Want to add employee perks but have no budget?

Employee perks. Sounds expensive right? There are some employee perks that you can put in place without spending a penny. Want to know more? Read on…

1. Recognition

One of the most effective employee perks is to say thank you. By putting a recognition scheme in place, you can reward your team for doing the right things. Whether you base it round performance or behaviours or both, why not reinforce positive actions? The rewards may be free (saying thank you) or minimal (vouchers or a free meal for example). As long as the feedback is given as close to the time as possible and is genuine, it will be appreciated.

2. Flexible working

Since the pandemic, the demand for flexible working has soared. Whether it is working from home or flexible start and end times, flexibility is seen as an important employee perk. Unless the role requires someone to be on site between certain hours, do you need to enforce strict working hours? Allowing people to start a little later to take their kids to school or to go to the gym will mean more to them than it does to you.

3. Training

Developing your people is more than an employee perk but it is very much welcomed. A lot of training can be achieved with zero or limited budget. The apprenticeship levy allows companies with less than a £3 million p.a. wage bill to get 95% of the funding paid for by the Government. Apprenticeships can be for existing employees, not just new ones. Click here to learn more about apprenticeships.

Employee perks

4. Local discounts

Is your place of work near local shops? They may be willing to offer a staff discount in exchange for an increase in trade. For example if you have a few local cafe’s, one may be happy to provide a 10% discount on a coffee. In exchange they may get more purchases and people coming in for a sandwich as well. Win win!

5. Holiday purchase schemes

If resourcing allows, another good employee perk is to offer a holiday purchase scheme. Employees give up 1/260th of salary (for a full timer) in exchange for an extra day off. You save salary plus employers NI.

If you are currently offering the statutory minimum of 20 days + Bank holidays, you may want to think about providing extra holidays in what is still likely to be a competitive job market. After all is giving what you are legal required to really an employee perk?