WFH Benefits that Improve Employee Retention During COVID-19

It’s important that HR departments, business owners and hiring managers take the time to learn about the specific needs a remote workforce has. Below, we’ll explore some of the best benefits you can offer your work-from-home employees that will help ensure loyalty among your workforce.

1. Technology and office supplies

Your remote workers might not have what they need — and you should never assume they do. You should provide the necessary technology or offer a stipend so your employees can purchase what they need on their own. Not sure what to offer? Here are some ideas to make your workers’ home office set-up a productive environment:

• Ergonomic office furniture allowance: If your employees aren’t comfortable, they won’t be able to work well. Consider giving workers an ergonomic office furniture stipend so they can invest in things like a sit-to-stand desk converter, a comfortable desk chair and ergonomic tech accessories like wrist pads.
• Noise-canceling headphones: It’s hard to stay on task if you’re working in a loud environment full of noise and distraction. Noise-canceling headphones are a great perk to offer remote employees who can’t always work in a perfectly quiet room.
• Internet stipend: Is there anything worse than a dropped call or connection during an important work meeting? If you’re concerned about your employees having fast internet speeds so they can keep up with video conferences and calls, you can offer them extra funds to put toward utilities like speedy internet service.

2. Coworking space stipend

Not everyone has a dedicated room in their house for an office. Although working from your bedroom seems great, it’s something that workers can easily tire of. Everybody needs to get out of the house sometimes. To help your employees get over productivity slumps, consider giving them a stipend for a coworking space.

Many coworking spaces are providing safe, sanitary places for remote workers to focus on work and getting through their to-do lists.

3. Life insurance policy, estate planning and enhanced medical coverage

With the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, it’s not uncommon for workers to feel unsettled about their families’ futures if anything happened to them. You can give your employees peace of mind by offering them a comprehensive life insurance policy and estate planning counseling so they ensure the financial stability of their nearest and dearest.

Besides life insurance policies, you can also enhance your existing medical, dental and vision coverage. For example, you may want to consider picking up the tab for all of the premiums. Alternatively, you can offer platinum or gold levels of medical insurance so that your workers can access the highest levels of medical care if they get sick.

4. Flexible work hours

If your company doesn’t operate on set hours, you can offer workers flexible schedules. Not only does this show workers that you trust them completely to manage their schedules on their own without supervision, but it also lets your night owls and early risers work when they feel at their best.

You can also let workers stack their hours in different ways. For example, a 4-10 schedule means that employees work four ten-hour days — in turn, they get a three-day weekend every week!

5. Unlimited paid time off

At first glance, offering unlimited paid time off might seem like a dangerous perk to give. After all, how can you run a company if your employees are constantly gone on vacation? Offering unpaid time off is another sign of trust between the employer and employee. By offering this benefit, business owners are entrusting employees to make responsible decisions with their time off. The idea is that workers won’t take PTO that puts a burden on other team members who have to pick up the slack.

It’s important to offer your workers enough PTO so they actually take breaks. Burnout among workers is a large risk when you work from home. Why? Because it can be hard to establish boundaries when your work life and personal life are under the same roof.

6. Digital wellness

When your team is healthy, they’re also happy. If you can encourage activity and exercise among your team members, that can help keep them engaged. Digital wellness benefits can range from online mental health support through online therapy subscriptions to help manage pandemic-related stress to gym subscriptions that make it easier for your workers to exercise.

You can also consider sending your employees “wellness packages” to raise morale. You can include things like an inspirational book, relaxing tea, healthy snacks and hand-written cards.

7. Paid parental leave and childcare

One of the biggest issues found across all companies right now is a lack of support for parents and caregivers. With schools closed for in-person learning across the country, parents are scrambling to figure out how to supervise children while still working.

If you want to ease some of the pressure that working parents are facing, you can give caregivers both paid parental leave and childcare benefits.

Offering great benefits for remote workers

The current global health crisis is forcing many companies into a period of reckoning. If you’re a business owner, this is a great time to re-evaluate the perks you’re offering to employees. Great perks and valuable benefits can mean that it’s easier to retain top talent. Strong benefits packages can also lure in outside talent.

When you’re considering changing up your benefits at your company, remember to think about what your workers actually need to work productively at home. You may even want to send out a survey to ask about desired benefits. With this article as a guide, you can ensure a happier and healthier team.