Employee benefits are not just for Christmas
Employee benefits are a key part of the process of motivating and rewarding your employees. So as a business owner or director, how do you plan to encourage employee engagement over the Christmas period as a way of saying thank you?
Offering benefits to your employees shows that you are invested in both their wellbeing and their future. A solid employee benefits package can help to attract and retain talent. Employee benefits can also help you differentiate your business from your competitors.
Because of this, many companies use the festive season to offer a range of rewards and benefits. Research from Sapio Research on behalf of Hawk Incentives shows that 59% of HR professionals believe Christmas gifts and incentives to be an important element of an employee recognition strategy.
In terms of what companies are doing in practice, recent research by Employee Benefits shows that almost two-fifths of employers (39%) are holding a Christmas party as the main gift to employees this year. This offers many benefits, including fostering a sense of teamwork and belonging. However, research by Willis Towers Watson shows that one-fifth of employees (19%) felt their employers contributed to unhealthy levels of drinking during 'work hard play hard' celebratory sessions. This emphasises the need for balance and understanding by employers.
Other organisations buy their employees gifts and this can be a generous and well-received gesture. However, the Sapio Research study suggests that 20% of employees believe they are set to receive gifts that they have no real use for.
If you opt for providing gifts, you need to give it some thought as every gift sends a message. Your choice of gifts should reflect your company's values and culture. For example, if you have a positive, motivational type culture, then creative, fun gifts could be spot on. But if yours is a more formal structure this may be inappropriate. You should also be wary of gifts that could be taken the wrong way - eg gym membership, self-help books etc. How your employees feel about you is also important in this process. Which leads on to the key message.
This is that the Christmas period is certainly a major opportunity to engage with your staff, to say thank you and to give recognition to them. However, you need to remember that employee benefits are not just for Christmas. They should be an integral part of your overall employee recognition and rewards strategy.
We hope you have a great Christmas period and enjoy any festivities with your employees. And if you want to review your employee benefits strategy in the New Year, we'd love to hear from you!