Staff benefits are available one way or another in almost every company, whether financial or otherwise. However, given current budget constraints, many bosses say they have no choice but to rein in the perks: a recent survey said almost one in four bosses plan to cut all staff benefits, sensible or otherwise, while big corporate employers are cutting back on taxis and no longer footing the bill for evening takeaways when teams work late, according to a recent article in The Guardian.
We often take for granted the small staff benefits that we get, and with companies such as Axa PPP recently informing their employees that they will no longer be having big Christmas parties or their usual unlimited supply of fruit throughout the day, everyone at SilverDoor is feeling pretty lucky with the staff benefits that we receive.
As a general rule, the staff benefits you receive as a SilverDoor employee increase with the length of time you have worked here, such as the number of days of holiday you get a year and the percentage discount you can get on your Chiswick Esporta gym membership.
Other staff benefits include yearly summer and Christmas parties, which are always big events attended by everyone; a SilverDoor rewards scheme allowing employees to get cash back on many of their online purchases; an interest-free loan, which can be used as and when people want to make purchases such as a house or a season rail ticket; and the luxury of having birthdays off in addition to annual holiday. As well as all of this, we all appreciate the simpler benefits such as the endless tea and coffee and the constant supply of the office’s favourite biscuits.
Although staff benefits will never be the sole reason potential employees will be attracted to a company, they without a doubt contribute to the level of job satisfaction that an employee has, and in turn will create a low staff turnover.
Staff benefits can also have a positive psychological effect on both the employees and the company. Benefits such as discounted or free gym memberships encourage employees to keep fit and healthy, which many studies have shown to have a positive effect on your mental health, inevitably making you more alert in the workplace. Keeping fit and healthy will also have medical benefits, which should lower the number of sick days taken by employees. Staff benefits, large or small, also create and strengthen loyalty, respect and trust between an employee and employer, enhancing relationships inside and outside of the office.
SilverDoor’s HR Manager, Raimonda Kiausaite, feels that “incentives help us to engage with our employees. As a company we feel that high employee retention is very important, and we pride ourselves on our low staff turnover and employee satisfaction”.
