Attract and Retain Top Talent. Aspire gives a detailed overview of workplace perks for enhanced employee engagement, retention and creating company culture.

1. Attract and Retain Top Talent:
Understanding Workplace Perks
Lily Cua
MSB ‘11
Co-Founder, COO of Aspire
lily@aspire.is

2. Agenda
• Why perks matter
• The rise of perks in the workplace
• Popular workplace perks
• How to effectively implement a perks program
• Perk pitfalls
• Perk best practices

3. Why perks matter

4. • How many of you offer some sort of perk
at your company?
– Ex: lunches, wellness program, happy hours, speaker
series, etc.
• Why do you offer those perks?
Poll

5. • Happy employees = hefty profits
– In 2014, revenues increased by ~22.2% for the 2014 Fortune 100
Best Companies to Work For
– Companies that appreciate and focus on employee happiness enjoy a
return on equity and assets of more than triple of those that don't
• Employees feel cared for à increased loyalty and a
willingness to go the extra mile
1. Employee Happiness
-Dr. Noelle Nelsen
Author “Make More Money by Making Your Employees Happy”
“When employees feel that the company takes their interest to
heart, then the employee will take the company interests to heart”

6. • Check something off of employees’ “to-do”
list
– Ex: Dry cleaning, hair cut
• Offer convenience services that make
employees’ lives a little easier
– Ex: On-site gym, child care support, catered
lunches
• Take care of the little things for them so they
can focus on their work
2. Productivity Gains

7. 3. Competition
“Culture is important.
But make it your own.”
-Tony Hsieh
CEO, Zappos

8. • Perks are a part of the job evaluation
process
– Glassdoor introduced a new Benefits section
in August 2014
– See intro video by searching for “Glassdoor
Benefits Reviews” on YouTube
• Employees like to talk about their perks to
friends and peers
4. Recruit & Retain Talent

9. • Employee Happiness
• Productivity Gains
• Competition
• Recruit & Retain Talent
Summary: Why Perks Matter

10. The rise of perks in the
workplace

11. • How many of you have introduced a new
kind of perk at your company in the last
year?
• How many of you would have attended
this webinar 10 years ago?
Poll

12. The Rise of Workplace Perks
• Rise of the “Silicon Valley Work
Environment” during dot-com era
• 1997 Fortune and Exame
partnered with Great Places to
Work Institute to produce the
world’s first 100 Best Companies to
Work For workplace rankings
• LinkedIn 2014 Talent Survey
shows that “having a reputation as
a great place to work” is the #1
factor for employees considering a
new job

13. • Everyone else is
doing it
• Small incremental
cost for noticeable
benefit
• Shift from work-life
separation to work-
life integration
Why are perks becoming more of a
workplace norm?
There are companies that
focus on work-life separation
or work-life balance and at
Zappos we really focus on
work-life integration.
At the end of the day it’s just
life…..and especially if you
spend so much time at work
you better enjoy the time that
you’re spending there and
people that you’re with….”
-Tony Hsieh
CEO, Zappos
“

14. Q: How much are companies spending on perks?
– Most companies are NOT tracking this
– At Aspire, we have clients allocate $50 - $200 / person per month
Q: Are perks industry specific?
– Tech, startups: competing with Silicon Valley
– Professional services (consulting, accounting, PR): differentiating
themselves from their competition
– Many industries still driven by salaries (Financial Services, Law)
Q: What about healthcare and other “traditional” benefits?
– Private industry employers spent an average of $31.32 per hour
worked for total employee compensation
– Wages and salaries averaged $21.72 per hour worked (69.4%)
– Benefits averaged $9.60 (30.6%)
Trends in the Workplace

15. Popular workplace perks

16. • If you could have your company sponsor
one perk for you, what would it be?
Poll

17. Most Popular Perks of 2014
1. Game Rooms
2. Good Eats
3. Physical Health
4. Mental Health
5. Time Off
6. Freebies

18. Game Rooms
“
-Jay Graves
CTO Possible Mobile
I like these types of things because they
bring people together who might not
normally interact on a day-to-day basis.
Spending time together, both while
working and ‘off the clock,’ are key to
creating a company’s culture –
especially one that depends largely on
collaborative efforts.
Why Game Rooms?
• Brings staff together
• Builds fun into the
workplace
• Raises creativity levels
• Allows employees to
take a step away from
their desk and recharge

19. Good Eats
Crazy Food Perks
• Unlimited Cereal Bar
(Moz.com)
• Barista Coffee Tasting
(Opower)
• All Meals Every Day
(Facebook)
• On-Site Pub (DropBox)
Common Food
Perks
• Coffee
• Catered Lunches
• Team Breakfasts
• Lunch & Learns
• Fruit & Snacks Pantry
• Beer & Wine

20. Physical Health
83%
Companies offer
wellness program
incentives to
their employees
$3.27
Medical cost
savings for every
dollar spent on
wellness
programs
“Aside from savings on health care costs, wellness programs were
likely to result in lower replacement costs for absent workers and
were an advantage in attracting workers to the firm.”
$2.73
Drop in absentee
day costs for
every dollar
spent on wellness
program
-Stephen Miller
SHRM Wellness Study

21. Physical health by the numbers….
Require employees to actively participate in health
programs, comply with medications, or participate in
activities like health coaching
Offer incentives for progress against biometric goals e.g.
blood pressure, BMI, blood sugar and cholesterol (>2/3
say they plan to do this in the next 3-5 years)
Plan to impose consequences on participants who do not
take appropriate actions for improving their health
34% are interested in tying incentives to program
designs that require a focus on health 365 days a year
56%
24%
58%
34%
2013 Wellness Program
Research Study

22. Free!
$$$
Organized
Running Clubs
Social Sports
Leagues
Indiv. Gym
Memberships
On-Site Fitness
Classes
Fitbit
Challenges
Wellness
Newsletter
Subscriptions
Office Gym
Treadmill
Desks
Common Corporate Health & Wellness
Program Offerings

23. Mental Health
• Meditation room
• Relaxation room
• Nap pods
• Office yoga
sessions
Why Employees Need a
Mental Break
1. Breaks keep us from getting
bored (and thus, unfocused)
2. Breaks help us retain
information and make
connections
3. Breaks help us reevaluate
our goals

24. Time Off
• PTO Days
• Sick Days
• Maternity and Paternity Leave
• Paid Sabbaticals
• Community Service Days

25. Set # Days
Unlimited
Vacation
Required
Vacation
The Evolution of “Vacations” in the Workplace
2013 Vacation Deprivation Survey
Findings:
• 41% of American workers let paid
vacation days go to waste
• Collectively, Americans failed to
take ~577,212,000 available
vacation days
• 67% of vacationing Americans
remain tethered to the office
• 1/3 of senior managers never or
only once a year communicate the
merits of taking paid vacation

26. Freebies
• Netflix subscriptions
• Bike memberships
• Magazine subscriptions
• Tickets to sporting games and movies
• Free make-up or spa services
• Babysitting / child care on site
• Pet sitting
• Technology products (iPads, cell phones, etc.)

27. Most Popular Perks of 2014
1. Wine Delivery
2. Ride Sharing (Uber, Lyft)
3. Meal Delivery Services
4. Healthy Snacks
5. Produce & Grocery
Delivery
6. Gym Memberships
7. On-Demand Dry
Cleaning & Laundry
8. Coffee Delivery
9. Massages
10. Sporting Tickets

28. How to effectively implement
a perks program

29. • Get buy-in from leadership
• Look at company’s People Strategy and identify
how perks can contribute
– Are you trying to grow and recruit new talent?
– Are you trying to be recognized as a great place to
work?
– Are you looking for new ways to innovate at your
company?
– Are you trying to keep up with your competition?
• Set expectations up front
– Perks are NOT a silver bullet solution
– ROI will be hard, if not impossible, to measure
Implementing a Perks Program

30. • Determine how you will monitor impact to
evaluate effectiveness
• Introduce new program through multiple
marketing and communications channels (in-
person kickoff, email, flyers)
• Track company usage trends
– Are people actually using the perks?
– Are some perks not being used at all?
– Are only some employees using the perks?
• Re-assess usage and effectiveness regularly
Implementing a Perks Program

31. Perk Pitfalls

32. • Lack of re-marketing & communication
– Employees don’t know what’s available to them
• Outdated and complicated benefits systems
– Employees don’t think it’s worth the effort
• Set it and forget it
• Offering perks that people don’t want
• Perks are an afterthought, not a strategic investment
in people and culture
• Perks should be a reflection of your culture, not
define it
Why Perks Fail

33. Perk Best Practices

34. • Get leadership buy in and messaging
• Collect employee input and suggestions
• Track your spending
• Offer something for everyone
• Assess impact, quality, and usage at least
twice a year
• Avoid showing dollars when possible
How to get the best bang for your buck

35. • Perks aren’t going away
• When done correctly, perks can make your employees happy,
increase productivity, differentiate you from your
competition, and help recruit and retain the best talent
• Every company’s culture is different, and your perks should
reflect that
• Your employees have different needs, so you should tailor
your offerings accordingly
• Be intentional when implementing a perks program at your
company
• Treat your perks as you would any other investment in your
business and your people
Key Takeaways

36. Attract and Retain Top Talent:
Understanding Workplace Perks
Lily Cua
MSB ‘11
Co-Founder, COO of Aspire
lily@aspire.is