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How to attract employees on a budget with affordable perks

Business

3 min read

How to attract employees on a budget with affordable perks It can be a real struggle competing with the big guns, let’s face it some of the multimillion corporate companies have some pretty amazing perks so it can be scary when trying to attract new employees on a small budget. Fear not, our business experts have put together a list of 8 of our best affordable or FREE perk ideas that will make any business attractive.  

Free Food

You’d be surprised just how many of us skip breakfast in the morning, we shouldn’t because it’s the most important meal of the day. Keep staff energy levels high and offer them free breakfast. We’re not saying take everyone to the café, think bread, jam, cereal, milk, tea & coffee, juice, water, biscuits & cakes, fruit & veg, croissants, hummus & breadsticks! These are all affordable, lay these out in a fresh buffet style daily to make staff feel appreciated.

 

Gym Memberships or Wellness Membership

When we feel good about ourselves we perform better in all aspects of our lives. Keep staff feeling good and offer free gym or wellness memberships. With packages starting from as little as £20 per employee its hardly going to break the bank.

 

Job Title

For many startups, teams are often small so think outside of the box when giving staff job titles or let them be creative and give themselves their own title. Job titles go a long way when trying to move up the ladder so often it’s really important to people to get the right title, so allowing them to name themselves is an attractive perk. As long as it reflects the work they do!

 

Relaxed dress code

Not everyone wants to go to work suited and booted all day. If employees are not customer faced, then why should they have too? Offering a relaxed dress code doesn’t cost you anything!  

Flexible working

Flexible working is probably the most sought-after perk, yet businesses are reluctant to offer it. No one is saying your staff have to work from home 5 days a week but the flexibility to work from home 1-2 days a week or even sporadically because of unforeseen circumstances will win over anyone!  

Team networking

Nothing lifts morale more than a good gossip, food and drink. One Friday a month call it a day an hour early and order in some pizza and a few beers and bottles of wine. Encourage staff to get to know each other and let down their professional guards. This is affordable and fun for all!  

Chill out area

Who could ever say no to a games room or area if space is a problem! A one-off investment of a games console, table tennis or pool table for staff to utilize during their breaks would be a hell of a perk. Have a comfy sofa for staff to relax on and take 5 minutes to de-stress away from their desk, I’m sure they’ll be over the moon!

 

Idea bounty

Offer staff incentive with an idea bounty. Maybe once a month or once a quarter ask staff to put forward ideas about how you could improve the business or improve existing projects. The best idea gets a special perk. Maybe a leave work early week or a sleep-in week (minus 1 hour from their usual working day i.e. 9 – 4 or 10 – 5)