What are company benefits?
Company benefits supplement an employee’s salary with non-wage compensation, such as medical insurance or business dental insurance.
Quirky perks such as office ping pong tables or free drinks are often popular, especially with tech companies aiming to attract the younger generation. However, company benefits cover essential needs and are usually offer more monetary value to the employee.
What advantages do company benefits offer?
When you ask someone where their dream job would be, they might say a company which is famous for having appealing company benefits such as Google, Netflix, Apple or Twitter.
Google was recently crowned as the best company to work for in the UK in 2018 with an attractive company benefits package on offer, including ‘free food, health insurance, dental insurance, travel expenses and shares….[and]….flexible working arrangements’.
Often, employees value company benefits over monetary reward, as they place more value on valuable benefits than an additional salary.
The top company benefits that people often look for include:
- Corporate health insurance – including medical and dental cover
- A generous annual leave allowance
- Bonuses
- Paid sick leave
- Pensions
Why are company perks also beneficial?
Company perks can give a business the edge over their competition when recruiting and retaining staff and they can be used to reflect the company culture.
Some famously enticing company perks include Airbnb giving free holidays to employees or Hubble who give new starters a cheque for £5,000, simply as a welcome to the company.
Companies can look at the market, who they want to attract to grow and develop their business and then reflect the perks they offer accordingly. For example, many employees joining the workforce have large student debts behind them and so some companies may offer help to pay off student loans.
Many work perks add a sense of fun and make the working environment more attractive, such as gaming areas, chill out areas, fresh fruit and a large variety of drinks.
Company perks can benefit both the employer and the employee and they are particularly useful for smaller businesses, as perks can be inexpensive and even free to offer.
Perks benefit the employee because:
- They can reduce stress and promote well-being
- They can make a working environment more fun
- Some perks can improve employee health
- Flexitime can give employees the opportunity to work around their children
Perks can benefit the employer because they can:
- Attract the best talent
- Increase workplace productivity
- Increase employee engagement
- Potentially reduce sick days with happier, healthier staff
- Increase staff loyalty and job satisfaction
- Reduce staff turnover
Popular company perks include:
- Flexitime
- Fresh fruit
- A day off for personal interests or to relax – known as a ‘duvet day’
- A healthy snack vending machine
- Office takeaways or meals out
- Social events
- Health insurance
- Break out areas
Employees often don’t consider the monetary worth of company benefits. For example, when moving from one job to another, if a person will be losing benefits they need to work out how much those benefits will be costing them, then add this to the salary they are looking for in their new role.