HR: Attracting A Great Team!
At the beginning of the year, Fortune Magazine released their list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The list is based mainly on employee surveys/feedback and highlights why employees think their company “is so great”.
The top 5 companies listed are:
- SAS
- Boston Consulting Group
- Wegman’s Food Market
- Google
- NetApp
The complete listing can be found at: http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/20/news/companies/best_companies_to_work_for_2011.fortune/
What do these companies have in common? In addition to offering generous pay, employees also receive generous benefit packages. In today’s workplace, offering competitive benefits is key in attracting and retaining a great team. A comprehensive benefit plan designed around your workforce not only attracts the “right” employees for your company, but can also help you keep these employees for the long term.
There are some basic benefits that most employees expect to receive in the workplace today. These benefits include: Vacation Time, Personal Time, Sick Time, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance and Retirement Benefits.
There’s no denying that for many small businesses the cost of providing some of these benefits may be beyond their reach. The good news is there are some low cost ways to help attract and retain employees. Perks such as free flu shots, health screenings, paid time off for birthdays, no charge vending machines, discounted prices on company services and products, tickets to sporting events, breakfast on Fridays and quarterly parties are all non traditional ways to show your employees you appreciate them.
As the Fortune Magazine article shows, the best rated companies not only offer great benefit packages, but many also offer creative, non traditional perks as well.