Perks and Discounts Archives

The Benefits of an Employee Discount Program

Courtney Shipshock June 23, 2022

When it comes to benefits and perks, it can be difficult to find solutions that employees not only engage with but also find value in. With financial stresses high due to inflation and other economic factors, it is an especially crucial time to offer a perk that stretches your employees’ paycheck. An employee discount program could be the benefit you’ve been searching for, with exclusive discounts for your teammates on the things that matter most. We’ve laid out a few reasons why you should join the thousands of employers taking advantage of steep discounts.

What is an Employee Discount Program?

An employee discount program is a marketplace of exclusive discounts, negotiated by a team of experts, from top brands and local businesses. Employees can access their discounts through their Discount Portal and browse deals, search by brand or category, discover curated and personalized discounts relevant to their interests, and enjoy savings on a variety of products and services.

No Impact on Your Budget

Employee discount programs are often an affordable way to provide financial benefit to your team. Not only that, but it’s much more than exclusive access. With PerkSpot, you’ll get an easy-to-use portal, optimized for all devices, that ties in with your company’s unique branding, creating a one-stop shop for employees’ perks and discounts. The best part? It’s free. What’s the catch? There isn’t one. It’s a no cost solution to help stretch your employees paycheck.

Easy to Maintain

One of the best parts about an employee discount program is the low maintenance. The portal is managed for you and discounts are regularly updated. Leslie Sells, Benefits Analyst at Humana, shared, “It’s always been easy. This is one of the programs that almost runs itself. It’s not one I have to spend a whole lot of time on.” With a dedicated Client Success Manager, we are here to create a communication plan that builds program awareness and helps employees maximize their valuable benefit.

Exclusive Savings

Another great benefit of an employee discount program is the exclusive access to meaningful savings. With PerkSpot, employees save from 25+ categories including electronics, travel, home goods, cars, health, and so much more. In addition, savings with PerkSpot are personalized. In comparison to other discounts available, these savings are tailored and relevant. It not only saves time for your employees, but also provides discounts your employees may not be aware of. Another great benefit of PerkSpot is the access to Premium Perks. Premium Perks are verified to be the best available discounts on the market by your PerkSpot team.

Exceptional Employee Retention and Engagement

It’s estimated that turnover costs employers over $1 trillion annually. So, how do you minimize these costs and setbacks? It all starts with the employee experience. With PerkSpot, you can lend your employees a hand with their financial wellness by offering exclusive discounts on tax services, loans, mortgages, and more. Not only that, but we’ve built our platform to encourage engagement by allowing employees to save when and where it matters to them by showing the most relevant and meaningful offers.

With a multitude of benefits and perks to choose from, offer a solution that is affordable, easy to maintain, exclusive, and engaging. Not only that, but it’s valuable for your employees. With a potential of $6k in savings, you’re not only offering impactful discounts but you’re providing a financial wellness benefit. Ready to start the savings journey for your teammates? Sign up for a demo today!

Mayo Clinic Centralizes Their Discount Program

Courtney Shipshock April 21, 2022

Mayo Clinic is home to 73,000 employees with major campuses located in Rochester, Phoenix, and Jacksonville, with smaller satellite locations across the country. As one of the top healthcare providers in the nation, patients from around the world travel to Mayo Clinic seeking top-notch care. With employees located in different regions, Mayo Clinic was in need of a discount provider that could bridge the gap in their discount offerings.

Prior To PerkSpot

Mayo Clinic previously had their own discount portal but it was a heavy lift to manage and had strict requirements. To be listed, vendors needed 3+ years as a business, 20% discounts or higher, and needed to commit to a year of service. This criteria made it difficult to secure offers and the management of the program was difficult.

Conversely, PerkSpot manages the program for you with a team of client success managers ready to help. We devise engagement strategies, create marketing materials, and more. Additionally, Mayo Clinic’s previous discounts were based on their Rochester location making it difficult for employees elsewhere to benefit.

“We wanted to not only have our employees at Rochester have discounts, but everybody at Mayo Clinic to have discounts”, shared Betty Smith, Employee Purchase Program Coordinator. In 2015, Mayo Clinic made the decision to partner with PerkSpot. Since then, on average 11,500 employees have saved on a monthly basis. With a direct link from their employee intranet, the mobile app, and email communications, saving is easy.

Decreased Turnover Rates

The healthcare industry has seen staggering turnover rates with 19.5% in 2021, a 1.7% increase from the previous year. HR Professionals are being challenged to improve employee morale and decrease employees leaving. In addition, rising inflation and wage pressures are only adding to the challenge. “By having PerkSpot, it gives us a competitive advantage over our competitors that don’t offer comparable discounts to their employees.”

Supporting Local

One feature Mayo clinic has utilized is PerkSpot’s “Suggest a Business” tab to recommend local vendors. “The suggest a business functionality is great for adding additional discount opportunities for our staff. The more the merrier.” One example Mayo Clinic suggested was a local nail salon in Rochester. Following the suggestion, our team secured an exclusive offer for employees to start utilizing in their discount portal.

In addition to local discounts, employees are saving on hotels, groceries, events, and more. In 2022, Mayo Clinic’s most popular savings have included travel discounts along with savings on Apple products.

With the current environment and challenges over the past year, PerkSpot can be the solution you need to reduce turnover and set yourself apart.

Dealing with Burnout as an HR Professional

Max Goldenberg April 7, 2022

In today’s competitive candidate market, life as an HR professional has never been quite so exhausting. Being forced to chase after candidates in the age of work from home and tremendous employee freedom has meant a difficult balancing act between providing appealing, top-quality benefits, managing cost efficiency, and negotiating employee concerns – all while dealing with the fallout of a global pandemic. It’s no wonder that burnout is skyrocketing at HR departments all over the country – but there is a better way. And with World Health Day officially starting today on April 7th, there’s never been a better time to help your department get physically and mentally healthy!

42% of Human Resources teams report feeling overburdened with projects and responsibilities. And on one hand, this is something that should be taken up with management; when HR teams are simply too small or too overworked, there needs to be discussion about expanding Human Resources or offloading responsibilities. But a second, equally important aspect of this equation is learning to deal with burnout individually. And for that, we should first understand what “burnout” really means.

When we talk about burnout, we’re talking about the feelings of dread and exhaustion that rise up when we’re forced to do demanding, repetitive work. It’s the sense of doing tasks purely out of obligation, no longer believing they have any real impact. And the first step in re-gaining your passion is to re-gain control over your schedule.

Set Boundaries

The first step of assessing burnout is setting boundaries. It’s important both personally and professionally to be able to step away from work communications; for instance, turning off Slack and email past six-o-clock. Sticking to a routine that clearly separates work from life is fundamental to having a good work-life balance. Even if you’re on-call for emergencies, emergency should never mean every night, and if they are, then that’s a conversation you need to have with management.

Build Strong Communication Habits

Fostering good communication with management and the executive team at your workplace is another important aspect of managing burnout. That’s because burnout isn’t all about stress, but also lacking a sense of agency and value in what you do. When you feel you’re doing “meaningless” work, or don’t have control over your own schedule, burnout is far more intense. Prioritizing valuable work and setting firm boundaries on your own schedule is often a necessary step in managing burnout.

Break your Routines

More than boundaries, you’ll also want to start breaking your routines. While routines can provide a comforting sense of normalcy in our lives, they can also become trapping. If you notice you’re performing the same tasks in the same way over and over again, then it’s time to find something new. Maybe it’s as simple as switching up your morning routine, maybe it’s taking a new route around town, or maybe it’s shifting into a new aspect of your department’s operations.

Discover Personal Stress Management Solutions

Finally, there’s the most traditional (but still very important!) part of dealing with burnout – personal stress management. Exercise and meditation are the two most common methods, but it’s important to find what works for you; whether it’s walking your dog, paddling down canoe trails, or simply taking five dedicated minutes to focus. By understanding your stress and mentally moving on, you can take control back from your emotions.

Properly managing burnout requires breaking negative feedback loops, getting excited about work, and learning to manage stress. While that’ll require a lot of personal initiative, there are some tools that can help manage burnout stress.

One area you can cut down on stressful micromanagement is with PerkSpot’s single stop benefits platform, which offers countless diverse benefits for your diverse employees. With a suite of discounts at their fingertips, PerkSpot provides employees with the resources they need to cope with stress and burnout – whether it’s deals on ergonomic office chairs and gym memberships or complete getaway vacations to exotic destinations at a discount, schedule a demo today to learn more about the ways that PerkSpot can be a powerful burnout-burning resource for your organization this World Health Day.

Provide All Things Travel Affordably in One Place

Courtney Shipshock March 11, 2022

For many of us, travel is a part of our everyday life. Whether it be a planned vacation, a business trip, or a journey to see family, traveling isn’t going anywhere. The dreadful part of traveling? The expenses. With employees showing an increased interest in alternative benefits, offer an option that goes the extra mile, providing all things travel affordably in one place.

Why Travel Is Import For Employees

Boosts Productivity

Time spent away from an employee’s normal working environment boosts productivity and morale, equips employees with management skills, benefits the job market, and is good for overall health.

Company Loyalty Improves

Retention is an ongoing concern amongst businesses. Travel allows employees to take the needed time to rest, visit their loved ones, and return less stressed. Studies have shown that when employees return from holidays, they are happier for weeks afterward. Maintaining a happy workforce will help maintain employees long term.

Improves Health

Traveling has been shown to improve health, both mentally and physically. According to Forbes, taking vacations can lower men’s risk of death by 21 percent and mortality from cardiovascular disease by 32 percent. Not only that, but travel has been linked to stress reduction and can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Offer Employees Savings On The Necessities

We’ve covered why travel is important, but what’s next? As we know, a lot can go into planning a successful journey. Packing luggage, buying airfare, confirming reservations, and securing rental vehicles are just a few of the necessary boxes that need to be checked prior to departure. With a discount program, you can offer your employees savings on all of the necessities in one, easily accessible portal.

Meet PerkSpot’s Travel Discount Center

One of the unique benefits that is part of partnering with PerkSpot is access to the Travel Discount Center. Within the portal, employees can search destinations and access exclusive savings on hotels, flights, rental cars, and cruises worldwide. In addition to transportation and lodging, PerkSpot provides your employees with steep savings on luggage, entertainment, restaurants and more.

Traveling has a variety of benefits but comes with a cost. Help your employees affordably travel with ease with an employee discount program. Interested in learning more about the value these programs provide? Check out our e-book and get in touch with us!

Cost-Free Ways to Support Working Parents

Amy Ridder February 5, 2021

In 2019, it was reported that about 41 percent of workers between the ages of 20 and 54 have a child at home. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, that number becomes even more important. It also reflects the number of workers who are juggling work, child care, remote learning, and more. Whether they’re remote, contracted, or essential employees, offering support to the working parents in your organization is incredibly important. The degrees of support you can offer working parents will vary from company to company. It depends on several different factors, including how many parents you employ, what your budget is, and more. However, there are still several options you can provide working parents that fit your budget—keep reading to learn more!

Assess Gaps in Support

To figure out where your organization can start offering better support to working parents, you need to first understand what kind of support you are—and aren’t—offering now. Look for gaps in your company culture, ongoing business processes, and benefits that make it more difficult for working parents to find success in their roles. Additionally, it’s important to understand what type of support your employees are actually looking for. From there, you can more accurately address the needs of your working parent employees.

Offer Flexibility

As a human resources professional, you know the difficulty of searching for, securing, and managing benefits that meet your diverse workforce’s needs. But that shouldn’t get in the way of offering support to the working parents at your organization. Start at the beginning by offering significant flexibility in the aspects of employees’ day-to-day routines.

Work closely with working parents to come up with a schedule that works for them. In addition, try to place less emphasis on the regular “9-5” working day. If your organization relies on strict hours or scheduled time tables, give employees the opportunity to edit their scheduling preferences based on their child-care needs. Above all, remember that an attitude of compassion and empathy is absolutely vital—working parents are juggling two full-time jobs as they care for their children and fulfill their professional obligations. They’ll appreciate your efforts to meet them where they are by providing flexible support.

Promote Vacation Usage

The pandemic seriously impacted the way employees took their vacation days in 2020. In fact, according to a recent survey, 92 percent of Americans said they canceled, postponed, or didn’t book a vacation due to the pandemic. As a result, many employees’ vacation days were left unused. We know that historically, taking breaks from work, whether it was for a mental health day, a vacation, or a stay-cation, was momentously helpful for an employees’ work-life balance and wellness.

While travel isn’t as much of an option these days, it’s still important to encourage and promote the usage of vacation time in your organization. Why? We know it provides a much-needed break. But in addition, it can give working parents the opportunity to spend time with their families and mentally recharge with some of their favorite self-care activities. How can you do this? Send out regular reminders for employees about how many vacation days they have remaining. Teach managers how to notice the signs of an employee, especially a working parent, who looks and feels stressed or burnt out. Take the lead yourself by using your own vacation time. Then, share with coworkers how you were able to relax and recharge during your break!

Encourage Family-Friendly Culture Events and Support Systems

For many working parents, it can feel uncomfortable to bring up their children during working hours. Combat this discomfort by creating an environment that allows working parents to feel comfortable and even encouraged to share about their life outside of work. Is your organization one that often holds company events (including remote ones, given the pandemic)? Brainstorm options that are family-friendly and fun for all ages to participate in. Take PerkSpot, for example. Our holiday celebrations included a magician who performed over Zoom, and parents were encouraged to invite their children to join. If your company relies on virtual communication tools, consider creating a channel or forum where working parents can discuss ideas for remote learning, funny stories, and ways to keep children engaged during working hours.

Offer Financial Aid on Child Care and Children’s Products

Even before the pandemic, a significant portion of working parents’ income went to child-care costs. In fact, the average American couple spends 25.6 percent of their net income on child care alone. These days, financial stress is at an all-time high. It’s important to consider what your organization can do via additional benefits that would provide support for working parents. Discover the cost-free PerkSpot solution—offer your employees exclusive discounts on more than 30,000 products and services. This includes child care from the nation’s top providers, children’s toys, food, clothes, and other important baby gear.

Both working parents and your organization as a whole will benefit from providing the type of aid we’ve listed above. Offering child-care support alone can decrease job turnover by more than 60 percent! Plus, it can inspire improved job satisfaction and loyalty, not to mention a more productive workforce. Give the working parents at your organization the help they need, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. If you’re interested in offering exclusive discounts to working parents and your entire workforce, get in touch!

What Perks Do Your Employees Want Right Now?

Amy Ridder September 11, 2020

What we believed to be a short stint of remote working before returning to the office stretched out over several months and may be extended into Q4 and beyond. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies made small adjustments to their benefits to help support their employees. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that bigger, more permanent changes will have to be made to account for the changes we’ve seen taking place in the offices and organizations across the country.

As the budgeting season draws nearer, it’s important that you’re taking a look at how you’re allocating funds towards employee benefits and how you can continue to do so, taking into account their changing wants and needs. Check out some of the voluntary benefits that are likely to become the most sought after perks for employees.

Childcare

For the parents in your office, a perk related to childcare might be the best thing you could offer. But even prior to the pandemic, childcare was not a commonly provided benefit for employees in need. In 2018, only two percent of employers offered some sort of assistance for the cost of childcare. Now, as employees scramble to remain productive while dealing with their children’s’ care and for some, children’s at-home learning, some kind of support is desperately needed. Consider your budget to determine what type of support you can offer. At the very least, a more flexible schedule for employees can allow them to juggle work and childcare. But if you have the room in your budget, options like partially or fully offsite subsidized childcare, onsite childcare, or back-up care providers are all fantastic ways to support your employees and their families during this difficult time.

Physical and Mental Health and Wellness

We have all dealt with the difficult impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways. For many, the pandemic and its resulting quarantine have been incredibly hard to handle, putting a strain on the mental and physical health and wellness of thousands—including your employees. In recent years, wellness benefits were a popular offering for employees. Now more than ever, it’s important to show you value your employees and empathize with their hardships. How can you do this, given the restraints of a tight budget? Look into various options for providing some kind of wellness benefit. Options like at-home fitness subscriptions, mental health apps, and licensed tele-therapists are all growing in popularity for employers who want to support their employees’ physical and mental wellbeing.

Technological Support

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 7 million people were already working remotely. While reports covering the full number of employees who have moved to part- or full-time remote working due to the coronavirus haven’t been conducted yet, we can only assume that number is significant. If you’re one of the thousands of companies who have moved to some type of work-from-home situation, it’s important to consider how you’re supporting your employees experiencing this sudden change—not only intangible but also tangible support.

This means things that can increase productivity and make a work-from-home set up more feasible. For example, what kind of technology are your employees outfitted with at home? Do they have a quiet space that encourages them to focus? Is their internet connection strong enough to support the amount of work they’re doing each day? If you’re unsure, one of the best ways to find these details out is through a quick, online survey that your employees can fill out, explaining their needs and how their current working environment helps or hinders them. If you don’t have the capability to outright purchase and lend office supplies and technology to employees, consider offering them a small stipend or discounts for what they need.

Recognition

No matter the budget you’re working with, recognizing your employees is a must. At its core, recognition helps reward those who perform above and beyond what is expected of them. It helps promote your company’s values and creates a culture of appreciation throughout your workplace. But beyond that, recognition doesn’t just exist to reward the highest performing employees. It also works as a tool for communication and compassion. Not to mention, end-of-year bonuses won’t provide the immediate financial support employees need right now, while real-time recognition can. It can produce stronger confidence and higher productivity in an employee’s work, and tying your recognition to a monetary reward is a great way to help those employees dealing with financial stress and instability.

How Can You Offer All These Perks With Your Budget in Mind?

So, you understand the perks your employees want. But you may be asking yourself, how can I possibly manage to fit all of this, plus other unmentioned perks like much-needed financial assistance or fun, healthy snacks like they used to get in the office, into a budget that’s already been tightened thanks to COVID-19? PerkSpot might be the solution you’re looking for.

As an employee discount and recognition program, PerkSpot is a cost-free and effective way to help your employees save money right now, when it really matters most. We offer thousands of discounts in more than 25 categories, allowing employees to save on small purchases, like groceries, meal-delivery, and home entertainment, as well as big-ticket buys, like automobiles, home services, and more. Best of all, as a cost-free program, PerkSpot works with any type of budget. When you sit down to adjust your benefits and determine what portion of your budget should be directed towards new and existing perks and benefits, be sure to keep PerkSpot in mind.

How to Offer Child Care Benefits to Your Employees

Amy Ridder February 13, 2020

In 2018, 71.5 percent of women with a child or children were either looking for work or currently employed. That number goes up to 93.9 percent for fathers with a child or children. Those numbers translate to an incredibly large amount of employees who are juggling the responsibilities of both work and parenting. One of those responsibilities? The high cost of child care. The average American couple spends 25.6 percent of their net income on child care. For a single-parent household, that number more than doubles.

Still wondering whether you should give your employees with a child or children a hand with affordable child care? Here are four reasons why child-care benefits are imperative for your company to offer!

Why You Should Offer Child Care Benefits

Improve Recruitment Efforts

Are you a human resources professional, a recruiter, or simply a manager trying to fill a role on your team? Then you probably know about the difficulty of finding great talent in today’s workforce. With unemployment at uncommonly low rates, the search for the right candidate is growing increasingly competitive. So, how can your company stay in the mix? Offer child-care benefits. A recent report by SHRM found that only 2 percent of American organizations help their employees pay for their child-care costs. Separate yourself from the competition that is hoping to recruit the high-talent candidates you have your eye on by providing them with a meaningful benefit like child care.

Support Your Female Employees

According to a report on motherhood in America, in 2017 there were 25.1 million mothers in today’s workplace. But after having a child, one in every three women chose not to return to work. That means a significant loss in your company’s gender diversity, especially as you look to more senior and executive roles. Yet, we’ve long understood the importance of having women in leadership: a Morgan Stanley report found that it can translate to increased productivity, greater innovation, better products, better decision-making, and higher employee retention and satisfaction. All of that simply means that your bottom line improves when you have gender diversity, especially in leadership. While the modern family dynamic, like two employed parents or a stay-at-home father, is growing in popularity, women are still more likely than their male counterparts to stop working so they can assist with child care. Support them by offering another route for child care that doesn’t lead to them leaving their careers if they don’t voluntarily choose to do so.

Prepare for Millennial Parents

The average age of motherhood is increasing and parents are choosing to delay having children. That means the percentage of Millennial parents, which sat at 48 percent in 2016, will likely increase exponentially in years to come. Even if your current workforce doesn’t consist of multiple parents, that doesn’t mean it won’t. It also doesn’t mean that parenthood isn’t top of mind for many of them. Millennials are aware of their futures and are ready to begin planning for parenthood if they aren’t already doing so. Show them you have an investment in their future, and you want to be an integral part of it! How can you do so? By providing a child-care benefit that they can use in the future.

So, how can you offer child-care benefits without breaking the bank?

According to two separate reports issued by the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce, research shows that when companies provide support for child care, employee absences decrease, job satisfaction increases, and job turnover declines by as much as 60 percent. Clearly, child-care benefits are not only beneficial to the employee, but the employer.

But we understand the difficulty in creating and implementing a child-care benefit program that parents want and your budget can afford. That’s why PerkSpot has added exclusive child-care discounts to the thousands of discounts already offered on our Discount Portal! We know that as new parents return to work and expecting parents begin to prepare, not just child care, but support by their workplace, are at the top of the list of things they look for in an employer. With discounts to top, nationwide child-care providers, you can give discounted tuition for your employees’ children, plus discounts on things like toys, clothes, and other important baby gear.

To learn more about how you can offer exclusive discounts on child care and other categories, click here.

Help Your Employees Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions

Amy Ridder January 8, 2020

After the ball has dropped and the confetti has fallen, it’s time to look forward to 2020. More importantly, it’s time to think about New Year’s resolutions. After all, the start of the year is a great chance to set fresh goals. But studies show that over seventy-five percent of people end up breaking their resolutions after only 30 days! Keep reading to learn how you can make your employees’ resolutions a bit more achievable.

Why Are Employees’ Resolutions Important to You?

But first, you may be wondering why your employees’ resolutions are of any importance to you. If they’re hoping to eat healthier or travel more, why should you worry about whether they actually accomplish it? It doesn’t matter if your employees choose to target personal or professional development in their goals – you’ll be impacted.

A healthier employee is also a more productive, engaged, and committed employee. Furthermore, accomplishing a resolution can give someone a real boost of confidence, which carries over into their work and demeanor. Plus, many of the popular resolutions are based on improving one’s health. You can guarantee that an employee who accomplishes a goal like improving their diet or exercising more often will actually end up costing you less as a company in terms of sick days, better performance, and lower insurance costs. Encouraging and helping an employee will benefit both the company and the employee in the long run! So give your employees an extra hand and help them beat the New Year’s resolution statistics with these easy tips.

4 Ways to Help Your Employees Accomplish Their Resolutions

Create a Clear Goal-Setting Process

To actually achieve a goal, it’s important that employees understand exactly how they plan on doing so. Help your employees model their resolutions after similar goals you’ve already helped them set in the workplace. For example, most professional goals follow the SMART goal setting concept, meaning they’re Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. When you apply those qualities to a goal, it’s much more digestible and therefore, more achievable. If you create a resolution, that’s broad or incredibly difficult to achieve, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Encourage employees to break down resolutions by time periods, specific measurements, or steps, which will help keep them on track longer, plus it will give them small senses of accomplishment, so they can see results and keep working hard. Email your employees a template that lists out the SMART goal characteristics so they can fill it in themselves, or take it one step further and host a lunch and learn to refresh them on setting SMART goals.

Emphasize a Social Atmosphere

Studies have shown that announcing your goals and receiving positive affirmation and encouragement can trick your brain into already feeling accomplished, thus making you less motivated to work on them. But instead of simply telling your employees to divulge their resolutions to their coworkers or managers, you should work to create a community that offers support and togetherness within your workplace. There’s a good chance that many of your employees will have similar resolutions, both professional and personal, and sharing them with one another can help hold employees accountable and give them fellow coworkers with whom they can share their failures and successes and get tips and tricks for how to stay on track.

For example, consider starting a book club for those hoping to read more often, weekly workout group for the employees who want to hit the gym, or a recipe sharing group for those trying to eat healthier. Plan and encourage employees to participate in office outings to drum up more socialization. Even small things like creating a space in your office where employees can take short breaks and chat together over healthy, office-provided snacks like fruit will help them stick to their resolutions and share them with coworkers! Having someone go at it with you makes your resolutions a million times easier to accomplish.

Bring in the Experts

It’s likely that you’re not a definitive expert on something like fitness, financial wellness, and other popular resolution topics. But fortunately, the experts are out there! The best thing you can do for your employees is to find them and bring them in, so they can share their secrets on the best ways for employees to accomplish their goals. A benefit like this is sure to excite employees who are hoping to keep their resolutions intact, especially if they’re starting to lose their enthusiasm or drive, as it will offer a fresh perspective and give them new motivation to keep going forward.

Give your employees the chance to meet one-on-one or ask questions afterward so they can get tailored advice.

Give Employees a Financial Hand

Some of the most common resolutions include things like “Eat healthier,” “Go to the gym more,” “Travel more,” “Learn a new language,” and “Pick up a new hobby.” While those are all very commendable resolutions to achieve, they have one thing in common. They can tend to have major cost implications. If an employee is hoping to go to the gym more, that will most likely entail a gym membership. Plus, items like apparel and equipment could eventually be needed. If an employee wants to visit new places in 2020, they’ll need to pay for transportation, accommodation, and day-to-day costs. Unfortunately, costs end up playing an important role for many in achieving their resolutions. And even if your company is in the position to offer, for example, a discounted gym membership, you’re still failing to include the employees whose resolutions have nothing to do with that.

That’s why a free perks and discounts benefit might be what you’re looking for. Not only can you offer a discounted gym membership, but you can also offer discounts on travel, food, and more. With a benefit like PerkSpot, you’re not taking any money out of your own company’s pocket. Better yet, you’re still managing to put money back into your employees’ pockets!

There’s a reason that more than seventy-five percent of people who set a New Year’s resolutions eventually give up. They’re hard! Dedicating an entire year to improving yourself can feel like a frightening endeavor to begin, but you can make it that much easier for employees by making your workplace more resolution-friendly. Urge employees to come up with a plan for how they want to achieve their goals, bond over their resolutions, learn from the experts, and give them an extra push in the right direction with a perks and discounts benefit that will help them save on the products and services they need to succeed!

How to Improve Employee Wellness This Winter

Amy Ridder November 7, 2019

We set our clocks back over the weekend, which means the days are shorter, the air feels colder (for most people), and for some, it can be hard to keep both their physical and mental wellness in check.

While employee wellness should be an important subject to keep in mind all year long, there is no time more crucial than the winter. In fact, December and January are two of the three most popular months for employees to call in sick, according to a study by CareerBuilder. Of course, employee health is the top concern when it comes to this problem, but it can also affect other areas of your business. Poor productivity, heightened absenteeism, and a decrease in overall performance are all connected to a dip in employee wellness. Learn how to keep the physical and mental health of your employees a priority during the winter!

Sponsor an Employee Flu Clinic

Do you hear an increase in sniffling or coughing throughout the office? Even though winter hasn’t actually arrived, flu season is already upon us. According to CNBC, its peak hits between December and February. Get ahead of it by offering your employees a flu clinic – the sooner the better! For optimal employee participation, choose a day when most of your employees are in the office or, if your employees are part-time, offer the clinic over the course of a couple of days so they can take advantage of the perk!

Provide Healthy Office Snacks

One of the most popular resolutions people set for themselves each year is to have a healthier diet, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until January to encourage your employees to eat a bit healthier. In fact, most offices will probably notice an uptick in unhealthy eating as the holidays near, what with leftovers and snacks being passed around. Help your employees get a jump start on their resolutions (and improve their wellness!) by offering nutritious, well-balanced snacks. This can range from simply leaving fruit out to finding a service that caters the snacks to your office! Want an insider tip? Check with your company’s insurance provider. Some will actually offer a discount to your company for providing those healthy snacks.

Start the Mental Health Talk

Physical health isn’t the only part of wellness you should address in your company. Over 3 million people a year are impacted by Seasonal Affective Disorder, some to the point of major depression. Mental health is an incredibly important topic, and it’s vital that you address it as such within your company. Make a point to have open, honest conversations with those who want to participate about what they’re going through. Emphasize the fact that you’re happy to talk privately with anyone who may need to do so. If this problem personally affects you, make sure you keep your health a priority, adjust your goals, and set realistic expectations for your work!

Offer Wellness Discounts

This winter, give your employees’ physical, mental and financial wellness a boost. As winter rolls in, your employees might feel tempted to skip their normal workout, or even cancel their gym memberships due to high costs. A perks and discounts program can help combat this issue. You can offer employees exclusive deals on things like gym memberships and workout equipment! Encourage your employees to utilize their discounts to save money while they focus on their wellness by communicating the program throughout your company. If you’re interested in implementing this program into your benefit suite, click click here !

Winter can be hard on your employees, and it’s easy for their wellness to fall to the wayside. Not only can these tips help improve your employees’ mental and physical health, but they can also improve the overall productivity and performance of your company. It’s a win-win for everyone!

The Data Behind Why an Employee Perks and Discounts Program Works

Amy Ridder September 11, 2019

As an HR professional, there are several areas that are always top of mind. Talent attraction, retention, turnover, employee engagement, and productivity, just to name a few. A perks and discounts program has the potential to improve those areas, and we’ve got the data to prove it. Check out these 5 statistics that prove the ROI on an employee discount program.

Seventy-eight percent of surveyed employees said the employee benefits package is very or extremely important in their decision to accept or reject a job. (EBRI)

The job market has turned so that employers must compete for the best talent they can find for open roles. So, what does this have to do with employee perks and discounts? Quite a bit, actually! When you’re competing for great candidates, it’s important to know what they’re looking for. And it turns out, more than three-quarters of candidates want to see a developed employee benefits package that’s more than your typical run-of-the-mill, traditional benefits. Do this by beefing up your benefits offering with a voluntary benefit like an employee perks and discounts program, and you can use it as an added bonus that comes with any role your company offers!

Eighty-five percent of employees felt their benefits package failed to provide the support and flexibility required to meet current and financial obligations. (Barclay’s)

Consider your current employee benefits package. How does it help support the financial wellness of your employees? If you don’t feel great about your answer, that’s probably because your benefits package doesn’t offer the right options. And unfortunately, it’s not just your employees that are being affected by this. When an employee brings stress over their financial situation into the workplace, it hurts productivity, engagement, and your bottom line. Worrying about finances at work can cost an employer approximately $2,000 per employee. By investing in a free employee perks and discounts program, you can show support for your employees’ financial wellness and help out your bottom line in the meantime.

Ninety-four percent of millennials and 92% of Gen X’ers say nontraditional benefits make employers more attractive. (ICIMS)

Gen X’ers and millennials currently make up the two largest generations in the labor force, so HR professionals should be doubling down on their efforts to attract and retain those candidates. But attracting candidates who are in two dramatically different stages of life is difficult. Whether your employee needs assistance financing their mortgage, helping out an older family member, or saving on a gym membership, they’ll have those options available to them. An employee perks and discounts program makes it possible to provide an attractive benefit that people of all ages, incomes, and career stages can enjoy.

Productivity losses related to personal and family health problems cost US employers $1,685 per employee per year, or $225.8 billion annually. (CDC Foundation)

Perks and discount programs and employee health and wellness might not seem to be very connected. However, there are more connections than you may think. We know how important the health and wellness of an employee is, both to employees themselves and to the company they work for. So important, in fact, that health and wellness initiatives have been on the rise in the past couple of years. Companies are working hard to put an emphasis on the overall wellbeing of their employees. Finding a perks and discounts program (like PerkSpot!) that offers discounts on gym memberships, healthy snacks, and more allows a company to essentially kill two birds with one stone: you can offer a unique benefit and make it easier for your employees to live a healthy lifestyle!

Seventy-three percent of employees say that customized benefits increase their loyalty. (MetLife)

Every HR professional knows that a loyal employee is an employee they want in their workforce. With concerns like retention and turnover being so high, loyalty in an employee is a quality that can’t be beat. What’s more, a disloyal employee can end up costing a company more than you’d think. To replace an employee, a company usually must expend an average of thirty-three percent of that employee’s salary. Instead of focusing on how to replace the employees you’ve lost, work on retaining the ones you currently have! Incorporate an employee perks and discounts program into your voluntary benefits and improve the loyalty of your employees.

These statistics clearly show the benefits of an employee perks and discounts program. If you’re interested in learning more about how an employee discount program could work for your company, click here!