at work. This will prevent the number of options from spinning out of control and will assist you in more quickly grouping and narrowing down the most popular responses.
Advertise a prize drawing from among survey participants to encourage participation.

Before putting together your survey, it’s important to quickly recap the difference between benefits and workplace perks.

Understanding employee benefits vs. workplace perks

Both are a crucial part of your comprehensive human capital strategy, but they’re not interchangeable terms. The main difference between benefits and workplace perks is that benefits are what many companies offer to employees as part of their compensation package. On the other hand, perks are company-wide extras that elevate your benefits and compensation package and set it apart.

Benefits packages have become so commonplace that employees expect them, such as:

Health insurance
Dental insurance
Paid vacation and sick days
401(k) retirement plan
Disability insurance
Life insurance
Workers’ compensation
Unemployment insurance
Paid parental leave

Employee perks demonstrate that your business goes above and beyond to keep employees happy, and that you value them as people with obligations, goals and needs that exist beyond their jobs. These are benefits that are unique to your workplace and help convince others that working for your company is an unmatchable experience.

Some examples of sought-after perks (which vary in cost and complexity) include:

Flex schedules
Remote work
Casual dress codes
Employee assistance programs
On-site wellness programs and facilities
On-site childcare
Matching charitable contributions

Offering employee perks gives your company a valuable edge. Plus, perks not only help you attract new candidates but also also help you retain current ones. Sometimes those little “extras” that add to employees’ work-life balance can trump higher salary bids by competitors.

But when you own a small business, you don’t always have the budget to spend on the non-essentials. Don’t sweat it! You don’t have to have a high-octane income statement to offer office perks that will win them over and keep them content for the long haul. Here are some strategies to fit every company’s perks budget.

12 employee perks employees will love

1. Acknowledging National Events

Sporting events, holidays and national events can unify your workforce when you acknowledge them collectively. For example, before the any big national championship games, let your employees come to work wearing their favorite team jersey. Occasionally let them dress to show patriotism or support for a certain cause.

These personal expressions help your employees get socially involved at the workplace, giving them common ground on which they may build more productive working relationships. Special days at the office add meaning to the workplace because employees want to be a part of something fun, and they want to be a part of something sincere. It’s not always about getting extra time off.

2. Volunteer Hours

Say goodbye to the “me” culture and hello to the “we” culture. In an age when corporate and social responsibility are a top priority, giving your employees time to volunteer has become almost equivalent to giving them time off. Employees today want to belong to something bigger than your company. Particularly for millennials, your company’s charity and volunteer initiatives can influence a job seeker’s decision to accept your offer. Employees are balancing work and life in new ways. On-the-job volunteering is an extension of that.

3. Matching Charitable Contributions

Today’s employees, more than ever, want to see the organizations they work for supporting causes they believe in. Establishing an employee matching gift program is an easy win in this area. Employees will feel supported in making positive impacts for causes they care about; you will likely play a bigger part in supporting your local community as a result; and employee engagement will rise.

4. Friendly Competitions That Encourage Healthy Choices

Encourage a fun competition among your employees that provides incentives for making healthy lifestyle choices. Consider offering discounts on the initial purchase of fitness monitors to those who wish to participate, as well as fun, inexpensive (or cost-free) prizes for winning or meeting goals. You can splurge on cash gift cards and extra PTO days for winners, or keep it simple with a non-Friday casual dress day.

Organize intramural sports teams for after work or encourage an informal lunchtime walk that any employee can choose to participate in, on any given day. Partnering with a local gym to offer employees company-exclusive gym membership discounts or fitness stipends is another relatively inexpensive option.

5. Fun Or Charitable Activities As Team-Builders

What about adding some collaborative games to your employee break rooms? Jigsaw puzzle, search puzzle and crossword puzzle challenges between departments can encourage teamwork and friendly competition. You might even ask employees for recycled board games to be donated or brought in for a monthly gaming lunch or happy hour.

You can tie corporate recreation to charitable efforts by offering inexpensive arts and crafts supplies for employees to create cards or holiday ornaments for hospital patients.

And if you have the room and budget, adding one or a few recreation tables like pool or ping-pong is an easy-to-implement option.

6. Health And Wellness Programs

Partner with a local hospital or clinic to offer free on-site health screenings and flu shots. The initial cost of benefits like these can actually help stave off future productivity losses and higher treatment costs incurred by ill employees out on sick leave.

Additionally, have you thought of offering an employee assistance programs? Some companies enlist a service providing a network of mental health providers, dependent care specialists or additional wellness support hotlines for employee use. Having access to this kind of instant support is a major plus for busy parents and families.

Other inexpensive ideas include sending out regular email reminders offering healthy recipes, office ergonomic awareness or quick stretching routines that easily fit into a busy workday.

7. Delicious, Healthy Snacks

You don’t need to have Wolfgang Puck on retainer to please your employees. Pay a nominal yearly fee and stock up on bulk snack foods from big-box stores and club providers. Buying in bulk offers you a discount. And filling containers in your office break rooms with free granola bars, nuts, pretzels or other healthy options is an inexpensive way to put a smile on your team’s faces.

Offer monthly “theme” lunch days around special events like baseball opening day or the start of summer. You can serve a catered meal, or appropriate snacks, and ask employees to dress in accordance with the theme.

Around the holidays, present opportunities for office potlucks where everyone brings in a favorite family dish to share. Other fresh ideas include organizing a department cook-off challenge. Or, make arrangements for a local food truck to park outside your building and offer free or discounted menu items occasionally.

8. Prioritizing Work-Life Balance

With remote work now more commonplace as a result of the pandemic, most employees expect and appreciate greater flexibility in the workplace. If a fully remote workforce isn’t feasible for your business, consider offering hybrid schedules where it makes sense (or at least for certain roles that don’t require a physical presence in a specific location).

This allows employees a certain number of weekly work hours that can be spent at home, which can make it easier for them to juggle other responsibilities, such as caring for young children or aging parents. It may be a benefit to your business as well.

If your business doesn’t support a more flexible telecommuting option, and you can’t afford to offer additional PTO days, consider occasional half-day Fridays or extended lunch hours. This gives your people a little extra time to relieve stress by socializing or to run personal errands during the workday.

Finally, celebrate the time off that you do offer. Encourage the sharing of photos throughout the office on central bulletin boards or set aside a few minutes at the beginning of Monday meetings to discuss leisure or family activities. Getting to relive the fun with your colleagues can foster tighter bonds and make the good feelings last longer.

9. Learning And Professional-Development Opportunities

Establishing a culture that supports continuous learning can help foster a mindset of growth and professional development among your workforce. You can do this a few ways:

Offer learning resources on your employee intranet or through another online library.
Host monthly, quarterly or yearly in-house training opportunities either online or in person.
Allow employees to attend external learning opportunities with local institutions, industry associations and certification organizations.
Encourage self-learning, peer learning and mentorships.

10. Help With Student Loan Repayment Or Tuition Reimbursement

In a competitive job market, one way to attract a younger workforce is to help tackle their (often) biggest debts with a student loan repayment benefit. This can be done on a smaller scale — you could start by offering $50-$100 a month.

Another way to support new-graduate hires or staff working toward more advanced degrees and certifications is through tuition reimbursement. This educational benefit allows employees to be reimbursed up to $5,250 a year in tax-free tuition costs.

Finding ways to relieve the financial burden by helping with these reoccurring, long-term payments may also help with the overall stress of your employees. And as a result, productivity could go up.

11. New Parent Support

Whether it’s during pregnancy, adoption, infancy, toddler years or beyond, there are helpful and unique ways to support parents and primary caregivers. Time off and flexible scheduling is one of the top perks that employees needing this type of support want to see.

Make sure communication is clear as to the PTO time allowed under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or equivalent laws at the state level.

New parent support can also be implemented in how your employee is transitioned back to work. Consider these low-cost options:

Create a plan of action in advance
Prioritize flexibility
Consider remote or hybrid work
Allow for transition time, including potentially part-time work
Add facilities on-site that allow for extended breaks for breastfeeding mothers

12. Flexible Scheduling

Flexible work schedules reap benefits for both the employee and employer. For example, productivity increases. Not only are employees given more control over how they put their time in, but they’re also provided an environment of autonomy. That autonomy can lead to higher productivity. Some other benefits include:

Employees can become less stressed.
Absenteeism can decrease.
Employees can make decisions resulting in healthier and happier outcomes.
It builds trust.

By having healthier and happier employees, the quantity and quality of work performance is better than with unhappy employees. When they feel involved in having autonomy with their work schedule, employees feel more valued.

When given the latitude to attend to common life matters and return to work afterward, employees know they don’t have to compromise their professional life for their personal life. Rather than take time off or call in for work, employees could move hours around to manage events or other appointments. Also, this workplace perk doesn’t cost the employer a dime.

Key Takeaway

You don’t need to have a fat wallet or offer more employee perks than your competitors to win over top talent. Talk to your current employees and implement benefits that support their most important concerns, as well as your company’s culture. When you do so, you will attract the right people and keep office morale high.

Todd BellistriMay 2, 2023August Benefits

Why not start off this selling season leading into the holidays on the right foot? One way to do that is to finally give some thinking to smart marketing. We don’t need to be the ones to tell you it’s very competitive out there (but we will), what with tons of start ups and side hustles all over the landscape. By developing a legit marketing program you are giving yourself a true foot up on the competition. So read on, you’ll see that its not as daunting as you think and the upside is well worth it.

FROM FORBES / BY DOMINIQUE HARROCH

In today's digital landscape the right approach to small business marketing combines advanced technology, data-driven insights, and effective digital platforms. Here’s a comprehensive guide to small business marketing to companies navigate the current marketing trends and tools that can drive business success.

Key marketing tools for small businesses

Following is a summary of 11 key marketing tools that small and growing businesses should consider when leveraging owned, earned and paid media:

1. An optimized small business website

A high-performing website is crucial for marketing today. An optimized site increases your page rank on Google and other search engines, and in today's world, fewer than 1% of searches go to the second page of a search. Key elements of an effective small business site include:

Memorable domain name: Choose a name that reflects your business and is easy to recall.
User-friendly design: Ensure your site is visually appealing and intuitive. Sites should have a clear structure, intuitive navigation and information that is easy to access.
Search engine optimization (SEO): Implement SEO best practices to rank higher in search engine results.
Mobile optimization: Since over 55% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices, you’ll want to ensure your site is mobile-friendly.
Valuable content: Regularly update your site with engaging content like blogs and articles that address your audience's interests and needs.
Fast loading times: Optimize page speeds to improve user experience and SEO rankings.
Secure hosting: Use reputable hosting services to protect your site’s data and performance.

Additionally, integrating tools like Google Analytics (now called GA4) and Google Search Console (GSC) can provide valuable insights into your site's performance and user behavior.

2. Paid search engine marketing (SEM)

Paid search engine marketing, in which you pay if a keyword is clicked on that drives traffic to your website, remains a powerful tool for driving targeted traffic. Platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads allow you to:

Bid on keywords: Use tools like Google keyword planner to select high-value keywords relevant to your business.
Control costs: Set daily and monthly budgets, and adjust bids based on performance.
Analyze performance: Track key metrics to assess and refine your campaigns.

3. Paid listings and display ads

Paid listings on platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and Pinterest can boost visibility. Use Google’s Display Network to target ads based on user interests and behavior. This approach allows you to:

Choose ad formats: Use banners, text ads, or video ads to capture attention.
Track return on investment (ROI): Monitor clicks and conversions to measure effectiveness. Track your costs, record and monitor revenue, and record all expenses. Make sure to measure lead generation numbers, customer acquisition, and sales metrics as valuable insights into your marketing effectiveness.
Testing: By experimenting with different ad copy, targeting options, and formats, businesses can identify what resonates most with their audience, refine their strategies, and ultimately improve click-through rates and conversions. This can include A/B testing, target audience variations, ad copy variations, call-to-action (CTA) testing or visual elements where you test different images or videos to determine which visual elements attract more attention and engagement.

4. Content marketing

Content marketing remains a cornerstone of effective digital strategies. Key tactics include:

Blogging: Regularly post optimized content to drive organic traffic. Nine out of ten marketers use blogs as part of their content strategy.
Guest posting: Publish articles on popular platforms such as Medium and AllBusiness.com to enhance your reach and SEO. Strive to create “evergreen” articles, which are designed to remain relevant and valuable over a long period of time, regardless of current events or trends. Unlike timely articles that focus on current news or trends, evergreen content addresses topics that have enduring interest and utility.
Video content: In 2023, individuals spent an average of 17 hours a week watching videos online. Utilize platforms like YouTube and TikTok to engage your audience.
Content platforms: Leverage content recommendation platforms like Outbrain to expand your content’s reach.

5. Social media marketing

Social media is a powerful tool for engaging with your audience. Focus on platforms such as:

Facebook: Effective for broad audience reach and targeted ads.
Instagram: Ideal for visual content and influencer partnerships.
LinkedIn: Best for B2B marketing and professional networking.
TikTok: Useful for viral video content and younger demographics.

With over 5 billion global social media users and growing, effective social media marketing can significantly enhance your brand’s visibility and engagement. To be effective, you must regularly post interesting content to obtain and keep followers.

6. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing involves collaborating with individuals who have a significant and engaged following on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to promote products or services. These influencers, who can range from celebrities to niche content creators, leverage their credibility and relationship with their audience to drive brand awareness and influence purchasing decisions.

The impact of influencer marketing on broader marketing efforts can be profound, as it allows brands to tap into authentic, targeted communities that are often more receptive to recommendations from trusted (or at least known) voices.

This form of marketing can enhance brand credibility, expand reach, and generate higher engagement rates compared to traditional advertising. As consumers increasingly seek personalized and relatable content, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for connecting with audiences in a meaningful way.

7. Online business directories

It’s important for business owners to list their companies in prominent and reputable business directories. Often these listings are free, but even if you must pay a small fee, it can be worth it.

The benefits include

Exposure to potential clients and customers.
Boosted SEO through backlinks.
Improved online presence and brand awareness.
Increased credibility for your business.
Low-cost or free marketing.

The following is a list of top business directories to consider listing your business:

AllBusiness.com
Better Business Bureau
Facebook Page
Google Business Profile
LinkedIn
Superpages
Bing Places for Business

8. Radio marketing

While less prominent today, radio can still be effective. Many people are in their cars during peak commute hours. To maximize radio advertising:

Targeted placement: Choose stations and time slots that align with your target audience.
Engaging content: Create memorable and concise ads.
Consider your market: Are you a B2C company (business to consumer) or B2B company (business to business)? Is your market local (like a neighborhood restaurant), national (such as selling payroll services), or international (such as selling unique clothing to multiple markets)?

The cost-effectiveness of radio compared to TV makes it a viable option for more localized campaigns.

9. Press releases

Press releases are valuable for announcing significant business updates. Ensure your release is:

Newsworthy: Focus on unique and timely information.
Well-structured: Include a strong headline, key details, and contact information.
Multimedia: Incorporate multimedia elements like images and videos to increase engagement.

10. Email marketing

Email marketing remains effective when executed correctly. Best practices include:

Segmenting: Personalize content based on customer preferences and behavior. Use data to segment your lists and target markets.
Offering engaging content: Provide valuable information, special offers, and updates.
Optimization: Use A/B testing to refine subject lines and content.
Using AI-driven tools: These can help automate and personalize email campaigns, improving engagement rates.

11. Direct mail marketing

Despite the digital age, direct mail still works for certain audiences. To optimize direct mail:

Use targeted lists: Use well-researched mailing lists to improve ROI.
Implement creative designs: Ensure your mail piece stands out and is easy to read.
Track mailings: Monitor responses and effectiveness.

More tips to enhance your marketing campaigns

Here are some additional tips to optimize your marketing campaigns:

Segment: Segment your target market to a specific audience. Segmentation can be done with respect to age, gender, income level, education, geography, purchase stage or brand loyalty, and more.
Business lists: Consider using high quality business lists such as Dun and Bradstreet, Experian Business, ZoomInfo or InfoUSA. These lists can be used in multiple channels as well, maximizing the value of the lists.
Track real time: Track your marketing campaigns in real-time to get immediate insights, make quick adjustments, and understand what is working or not.
Key metrics: Track the key metrics in your campaigns, such as click-through rate, engagement rate, conversion rate, sales, revenue, customer acquisition cost, market share, and churn rate.
Software and AI: Use software and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for social media management, content creation and testing of alternative ads.
Budget: Allocate your budget wisely. Assess the performance of different marketing channels and allocate your budget to the ones that deliver the highest ROI. Continuously review and adjust your spending to focus on the most effective strategies.
Keep current: Stay updated with trends. Keep up with the latest marketing trends and technologies. Experiment with new platforms, tools, or strategies to stay ahead of the competition and reach your audience in innovative ways. Keep up to date with experts by seeking articles from reputable business sources such as AllBusiness.com.
Promote across channels: Share earned media coverage on your website, social media platforms, and email newsletters. For instance, if a major publication writes about your product, feature this article prominently on your homepage or social media profiles.
Showcase social proof: Use earned media as a form of social proof by highlighting positive reviews, testimonials, or features from reputable sources. This can build credibility and trust with potential customers.
Strengthen relationships with media: Build and maintain good relationships with journalists and influencers. This can lead to more favorable coverage in the future and expand your media network.
Repurpose content: Convert mentions and reviews into additional content, such as blog posts, case studies, and infographics. For example, if your company was featured in a popular tech blog, you could create a detailed blog post about the experience and its impact.

Ready to enhance your small business marketing strategy?

Developing a comprehensive and modern small business marketing strategy requires leveraging a mix of traditional and digital techniques. By integrating artificial intelligence tools, optimizing SEO, utilizing effective SEM strategies, and harnessing the power of social media, you can create a dynamic and effective marketing approach. Start by experimenting with different strategies, tracking your results, and refining your approach based on performance data.