Ideas for attracting and engaging employees

Are you tired of hearing about work life balance?  Maybe your company even went outside of its comfort zone to offer flexible hours to a potential employee, and they still rejected the employment offer!  Is this new generation of employees spoiled or are they just a pain in the butt?

 Maybe neither. It is not just the young generation that expects things their way. Good employees who grew up in the “pay your dues’ era also want to be able to maximize their business life. The bottom line is, if you want the best talent on your team, you might need to show some more flexibility.

I will not speak about work from home policy in this particular blog.  I have discussed that subject at nausea so there is no need to hammer that drum today. 

So..

Today I will provide you with some other ideas on how you can address those work/life balance requirements that employees are seeking.  These are some options that have proven to be successful for many companies.

1.  Re-allocate the 40-hour work week.  Instead of 5 days of 8 hours, you can offer 4 days of 10 hours.  This can often work well for younger employees who don’t have families and are not required to be home for children’s activities.  There have also been studies that show the quality and effectiveness of this layout is better for companies because many employees are only physically present (not mentally present) in the office on a Friday afternoon if they are there at all.

2.  Day care on site and day care on site at a discounted rate has also proved to be effective.  It can help drive efficiency because it curtails the mass rush of people dropping everything late afternoon so that they can commute to their kids’ day care centre before it closes at 6p.m.  This arrangement also allows for less commuting time and can also provide some extra one on one time with your kids during your day.

3.  Companies can present family vacation packages to high performing employees.  This offering has a very high emotional value and creates positive imagery for a corporate brand.  This offering also allows for spouses to become more engaged and more supportive of the company that employs their partner.  This initiative will allow companies to provide enjoyment to the entire family that usually outweighs the monetary cost.  Companies can often purchase group travel packages for very reasonable rates. A watered down version of this initiative would be subsidized packages or packages that are offered at a meaningful corporate discount to employees.

4.  Offering employees the opportunity to schedule their own flex time can be very effective where employees place requests for their work schedule.  If multiple people ask for the same shifts, a rotating schedule can be used.  This system works even better when employees are allowed to manage the schedule themselves.  They feel more valued and trusted, team collaboration and team building occurs and the company also reaffirms that they do not believe in employee favouritism.

5.  Providing work anniversaries as a day off for employees also shows that the company appreciates the employee’s contribution.  Companies sometimes dovetail that with an announcement in the company newsletter or they can add a stripe for every year worked to that employee’s coffee mug.

6. Allowing employees to take longer lunches also works well at engaging employees as long as the missed time can be made up elsewhere for the employer.  This allows employees to run errands or attend to appointments during the day.  It seems now that all aspects of life revolve around saving time and managing traffic flow patterns, so if going to a Shoppers Drug Mart at 1p.m on a Tuesday will allow an employee to save even more time later that day, the company is providing convenience to the employee.    

7.  Even a corporate rate with a local dry cleaner has proved to be an effective offering to increase employee retention.  Sometimes it is the little things that make a difference when it comes to offering more everyday convenience.

8.  Encouraging employees to NOT check their work email after business hours has also proved to be successful.  This can improve the corporate image and the bond that an employee has with their company and it also can relieve tension and anxiety.  The added bonus being that the employee is fresher and even more engaged in their work when they do return during business hours. 

 Good luck with these suggestions.

Farewell,

Mike