One common portrayal of the current American workplace is how people spend more time with their co-workers than they do with their own families, loved ones and friends. According to a 2014 Gallup poll, the average U.S. employee spends 47 hours a week working, whether onsite, working from home and/or on-the-road. If that work-life balance adage really is true, shouldn’t the typical office environment and/or workplace perks be as rewarding as possible to say “thank you” to employees for their continued dedication, loyalty and hard work? I’m not focusing on high-end rewards such as all-expense-paid trips to exotic locations. Don’t get me wrong… those kinds of perks are awesome, but are typically given out to the very best performers/producers at a given company…the 1 percent of the 1 percent. I’m thinking more about the “little things” that ACAP Health does in our Dallas office of about 60 team members that help keep the masses happy (and hopefully, healthy) without incurring significant expense ($1,000 or less per perk).
- Weekly fresh produce delivery – making a smart, healthy choice when looking for a snack at work is much easier to do if the choice is readily accessible and better yet, made free to employees. A local vendor delivers about 35 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to the ACAP Health office every Monday and the produce is always gone by Friday. Perk price tag: $50 a week
- Treadmill workstations – taking a break to walk outside and get some fresh air is a great way to reenergize during the work day. However, if the weather is bad or if you just have too much work to pull away from your desk/office for a few minutes, the treadmill workstation is a solid option. We have two treadmill desks at ACAP Health and yes, we do use them all the time. ???? Perk price tag: $599 per treadmill workstation
- Employee awards/trophies – a 2016 Gallup poll found that employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to say they’ll quit their current job in the next 12 months. As Gallup stated, “recognition not only boosts individual employee engagement, but it also has been found to increase productivity and loyalty to the company, leading to higher retention.” ACAP Health held our first-ever employee awards event last December for all team members, focusing more on fun personality traits (e.g. best laugh, most friendly, quickest wit) than traditional top sales or producer honors. The awards were well-received and are expected to become an annual tradition at the end of each year for ACAP. Plus, the trophies were beyond affordable. Perk price tag: $6.50 per trophy
There are several other workplace perks and services that ACAP Health provides employees (e.g. balcony workspaces with outdoor furniture and WiFi, electronic sit-to-stand workdesks, leadership coaching/counseling) that are equally welcomed and appreciated as free fruit and $6 trophies, but the larger expenses that come with those types of add-ons may not be a good fit for your company’s bottom-line right now. The key is to find those “little things” that could make a big difference for your team members and then build your “employee perks program” from there.
