Perks in Lieu of Raises – A Great Way For Employee Retention

In this recession period small business owners need to get more creative to retain their employees. Since the standard pay raise that most of the employers are offering during this down economy can no longer satisfy the employees, the entrepreneurs are shifting their focus to several benefits and perks in lieu of raises. It is not only money that motivates the employees, be it a salesman of a cosmetic and personal care company or a labor manufacturing electrical components. Though they must be sufficiently compensated, you need to take care of your employees and praise them for their motivation and job satisfaction. The bottom line is to reward them in one way or other.

One of the best ways to motivate your employees is to recognize their hard work. It is a very powerful tool that will cost you nothing. In fact, it is the best examples of non-monetary incentives. But only recognizing is not enough. You must recognize their efforts publicly. When you treat your people well and appreciate their efforts in front of other, it not creates a bond but also motivates the others to follow the suit. You can simply put the name and a picture (if possible) of the employee of the month in your notice board.

You can even change the job title of those employees who are giving consistence performance. For example your salesperson is consistently achieving the target every month, you can simply change his designation from “Salesman” to “Senior Sales Executive” to keep him/ her motivated. And the best part is there is no need to give any pay raise as you have already mentioned “Other terms and condition remains same” in the designation appraisal letter.

In addition, you can implement employee education and training programs to motivate them. Introducing meditation and yoga sessions to help your employees to learn work-life balance will also create a similar effect. You can also offer a better parking space, an extended weekend, or some other temporary perks  to those employees. Another good option is to introduce the flextime concept. Instead of maintaining a strict log-in timing you can be a little flexible, as long as they are completing the daily/ weekly time target. Another trick is to introduce the concept of “work from home” once or twice in a month so as to help the employees to maintain their work-life balance.

If you are ready to spend a little money to show your appreciation, you can find a number of inexpensive ways for that. This may include sending personalized gifts,  chocolate boxes, bouquets with “Well Done” or “Thank You” cards, tickets or passes to nearby amusements parks or theater and many more. All you need to be is creative in your approach. Similarly you can also organize group outing and outdoor lunch meetings to keep the morale of your people high.

The popularity of offering such perks to employees are actually increasing during this recession. Whatever perks or benefits you offer make sure that these practices must make your employees feel happy and valued.