In 2020 and beyond, your company likely has plans for growth, from staffing levels to revenue to brand recognition.
And, with a new decade and commitment to progress come the need for a new approach to the benefits and perks you offer, both to new employees and the stalwarts.
How to scale employee perk programs with company growth while maintaining a personalized, curated feel?
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Here are a few key ways for offering personalized employee perks at scale:
1. Implement a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA)
You’re likely familiar with the health spending account (HSA) concept, where employees are given a monthly or yearly allowance to spend on medical expenses of their choosing.
While the HSA is considered a benefit, as it offsets the personal, out-of-pocket costs an employee may be required to pay anyway, the LSA is a personalized perk.
A lifestyle spending account, or LSA, is a flexible plan which allows employers to offer a timely allowance for employees to spend on specific items which interest them. Since they’re lifestyle-related, LSAs can be used for gym memberships, public transportation, dietary items, beautician services, online learning courses and other similar products and services.
Not only is setting a particular dollar amount the most scalable way to increase personalized employee perks, but it also is scalable from an HR perspective. HR managers can eliminate the tedium around managing relationships with gyms, yoga studios, and book stores, for example, and simply allow employees to patronize the businesses they desire.
2. But Keep Key Items Separate From an LSA
Though your company could combine all employee perks into one generous LSA allowance each month, there are issues which arise from this, as well.
Most obviously, a membership to a gym network or fitness facility may be a perk to leave untied to an LSA. While employees may love the freedom of being able to choose their own gym and membership plan (or skip it in favor of spending elsewhere), employees don’t have the purchasing power the company as a whole enjoys. When an employee signs up to a gym, they’ll likely pay full price for a membership, whereas an HR rep can leverage the entire company to apply for corporate rates which are doubtless less expensive per person enrolled.
On top of the cost savings of leaving cornerstone perks unmarried to a lifestyle spending account, employees may find it more lucrative, too. When putting out a job ad for a new employee, just as it is with current staff members, listing an LSA and gym membership as two separate perks will be perceived as more generous, even if the final cost benefit remains the same.
3. Go Deeper in Purchasable Perks That Scale
The larger your company grows, the harder it may be to offer some perks to the increasing body of employees. For example, programmatic, or policy-driven, perks such as a dog-friendly office or remote-whenever-you-feel-like-it advantages become a nightmare for management at larger levels, at times.
However, purchasable perks are not only more manageable, but the per-employee cost usually lowers as the company grows.
Take catered lunches, for instance. A catered lunch for a company of 10 may be a fortune compared to the same affair for a company of 100. You still need to pay for a company to prepare, deliver, and serve the food in either case. But, a catered lunch for 100 will likely be less than half the cost per head compared to a catered lunch for 10, as the only major variable which changes then is the amount of food (and perhaps the addition of an extra caterer).
Another great purchasable perk which will feel personalized to every employee is a company library. Start one by stocking it with 10 or 15 great books on your industry, and then create an online form where employees can request titles to add to it. Employees will get titles they specifically ask for, and others can read the book after they return it. An added benefit—an uptick in knowledge and morale company-wide.
4. Choose a Robust Employee Benefits / Perks Administration Software
As your company scales in size, it will soon make any perk admin via email or spreadsheet unsustainable. To manage a personalized perk program such as an LSA or employee debit card, find an benefits administration platform suitable for your needs.
Software such as League and Compt offer end-to-end solutions for managing the admin side of perks. Not only do they provide an admin portal for reviewing costs, getting reports, and integrating with other HR management software, but some even provide customized user areas for each employee. Employees can then more-easily track their usage, find perks they didn’t know about, and get easy tax documentation for their perk expenditures.
5. Offer Company-Wide Leave Perks That Feel Personal
One of the most important and best-loved ways for companies to offer personalized perks is to introduce leave programs for important life situations.
A pregnancy is just about the most important moment for any employee, and a generous maternity, paternity, or adoptive parent leave policy will feel customized for them at the moment they need it most.
Likewise, a lenient bereavement policy, understanding that each person grieves in their own way, will feel more personal to employees if and when that unfortunate time comes. One other important leave policy is for the sick or injured. A flexible short-term disability leave policy and an ample amount of sick days won’t feel as a one-size-fits-all approach, though, in essence, it is. When employees can look forward to taking an actual vacation rather than saving their days for emergencies, a newborn child, or the possible passing on of a relative, they’ll better enjoy their personal life and be better equipped to give their best work when at office.
6. Don’t Omit the “Human” in Human Resources
Just because a company grows doesn’t mean HR’s doors should close. While some companies turn to Slack or email to communicate with HR and remove face-to-face time, an open-door policy should also remain in place. To achieve this, your HR team should scale with the company, ensuring every employee remains looked after with a personal touch even as the company expands. By all means, implement online tools to manage small issues and requests from your staff, but retain availability for one-on-ones.
Also, whether the company is 15 employees or 150, include them in every perk decision through polls, surveys, or questionnaires. Not only will you and your human resource team gain valuable insight, but it’s one more way to put a personalized touch on office perks at scale.
Scaling your company for growth in this new decade doesn’t necessarily mean scaling back on employee perks—it doesn’t have to be an inverse correlation. If you choose the right perks, they’ll not only satisfy more employees, but they’ll feel customized to their specific needs and interests, as well.
This article was originally created for and published on HR Technologist, a website with news, interviews, resources, and research specifically tailored to HR professionals.
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