Work from home has its perks, as we’ve witnessed throughout this pandemic: loungewear, pets as coworkers, flexibility during the day and unlimited coffee at your fingertips.
But there have been unique, difficult downsides: isolation due to COVID-19, missing friends at the office and huge disruptions in our daily lives.
Companies can play a large role in easing anxieties, offering stability and making the best of this situation. We’re talking about adapting and upgrading the traditional benefits like health insurance and PTO, as well as creative strategies for helping your employees feel connected and supported.
Stand out in a sea of companies, retain the workers you have and attract new candidates by ramping up your work from home offerings.
6 ways to upgrade standard workplace benefits
This year is hard, for everyone. Whether someone on your team welcomed a new child, moved in with more family or even got sick, these concerns and challenges aren’t going away anytime soon. Help your employees feel relaxed and supported while we all try to balance our jobs and health.
- Cover more of the health insurance plan.
- Move to unlimited PTO – or at least increase it.
- Offer more sick time and mental health days.
- Increase parental leave allotments.
- Still offer transportation supplementation if your employees are still having to physically go to work.
- Hazard pay. If any of your employees have to go on site or travel to complete their job, make sure their pay reflects the additional challenge they have of going out in a pandemic.
5 benefits and perks to offer remote workers
- An employee referral program. Not only are workers who were referred quicker to hire and tend to stay longer, you’ll be building a stronger team with employees who want to work together. Incentivize your employees to help recruit with prizes or bonuses.
- Offer stipends. Whether it's setting up a cozy home office or improving technology, or entertainment and wellness, there is a plethora of ways to support your employees as whole people. The line between work and home are blurred, and anything you can do to encourage your workers to take care of themselves will ultimately make you a great employer and your team more productive.
- Try to replicate or replace your physical office. Lean into delivery services and online retail by offering snack box subscriptions, a coffee of the month box, meal delivery deals, company swag or care packages. Think about how to replace the snacks, goodies and other social aspects of being in an office.
- Professional development. Make sure your team has time to continue learning and consider providing access to online courses or establish partnerships with colleges and trainings.
- Bonding events. Setup time for your employees to keep getting to know each other, from companywide hang out times to department-level Zoom happy hours.
