Compensating employees will become increasingly difficult in tough economic times. However, it is important for managers and business owners to not loose sight of those deserving a raise. It is possible to keep your valued employees happy while not affecting the bottom line.
During an economic slump, everyone feels the squeeze.
With businesses buckling down for the storm, cutting costs and cutting jobs it’s common for employees to feel on edge. Even highly productive employees can feel as if the axe blade looms somewhere overhead as they bid their co-workers adieu. This added insecurity in the workplace can affect job performance. Even valued employees may choose to preemptively ‘jump-ship’ in anticipation of a looming layoff.
As it approaches ‘raise-time’ for individual employees, take them aside for a candid conversation. Your job here is to instill each employee with confidence, as they would have noticed the corporate cost cutting taking effect.
Nothing is worse than being left in the dark. So, put your employees back in the information loop.
It’s important to disclose how the business is doing, while maintaining up-beat. Discussing any economic challenge of business with your employee will put them at ease and associate them with the overall success of the corporation.
Be prepared to point-out specific achievements each employee has made, why they are valued and how much. Offer constructive criticism on how they can improve professionally and how they can directly contribute to the success of the company through this tough economic time.
Perks of the job. Offer a raise other than money.
1. Flex Time
The standard 9 to 5 work day is somewhat old fashioned and may be counter-productive for business. As populations in major cities soar, congestion causes great strain on commuters as they clamor to work against the morning rush-hour.
Giving employees a flexible work-schedule will make them happier and more productive. That 1 hour commute at 8:00 AM may only take 30 minutes at 9:30 AM. So what if they get into work at 10 instead of 9. The 30 minutes of travel time a day (each way) will add up to 5 hours a week or 20+ hours a month! That’s equivalent to an extra week of vacation each year.
2. Courtesy Day
Birthdays are great to give an extra day off work. Most people feel entitled to a break on their birthdays, employees will appreciate not having to ask for this day off.
3. Working from home
Are some tasks easily completed from home, client calls, writing reports, research, etc..? Try to bundle these tasks in order to give dedicated employees an opportunity to complete tasks from home. Advantages like saving the commute, working in their own environment and time would not effect productivity.
Beware, this perk should only be offered to competent and trusted employees. As even some of the most well intentioned can be easily distracted from their task while working at home.
4. Transportation
Aside from avoiding transportation (i.e. working from home, flex hours), there may be ways of offering savings on the cost of transportation. Organize car-pooling and research group-discounts for transportation. The power of numbers will save money as large organization flex their buying power.
5. Groceries
Do most of your employees go out for lunch, coffee, snacks? How long do they spend out of the office? If your average employee takes 45minutes for lunch and coffee breaks each day you’re loosing half a day of productivity a week.
It might be worth-while to look into a grocery program for your office. The added cost of groceries will actually save money if employees are kept productive during times they otherwise wouldn’t be.
This simple equation demonstrates how easy it is to add value to your business by purchasing into a grocery program. For this calculation each employee could consume $75.00 worth of groceries per week without effecting the bottom-line. Spending less, which wouldn’t be difficult, would actually add revenue.
| T = Average time taken for Lunch & Breaks a week (hours) V = Average value of employee time. (hours) C = Cost of food Budget. | (T x V) = C(3.75 x 20) = C $75 = C |
6. Organize Group-lunches
Organize stress-free meetings over a catered lunch. With a relaxed environment established casually discuss business, upcoming projects and challenges without getting too deep (nobody should be taking notes). Casually discussing business over lunch will save time while creating a tighter/ more productive team.
7. Decorate the office
There are many inexpensive ways to freshen up the office and boost morale, add a plant here or there, offer a window seat or a fresh coat of paint. Creating a comfortable workplace atmosphere is critical in improving employee productivity. Giving an employee the opportunity to decorate their office will give them pride and ownership of the space. The difference between working late and leaving early could be a different paint scheme or some personal touches.
8. Corporate Cell-phone Plan
There are huge saving to be had with corporate cell-phone plans vs. personal plans. Adopting employees into the corporate plan will mean saving them lots and reducing the per. person cost for everyone.
