When you read about the perks that famous tech firms give their employees, it’s easy to be intimidated as a smaller business. From Google’s free food to Spotify’s private concerts and Facebook’s four months of paid maternity and paternity leave, it can be hard to think of ways to match these extras without having the same deep pockets.
Fortunately, small businesses have an edge in employee happiness. According to the 2017 Aflac Small Business Happiness Report, 84 percent of small business employees are happy in their current job and 48 percent say that most (or all) of their happiness in their current job is actually because they work for a small business. In fact, when they compared their situation to working at a large company, employees indicated that small businesses make them feel more appreciated (67 percent), accomplished (54 percent), productive (55 percent) and motivated (52 percent).
That said, 72% of the employees said an improvement in their benefits would raise their happiness level more. The good news is that some of best perks you can give employees won’t cost you anything. Here are three free perks that will make your employees feel the love.
Work From “Wherever” Days
Some jobs need to be done in person, but if your team mostly does office work, consider offering employees the freedom to work from home, a café or another location of their choosing. Some small businesses offer this option on an occasional basis—for instance when an employee needs to wait for the air conditioning repair team or has a sick child at home. At other companies, it’s more of a regular thing. Letting employees know you trust them to get their work done when they’re on their own can go a long way toward building morale.
Of course, not every employee has the self-discipline to work virtually. If you do offer a work-from-wherever option, it is often best to make sure team members are achieving key performance indicators (KPIs) you have set (and agreed upon). Employees who can’t meet your goals when working in the office may need closer supervision than you can offer from afar. Making it dependent on achieving certain KPIs can give you an out if it turns out the freedom of Facebook and long walks with the dog is too tempting for some employees.
Also, figure out in advance how you will evaluate the success of the arrangement. If you need a little direction, check out Zapier’s helpful resource: “The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work.” It shares nuggets of knowledge around managing teams when they are working from home.
A Relaxed Dress Code
At many companies, casual Fridays are the only time employees can wear comfortable clothes to work—but does it really have to be that way? Allowing your team to dress down throughout the week can be a great perk that doesn’t cost your business a dime. If you run a business where you interact with your customers in the office, consider extending the casual dress option to any days that employees don’t have in-person meetings.
A relaxed dress code is also proven to help to attract and keep employees. Almost one-third of office workers said they would prefer to work at a company with a business casual dress code in a 2016 survey by staffing firm OfficeTeam, and 27 percent favored a casual dress code or no dress code at all. You won’t find a dress code at Netflix, in large part because they value “Freedom and Responsibility” for their team. Employees are able to wear whatever they want as long as long as it’s in good taste. As tech companies have famously proven, coming to work in hoodies and jeans doesn’t prevent anyone from doing great work. And many employees love casual office environments.
Laid-Back Company Culture
Free perks such as bring your kid to work day can be a great way to loosen up your culture and show your employees that you value families in the workplace. Also, planning an occasional day when employees can bring their pets to work will give everyone something fun to look forward to.
The warm weather is a great time to do this, in case anyone’s pet turns out to be restless in an office environment and needs a lot of outdoor breaks. Another ideal time of year to do this is Halloween. It’ll give pet parents a chance to dress up their dogs and cats—and your marketing team some great photos to share on Facebook, Instagram and your website. If your office space is conducive, inviting canine coworkers into the office more frequently is a great way to boost team morale.
If it isn’t practical to bring pets to work because of employee allergies or tight space, consider holding a quarterly in-house movie day on a day of the week when your company isn’t as busy. Create a rotating committee to choose the movie and plan the event. Bonding over hot buttered popcorn is a great way to bring your team together and let your team know you care.
You don’t have to be Google, Apple or a big business to deliver great perks to your team. These simple, free benefits will go a long way to keeping your employees engaged and create a workplace culture that even rivals the big guys.