Offering employees benefits brings advantages for both workers and employers. Here's why staff perks are so important.

Recruit and retain the best staff

If you're looking to recruit top candidates for a role, offering relevant employee benefits can make your job vacancy more attractive compared to the competition. A study by EBRI found that 78% of job candidates would base their decision on whether to take a job or not according to the benefits offered. Indeed, staff perks are often favoured over and above an increase in salary for many workers.

In a climate where recruiting staff is difficult, such as in the hospitality industry, offering staff benefits can make it much easier to fill stubborn vacancies.
Once you've recruited staff, offering them perks also helps to keep them in the role. It provides them with an incentive to stay put and may help to improve their morale, positivity, motivation and job satisfaction. This has a knock-on effect for employers - business profits can increase when staff feel happy in their jobs, and increased staff retention reduces the costs associated with having to recruit new workers if they left for a better role.

Improved wellbeing

When staff are offered benefits that focus on aspects such as flexible working hours to foster a better work-life balance or gym memberships, cycle to work schemes or massages, this can improve their physical and mental wellbeing. This means fewer days off sick, which ensures your business can run smoothly. In particular, companies operating in the hospitality sector are heavily reliant on good customer service, so having a full complement of staff who are happy, well and productive gives a good impression of your brand.

Relevant to each staff member

Employees will get the most out of staff incentives if they are relevant, or have meaning, to them specifically. A business owner should seek to find out what kinds of incentives each person would benefit from most, according to their individual circumstances and preferences.

For instance, while one employee may favour discounts for a gym membership another might prefer the option to work from home to avoid a long and stressful commute. Indeed, customising benefits to each individual increases loyalty for 72% of staff, according to research conducted by Glassdoor. It also means that businesses get the best outcomes from the money they spend on staff incentives.

If you're looking to attract and retain the best staff, our hospitality recruitment experts can assist with all of your requirements.