subject: Employee Benefits Can Lend A Helping Hand [print this page] Anyone who has a mortgage to pay, a family to feed or energy bills to worry about will no doubt be acutely aware of the financial worries facing millions of people at present. Wage restraint has become commonplace since the initial global financial crisis of 2008, as many businesses have been left simply unable to offer pay increases year on year and with the rate of inflation creeping ever closer to five per cent, this can amount to a noticeable cut in real terms. However, many employers pride themselves on doing the best for their workers, which is one of the reasons why so many have started offering employee benefits.
When considering providing rewards for staff, its important to ensure that everyone feels the benefit. For example, childcare vouchers can make a big difference for working parents after all, the difficulty in finding and paying for childcare is a common complaint but theyre obviously not going to be of any use to those who dont have children. Offering rewards to one section of the workforce and ignoring the rest is only likely to cause division and breed resentment, and that in turn will prove counter-productive. Bosses need to ensure that all employees receive a helping hand, so offering a broader programme of rewards is perhaps the wisest route to take.
A popular and widely-used employee benefit comes in the form of luncheon vouchers. Bearing in mind that many people are looking to keep their spending to an absolute minimum, it makes sense to give them a voucher that will ensure they remain well-fed throughout the day. The afternoon can be the most difficult time of the working day and concentration does have a tendency to lapse as the hours wear on, so giving your staff luncheon vouchers can make sure theyve refuelled sufficiently over the lunch break.
It doesnt take much for the cost of everyday living to really mount up, so providing employees with various rewards can prove helpful and your staff will appreciate it. By introducing employee benefits to make up for pay freezes, you can mitigate the impact of wage stagnation and reassure workers that you remain committed to doing your best for them. This helps to foster greater loyalty to the company, which can come in handy when competitors show an interest in poaching talented and experienced members of the workforce. Losing valued employees can sound the death knell for some struggling businesses, but employee rewards can make people feel valued and, as such, less likely to move on to pastures new.
