Special Report: Job Perks — Not So Popular These Days
One thing we’ve all noticed since COVID hit is what employees want from an employer has changed. It used to be raises and office perks. Lately, people are wanting to work remotely as much as possible, and many are demanding that perk or they’ll quit and take their talents elsewhere.
They also aren’t wanting more money as much as they want better benefits. Here’s what they are asking for:
That list of demands has left a lot of employers scrambling.
If you’re a business owner, and since it’s pushing the first of the year, you might want to take a look at the perks your employees don’t want. Here’s a list recently put together by MSN.
Membership at a gym — Surveys say over 2/3 of those who already have gym memberships don’t use them. They’re not likely to use one offered by an employer either. They’d rather have a health and wellness plan.
Office entertainment — Entertainment in this case is arcade machines, pool tables, ping-pong tables, foosball tables, etc. They’re fun at first but after awhile, the novelty, and the fun, wears off.
Plus, they’re a big work distraction.
The same goes for supposedly fun furnishings like beanbag chairs, hammocks, etc. and those awful nap pods some businesses used to buy.
Snacks — Free snacks sounds like a good thing but after awhile they grow old. Sometimes they actually grow old and get thrown away. Snacks often tend to be very high in empty calories.
Bad news for employees trying to stay healthy.
Booze at work — Speaking of trying to stay healthy. Grabbing a drink after work is one thing, drinking at work is quite another. Plus, there’s the liability of an employee drinking at work and getting in an auto crash.
BTW, alcohol is the most abused drug in the country and 14 million people are abusing alcohol or have abused it in the past and are considered alcoholics. And alcohol is costly to the people of the U.S. and loses us somewhere between $33 billion and $68 billion a year from accidents, health issues, personal issues and work productivity.
Besides, who wants to work with a colleague who is drunk, or very, very tipsy, on the job?
Office parties — Some of us love them. Some of us hate them. Too many birthday parties, or the not-really-forced-but-you-have-to-go social gatherings are irritating to many employees. And all that gets even worse when employees are hit up by management to help pay for a birthday gift, or a retirement gift.
A once a year event seems to be best for most of us.
Bring your pets to work — We all hate leaving our pets at home. Some business owners and managers understand that and will allow people to bring them to work. That’s nice but it also sometimes leads to problems. Some people are allergic to pets and — frankly — a lot of animals don’t behave all that well.
And then there’s the bathroom business.
The open office — A few years ago the open office concept became very popular. Company leadership touted the next great office idea. Plans where we no longer sit in cubicles were launched. In an open office we can all see each other better and that will bring on more collaboration and employee harmony..
The Harvard Business Review did a study of open offices and found they actually make us less willing to collaborate and harmonious. After the businesses surveyed changed to the open office, interactions between people sitting close to each other dropped by a whopping 70%.
It appears that when the walls were dropped, people put up their own personal walls.
Team-building exercises — Most of the time these are forced. And — frankly — they do have benefits and can help build stronger relationships between workers. However, many employees hate them, don’t want to make the effort and don’t think they’re going to benefit from the exercise.
The company smartphone — The big problem with them is limits. What personal phone calls, texts or emails can an employee get? And how do you account for that percentage when the paycheck is issued.
Plus, we take our phones everywhere these days and a company smartphone makes us always on call, and drives us to feel every message or call needs a response.
Unlimited paid vacations and time off — Sounds good doesn’t it? Not so fast. The international news publication, Insider did a survey and found employees tend to take fewer vacations when there is no set standard for time off and vacations.
Another problem for 29% of Americans is not really taking time off. Many are still working and checking emails and texts while on PTO.
Source link: MSN Money — https://bit.ly/3iIqoAl |
