Cheap Office Perks That Will Make Your Employees Happy
Great Office Perks That Won’t Cost Your Boss Anything
Have you ever realized that you spend most of your waking hours at work? You do, and it is only natural to want it to be the best experience possible. That is why employees are always searching for ‘perks.’ Unfortunately, many of the best perks can cost management a pretty penny. In today’s economy, that is money they are unlikely to spend a lot of money on perks for the office. Instead, try presenting management with a list of perks that won’t cost them a cent, but will still serve to improve morale and make the working environment more pleasant. You may be surprised at how many are implemented and the positive reception you receive from your co-workers and your boss.
Conference Room Lunches
1. Open up the conference room for lunches – in most offices the conference room is the nicest in the building. Ask management to open up the conference room for lunches one day a week. Even better, ask management to join in. Everyone brings their own bag lunch, eats in the conference room and the relaxed atmosphere just may lead to open communication between management and employees.
Start a Snack Fund
2. Employee Funded Snack Fund – Ask management to consider starting a funded snack area. Under this system, inexpensive snacks and soda are sold at ‘cost’ to employees. The money they pay out for snacks is funneled back into the fund to buy more. By using the office supply company your business already works with, the snack fund should be able to purchase snacks, soda and chips at reasonable prices. The employees will love having handy and inexpensive snacks and management should see on improvement in productivity.
Make One Day a Week Casual Day
3. Casual days – Comfort plays a huge role in how productive we are. Ask management to implement a causal day program. Typically once a week employees can dress down in jeans and sneakers. By planning carefully, this shouldn’t interfere with business, and employees will enjoy being able to dress in relaxed clothing. Conversely, consider asking each employee to pay $1.00 each day they dress down and donate the proceeds to charity. It’s a win-win proposition.
Company Product Giveaways
4. Schwag – almost every company designs and buys schwag for their business. From planners to messenger bags, there is likely a large stash of schwag somewhere in the office. Typically the more you buy, the cheaper the cost per unit, so in many cases there is an enormous backlog of ‘stuff’ just crammed in a closet. Ask management to hand it out every now and again – its still good advertising!
The economy today has meant the death of many of the expensive office perks like fitness memberships and paid sabbaticals. It is still possible to provide positive perks for employee moral and retention without spending a ton of money. Creative thinking, and a positive working relationship between management and staff can go a long way toward finding perks that will work for everyone without breaking the bank.
For more great ideas to raise morale and employee satisfaction please visit the Human Resources section on GKBusiness.
