As an HR, you need to make sure you come up with a foolproof plan to ensure none of your employees feel unimportant or not recognised. To that end certain added benefits are introduced to the workplace, just so the employees feel happy. While you could be right and honest in your intentions, not all of these perks are really appreciated by the employees.
Some of these perks aren’t of ‘real’ value to your employees. With you holding onto these set of ‘benefits’, it only makes your employees unhappy, but are at times reluctant to share it with you. Here are five such work benefits that your employees would secretly hate!
1. Frequent Recognition Programmes Like Employee of The Month
It is pretty common for companies to have a culture where they pick an employee of the month closely evaluating their work. From the company’s perspective it might be to recognise the employees who are making the effort to go the proverbial ‘extra mile’ and to also push the others to achieve the same. We aren’t saying, recognitions are bad. They do help boost the morale of the employees and if done right, promotes a sense of healthy competition.
What’s The Problem Here:
Doing this activity at intervals of a month is unfair. Also, often times the criteria to judge an employee is too shallow or restricted, especially when a team effort is required.
It is sending a message to the rest, that there is somewhere an ‘I’ in the team and it is that ’employee for that month.
It all boils down to the team effort, and there are others who would have also worked equally hard. Also, a lot of times, Employee of The Month is often attributed to people who are simply closer to the higher authority, which may necessarily not be true. This in a way isolates that individual from the team, as the rest feel him / her to be playing up office politics.
The Solution:
Employee of the Year is fine, as it gives a substantial amount of time to everyone to work towards the goal. Doing it too frequently or having the wrong set of criteria is a problem. To avoid that, it’s best to pick a ‘Team of the Month’ that truly deserves the title. That way, the team would bond better, and the limelight would focus on the ‘team effort’ rather than the ‘solo performance’ of one individual.
2. Celebrating Festivals… At Work
There is no harm in celebrating festivals at work. After all, they bring everyone together.
What’s The Problem Here:
The problem lies when you celebrate the festivals in your company, on the day of the festival. Companies cannot expect their employees to be a part of the celebration at the workplace. Everyone would rather prefer to celebrate with their families. It’s a pressure that might impinge upon their personal life and may not be appreciated at all.
The Solution:
Festivals are times when families get together, and people get to focus on their personal relationships, away from the obligations and responsibilities of work. Opt for a small celebration a day before the festival. You may not dedicate the entire day to that. Just keep a couple of hours in the evening for everyone to revel.This way you can have the required team-bonding and also allow your employees to be free on the day it matters.
3. Frequent Team Building Activities / Outings
To achieve success, everyone needs to work together as one cohesive force. Unless a team functions together, it is unlikely their efforts will pay off. So to encourage team building, companies come up with several activities that help engagement, coordination and can help employees get a much-needed break from the day to day work tasks.
What’s The Problem Here:
Team building is a must, but it’s not advisable to come up with activities every now and then. The other problem is at times these are announced just a few days prior. This leaves a lot of teams under pressure to complete their tasks, if the days conincide with some approaching deadline or are close to it.
The Solution:
Simply don’t overdo it! Another better approach is to set aside predefined dates for such activities. This helps everyone to align their professional and personal schedules accordingly and also look forward to such events.
4. Paid Leaves… They Are Never Able To Take!
Every company has a policy which allows its employees to take leaves and get paid for it. The number of leaves allotted differs from one company to another. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Also, there are times when employees have worked on holidays to get things pushed before an important deadline. For such occasions too, they can take a compensatory off later.
What’s The Problem Here:
It is no secret that many a times employees aren’t able to utilise their leaves, owing to work pressures. Moreover, organisations are known to try and push employee leave to such a time when it is suitable for the company and not so much for the employees. At times they are even forced to take leaves in one go, which the employee may not need.
This results in the employees having a bank full of leaves, but being unable to use them up or simply having to take the leaves for the sake of it. All of this leads to resentment and demotivated employees.
Do note, leave encashment is not always the best way out.
While money is a motivator, not everyone feels the same when it comes to picking money over days they’d want for themselves.
The Solution:
The obvious one as mentioned above is to allow them to encash their leaves. A better option, however, is to formulate clear policies in your organistations to actively promote some time-off days for each employee.
5. Wellness Programs
A wellness program can include many activities like regular health check-up, discounted gym membership, etc. However, some companies make it mandatory for employees to indulge in these wellness programs.
What’s The Problem Here:
Wellness programs are introduced for the benefit of people, but it is wrong to enforce it on them. Also, the bigger problem with these programmes is that they are generalised and may not be suitable for every employee.
The solution:
Employees should be given a choice to choose what they’re interested in. It is also likely that some people would not be interested in taking up any of these activities, so it is best to leave it up to them to decide.
These are some critical ‘perks’ that as an employer, you might want to work upon. At the end of the day, all an individual wants is good recognition reaping the rewards of his/her hard work.
So, weigh in all the options and consider which ones you would like to implement at your workplace.
