Health (Photo credit: 401K)

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Kyle Lagunas discussing creative ways to offer benefits for employees in the workplace. It is a timely post as coming up later in the week we continue with the next component of Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model – incentives. After reading this post, I think you’ll discover that benefits are more than health insurance and 401k’s. You can add unique offerings that provide an incentive for employees to perform at their best at little or no cost to you. Enjoy.

The lines between work and personal lives are blurring for many employees. They’re seeking balance between the two, and are finding value in the ability to choose the specific benefits that best meet their needs at this point in their lives. And employers are learning that, when chosen and implemented effectively, benefits can demonstrate leadership’s concern for the well-being of employees, reinforce cultural values, and foster deeper employee engagement.

According to James Berkeley, Director of Berkeley Burke International, however, there’s still a disconnect. “The decisions made regarding what benefits to offer are often based on subjective viewpoints, viewpoints that are far removed from the actual needs of employees.” Rather than assuming you know what your employees want, Berkeley suggests you ask them. Though answers will vary, many people are interested in more benefits in these areas:

• Healthy Living and Wellness Benefits. Susan Combs, President of Combs & Company, “The biggest benefit that employees ask for is gym membership reimbursement.” Wellness programs like WalkingSpree–which creates walking clubs, assigns teams and creates competitions–are another great way to motivate and engage employees to live healthy (thereby reducing your health care costs).
• Flexible Work Options. Telecommuting and other forms of flexible work options make employees healthier and happier.  And as Sara Sutton Fell, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs points out, studies show that, “Employers who offer flexible schedules and alternatives to the traditional nine-to-five not only see higher productivity, but also save on health-related benefits they already offer.” Stanford University conducted a big study that showed that telecommuters were four percent more productive than office workers, working more hours and taking a larger workload.
• Commuting Relief Benefits. More and more are looking for commuting relief benefits from their employers. Incentivize carpooling; use services like Transit Chek so employees can purchase transit tickets with pre-tax dollars; Or promote healthy living and alternative commuting options by installing bike racks at the office.
• Perks You Can Afford. Great perks aren’t just for the guys in Silicon Valley. Many companies–big and small–bring in a massage therapist who offers chair massages to employees. Convenient and relaxing, this perk costs the employer nothing and might just keep employees in the office longer. Others adopt reward programs like BetterWorks where employees are given an allowance to spend on discounted food from local restaurants, dry cleaning, gym memberships and more.

By offering benefits that are actually competitive, an organization can set itself above the competition–and build a strong culture of engagement and motivation. But as Eddie Trieber, CEO of HRI, points out, “Getting there requires the support of leadership–and there are a few common concerns that need addressing.” Leaders are often focused on costs, immediate benefit, and employee utilization. It’s up to you to deliver on these key points.

Address the issues of cost by reminding leadership how little (if anything) creative benefits cost the organization. It might also help to frame benefits in terms of investments–not costs–in new employee acquisition and retention. And educate your employees. Actively promoting offerings in your recruiting strategy. Use open enrollment to re-educate employees. Add FAQs and educational content to the employee self-service portals in your HRMS.

Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at SoftwareAdvice.com—a resource for selecting HR software and more—and reports on trends, technology, and best practices in human resources and recruiting. For further reading, you can find the full article on Kyle’s HR blog.

Resources are those things people use in the workplace (often physical) to help them accomplish tasks and objectives. The right tool for the job is called for to complete specific tasks and reference materials are often needed to look up the necessary information that will aid in performing a task.

Other times, resources can be those things (intangible) that provide guidance for completing a task. These are usually systems or procedures people need to follow to conduct their work.

So, if it is determined that there is a deficiency in resources that is creating a barrier to performance, here are some examples on how to address it:

• Tools – They don’t have to be the latest and greatest, they just have to work and be available when needed. Whether it is computers or hand tools, they need to be functional so people can conduct their job tasks
• Reference materials – Traditional reference materials come in the form of job aids, checklists, or reference manuals. While no one would be expected to learn everything there is to know about a given subject, reference materials aid performance by giving people a source to check their work against to make sure what they are doing meets certain standards and criteria.
• Systems and procedures – These are the steps one would take to complete a routine task. When there is a barrier to performance, systems and procedures should be one of the first things to look at as often times the system or procedure is too complicated or has too many steps. You can address the issue by examining the system or process and find ways to make it more efficient.
• Time – Out of everything in the resources category, time can be the least controllable. We can’t stop it, we can only hope to understand it better. Take a look at how much time impacts overall performance. Is there too much time giving people little sense of urgency or is there not enough time causing people to fall short of their goals?

For the most part, resources can be a controllable element in the Behavior Engineering Model. With what you have in your organization, resources may not be readily available, the latest and greatest, or plentiful, but to be “resourceful” with what you have is the best way to begin improving performance in the workplace.

• Worst co-workers ever – these are some true stories compliments of BNET / CBS News readers. It’s amazing that some people actually behave this way at work. I wonder how much of a disruption they cause to the overall performance of a workplace?
• We started a blog post series on the Gilbert Behavioral Engineering Model. Here, I go through each component of the model and illustrate how it impacts workplace performance. Follow the series right here at PinPoint Performance Solutions where each week we’ll have a new post through March.
• How do you plan to develop your workforce this year. This post outlined 3 steps you can take in employee development for 2012.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow us on our Facebook page and Twitter for news and information about PinPoint Performance Solutions and interesting content we like to share with our followers.

Out of the links we shared in January, what caught your attention the most and why?

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Balance the Workload

Today many businesses are not hiring new workers. The amount of work expected from one individual has grown due to added responsibilities in the workload. If your company has long work hours and growing absences, you should reconsider the amount of hours or projects each employee is assigned. Even if tired employees come to work, their productivity will suffer from the lack of rest. Giving them a break each day and limiting their workday to eight or nine hours will do more good for your business in the long run.  It may pay to hire a part timer to pick up the slack, rather than wear out and de-motivate your good employees. To be perceived as a caring business, you should respect the personal time of your employees and be considerate of their welfare.

Promote Healthy Habits

Your employees’ health will have a considerable impact on the energy they bring to the business. Have fresh fruit available in the break room. Consider contacting a gym nearby, and get a reduced group price on memberships for your employees to take advantage of. Have your company participate in a charitable walk-a-thon twice a year – they get fit, you get the promotion. If you have office luncheons, you can order fresh salads, veggie platters, or sandwich rings versus serving pizza or wings.

Promote Socializing and Friendly Relationships

The most effective way to keep employees coming to work is to make the office environment an enjoyable place. While it is important to keep focused and get work done, your employees should also have small breaks to interact with co-workers. Encourage team building. Use motivational signs and posters around the office to promote this.

It is easier to come to work where there is a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. These relationships will also impact group projects and your workers’ social skills with clients. Managers should take the time to get to know their workers and ask how they are doing. Get in the habit of greeting employees when they arrive, as best you can, depending on the size of the office. When a manager treats employees as individuals, they will feel more inclined to come to work. Recognized employees will feel more responsible because they know their absence will be noticed on a professional as well as personal level.

Summary

Management has the ability to increase and improve attendance with employee recognition and motivation, and simply following the Golden Rule. When a manager shows that he or she is making improvements for their employees, they’ll feel appreciated and motivated to do their best for your company. Growing absences are a sign that your employees, and your business, are not at their fullest potential. If you can help your employees be rested, healthy, and happy, they will help you get the job done.

Michelle Forester represents GNeil.com, tools to manage and motivate people in the workplace.

Related articles

• Cut employee absence and boost wellbeing – top tips (simplybusiness.co.uk)
• How to Reward Your Employees (openforum.com)
• Transform Your Employees into Passionate Advocates (blogs.hbr.org)
• 5 Workplace Strategies to Supercharge Team Productivity (lifehack.org)

Certification

By using online tests as part of training plans, employers are able to offer accreditation to employees who prove their understanding and skill in the areas being taught. Once this accreditation has been achieved, the personal value of the individual is improved. Many businesses are now making use of online certification tests when carrying out skill specific training programs, with the aim of inspiring employees to reach a higher level of performance.

The overall work environment is improved when employees are all challenging themselves to achieve the best results possible. Offering accreditation for their work boosts the individual’s self-worth and confidence in the workplace.

Online Training

With the majority of employees now using computers and the web in the workplace around the world, offering training via this platform makes sense for employers. It’s cost effective as it cuts the requirement for a large volume of printed training documents.

Online training free up resources which can be better placed elsewhere, the primary factor being a manager’s time. Employees can be left to carry out the online tests on their own, with a trainer available to contact if any issues should arise.

New employees also have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the company computer systems and online resources that they’ll use on a daily basis. This can be integrated into the training program, along with more background information about the company itself. It should also be noted that although online training is highly effective, no single method of training can be comprehensive. For example, pair up online training with one on one training sessions involving development of communication skills.

Happy Employees

Employee satisfaction is equivalent to good results and encourages self-improvement in the workplace. With standard training plans it’s possible that some new employees can feel a bit lost, but not reach out to line managers to raise their concerns.

By using online tests, employers can see for themselves where any problems may have arisen and focus on the individual who needs some more explanation or help. These issues can be dealt with on a one to one basis, meaning the employee won’t feel embarrassed or singled out during the training program.

As resources such as time and budgets become increasingly strained in these tough economic times, it’s crucial that employers capitalize on opportunities like the use of online tests.

James Bentham represents The Test Factory, a company that produces online tests to evaluate knowledge, skills, abilities, and workplace performance.

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