An increasing number of top employers are offering perks like free meals, employee lounges, onsite daycares, product discounts, or paid volunteer hours. While these niceties may seem to be random, the benefit offering sends strong messages about the work environment to employees and prospective candidates. When executed strategically, special perks and privileges can impact productivity, engagement and talent attraction.
Google is best known for their perks, crediting them for success in encouraging innovative and unique ideas from employees. The company determines perks by taking input from employees, tracking perk impacts, and making adjustments to the offerings over time in order to encourage desired behaviours. In turn, their program has generated plenty of positive media coverage, further reinforcing Google’s reputation as a great place to work.
What do your perks say about your employer brand?
- We value networking, collaboration and relationships
Communal lunches draw employees away from their desks to create informal networking and relationship building opportunities. This emphasizes your focus on supporting connection amongst colleagues, breaking down communication barriers, and encouraging employees to see the bigger picture of their role within organization.
- We trust our employees and encourage creativity
Autonomy and choice has become highly valued by today’s job seeker and top talent demands it. From the board room to the break room, successful companies trust their employees to make decisions about how they allocate their time and resources, and provide opportunities for creative expression. Employee lounges with entertainment systems, well-designed office spaces and flexibility in work location are just a few of the perks that can showcase this critical element of your employee value proposition.
- We encourage work life balance
Employers often demonstrate their commitment to their employee’s work-life balance through support services such onsite daycare, employee assistance and other wellness programs. Helping employees manage pressure outside of work can go a long way to maintaining productivity during challenging times, not to mention cultivating a reputation as a supportive employer who cares about their employees and their multifaceted needs.
- Our employee experience aligns with our product strategy and core values
Product or service samples help employees better understand the full work cycle within the organization. Sharing the end result helps strengthen the connection between company objectives, the employee experience and the employer brand. Further, corporate volunteering opportunities let employees have hands-on experiences with the results of their labor and gain a deeper understanding of a company’s strategic corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Your organizational perks should uniquely represent your employer brand and reinforce the key messaging in your employee value proposition. Make sure your program is aligned with your employer brand!
About Blu Ivy Group
Blu Ivy Group is a leading employer branding and employee engagement consultancy that aligns your organization with contemporary workplace paradigms. It is our mission to help clients build award-winning people practices, inspire extraordinary employee engagement, and cultivate unique and desirable workplaces.
We provide integrated solutions in employer brand and engagement research, strategic consulting, employer brand integration, creative and talent communications. Blu Ivy Group is a trusted partner to many of North America’s most respected employer brands. For more information, go to www.bluivygroup.com