What are the most valuable employee perks for 2017? Good question – it’s important for employers to stay competitive with benefits trends to retain current employees and attract new hires. According to a recent Glassdoor survey, benefits and perks are important to job seekers: 57% count them among their top considerations before taking a new job.
Every year, Glassdoor runs a survey polling employees about their favorite benefits. Their Top 20 Employee Benefit Perks for 2017 show that the classics are still popular – health insurance, vacation time, sick days and pension plans are all popular. But as you scan the firms cited, you see some less predictable and creative perks that extra something to wow current and prospective employees.
We were interested to see that wellness perks were specifically cited by employees for some organizations:
- Event technology firm Eventbrite: “…helps keep employees healthy by offering a monthly $60 wellness stipend, which can be used on everything from gym dues to juice cleanses.”
- Health care system Scripps Health: “Good benefits, especially the Wellness program, which if all requirements are met, the employee’s benefits are at no-cost for the next year.”
- Athletic footwear and apparel company Reebok “encourages employees to reach their personal fitness goals by providing an on-site gym with Crossfit classes.”
- Software giant Microsoft: “… the Stay Fit options were good (could go to a gym or get $800 to spend on fitness related activities/equipment or other things.”
If you are looking for ways to bolster your benefits to be more competitive, wellness perks offer many creative possibilities. It’s important to note that when people talk about wellness programs, there is wide variation encompassed in the term: there’s no one defined program, no parameters about what is or isn’t included. Some benefits are as simple, such as discounted gym memberships, some programs offer incentives to help participating employees reduce the cost of health care insurance, and some are comprehensive corporate initiatives with many components.
As an idea bank for your organization’s wellness perks, here’s a roundup of some corporate benefit programs that have been cited for excellence or creativity.
7 companies with amazingly unique wellness programs This roundup profiles programs at FitBit, Houston Methodist, Google, Motley Fool, Earth Friendly Products, Zappos and Draper.
BenefitsPro has tracked wellness benefits over the last few years and offers series on wellness perks and ideas that you may want to steal. In 2015, they cite seven perks from FitBit to “wellness pantries” and in 2016, they site 6 more perks, from Nap Pods to catered meals.
Employee Wellness Programs: A Look at Some of the Best and Most Creative offers a sample of ideas employed by both large and small companies.
Also, see our prior post for more ideas: