Mobile Barbers and Beauty Therapists are the new employee benefit hit in America's tech industry. Will it hit Dublin in 2017?
One of the most important components of growing and running a successful business is to keep your staff happy. That is just one of the many reasons why management has an interest in employee benefits.
There are different ways of keeping your colleagues happy, but one thing you can't underestimate is the importance of good employee perks and benefits. Here are our top 3 reasons why benefits are so important - and why your management has (or should have) a keen interest in keep them up to and above standard.
Free food and health insurance are no longer employment differentiators in the Irish high tech industry. HR now bring in non-traditional benefits to attract and keep their employees.
In the 00's American tech giants like Google revolutionised the Irish view on employee retention. The occasional pay rise and healthcare discount plans were complemented with free food, in-house gym, free rides to work and much more.
See also: Affordable employee perks that'll make a difference!
And guess what - it worked! Thousands of Europe's best talent headed to Dublin to join what looked to be much more than just a company.
Employee benefits anno 2017
The revolution has now become tradition. Millennials don't consider free lunch a perk - it's just another part of the basic package. So how does HR make their company stand out?
>>94% of Millennials, 92% of Gen X say non-traditional benefits make employers more attractive<<
ICIMS
HR departments are now looking at less obvious benefits to ensure the company stands out from the crowd. Monthly visits from Barbers, Masseurs and Beauty Therapists are among the new perks that attract especially the younger part of the workforce.
Perks and Benefits are crucial in keeping your employees happy. You want to treat them equally - but we're all different … and so should your perks be
86% of Millennials state they value having benefits personalized to meet their individual circumstances and age (MetLife).
As a HR professional that leaves you with a lot of factors to consider: Gender, age, interests, family status, line of business, transport preferences, allergies, etc…
The list is endless. But the challenge stays the same: to tread people equally, you'll want to offer perks and benefits that suit their individual needs and values.
How to get started
We find the best way to get going is to start out with some very general categories, covering info you already have on your employees (such as gender, age etc.). Pick your categories, brainstorm on those - And get going! You'll find out what works and move on from there.
See also: Affordable perks that'll make a difference!
And here is the best: individualised perks don't necessarily demand huge budgets. Paying a manicurist for a monthly visit or handing out Star Wars tickets comes with much lower costs than daily free food or on site gym.
Below we've listed some of the suggestions we've received for individualised benefits, based on gender and age.
Google, Netflix and Facebook are known for their perks. And they deserve it. But it's not all companies that can afford free meals, 6 months paternity leave or on site gym. So, if you're a start-up or just not a multimillion business, what do you do to keep the high spirits?