With so many organizations moving to a remote workforce, it’s time for companies across the globe to revise their employee policies and benefits programs.
Industry leaders like Zappos and Pinterest have already implemented some great benefits. So, if you want to follow in their footsteps and offer your team some much-needed rewards after a challenging few years, continue reading below to discover 20 incredible perks for remote employees.
What are employee perks?
Employee perks, also called employee benefits, refer to various kinds of compensation given to staff members in addition to their normal salaries. Although traditionally employee benefits would be the same for everyone across a team, personalized perks have started gaining popularity in recent years.
Why are they important for remote employees?
Managing a remote team has some challenges that leading an on-site team doesn’t. Luckily, choosing the right benefits can alleviate some of the pain points that come with the lack of a physical office space. Remote employee benefits:
Allow teams to bond
Forming a close-knit team remotely can be difficult when everyone is spread across different cities and sometimes time zones. Some perks, however, like regular online meetups and activities can help strengthen the bond between team members.
Can increase employee engagement
Although studies disagree on whether working remotely is good or bad for employee engagement, one thing is certain: some types of benefits, such as upgrading workers’ home office equipment, can make team members feel valued as well as improve their overall experience. After all, it’s easier to do your job on a fast laptop, for example, than an ancient relic of a machine.
Can improve work–life balance
When you’re working in your own space, it can be hard to stop work from seeping into other aspects of your life. As an employer, you can encourage a clear separation between work and downtime with some benefits, increasing employee satisfaction and wellness.
Can boost productivity
By preserving employee work–life balance and engagement, you can encourage more consistent productivity from your team. According to research by Oxford University, happy workers are 13% more productive!
Help you attract and retain talent
At a time when hybrid and in-person work schedules are the most popular, attracting candidates for fully remote gigs can be difficult. That’s why offering a strong employee benefits package is important; it allows you to appeal to prospective candidates, and keep them happy once they have joined.
The best perks for remote employees
If you need ideas to enhance your employee experience, read on: these are the top 20 remote employee benefits that leading companies are currently offering.
1. Flexibility
If your company didn’t offer much flexibility before, now is the time to be more generous.
Some employees work better during the early hours, while others thrive in the evening. So, if the work allows for it, let people set their own working schedule that gives them the flexibility to run personal errands, too.
For example, parents may need to look after their children, so they’ll have a different schedule for people who don’t have the same family responsibilities. This is something that Visa values and offers additional flexibility to carers or parents who can’t meet their regular contractual agreements.
2. Work-from-home stipends
Companies including Google, Shopify and Twitter are already offering this important benefit to their employees. Wanting to ensure employees are comfortable and have everything they need at home, they’re giving workers an allowance so that they can pay for workplace tools, accessories and WiFi.
So, if you want to make your employees’ lives a little more comfortable, why not gift them money for ergonomic chairs, home desks or any other accessories that they may need to create a comfortable home office space?
3. Virtual events
If in-person training sessions are out of the question, why not set up a series of virtual events? You can still hold a successful team-building event virtually with online games and activities.
Besides training, you can host virtual coffee hours where employees can take the time to call each other and catch up about life without worrying about looming deadlines hanging over their heads or the fact that they haven’t clocked in enough hours for the day.
4. Financial aid
If your company has the budget, why not offer a small financial aid to your staff? This could be in the form of a voucher, a tax-free credit or a bonus for their hard work and dedication.
Some companies set targets and offer this perk as a reward for their hard efforts. While other companies like Ally Financial give $1,200 in tax-free financial aid to any employee that makes less than $100,000 in annual base compensation.
5. Goodie deliveries
Another simple but effective perk is some form of goodie delivery to your staff’s homes. This could be something like a monthly breakfast or lunch delivery, a personalized gift basket full of their favorite treats, a self-care basket, or anything else that’s relatable to your business.
Some other ideas involve celebrations for particular days; for example, on International Women’s Day, you could send all your female staff a goodie bag full of toiletries. Or for Halloween, you can have delicious treats delivered to everyone’s doorstep.
6. Herb gardening kits
This idea was first implemented by Zappos to promote mental health during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. They sent employees kits to build their own garden and created an online community for their green-fingered employees, and even gave them the platform to discuss their gardening interests with colleagues.
So, if most of your staff share an interest in gardening, consider implementing this low-cost benefit, too.
7. Virtual happy hours
Who said that happy hours have to end when staff aren’t working from the office? You can still continue your Thursday or Friday celebrations from the comfort and safety of your home.
To make it even more exciting, you can select a theme of drinks for the evening; for example, you all might have to attempt in making an espresso martini or another cocktail and rate everyone’s presentation.
8. Wellness leave
With an increased rate in anxiety and other mental health issues among people working from home, with a reported rate of 49% of remote workers struggling with wellness issues according to a 2019 report by Buffer, it’s more important than ever before to offer dedicated wellness perks.
You can give your staff one to five days off every year, for example, without requiring a doctor’s certificate or further explanation. If you’re worried about work productivity, meanwhile, you can set a limit of how many employees per department can use this leave on the same day.
9. Birthday day off
With people spending an increased amount of time in the same building, it’s important to help them get outdoors and change their scenery once a while.
Allowing each staff member to have their birthday off will give them a much-needed break from their screen and will make them feel extra special on their big day. In addition, you can send a bottle of champagne or a birthday cake to their house along with a card from the management team.
10. Online volunteer opportunities
Volunteering is a great way for others to give something back to the community and forget about their own worries for a while, but it’s something that not many full-time workers get to do because of the lack of time that they have.
So, if you want to help a good cause, let people take one to three days a year to volunteer for a cause that’s close to their heart. If they don’t want to do this in person, there are now plenty of great online volunteering opportunities that aren’t restricted to time.
11. Monthly subscriptions
Gym memberships were one of the top-rated company perks of the last decade, but they’ve slowly been replaced by other types of subscriptions such as health and fitness apps, meditation apps, and other wellness outlets.
But besides health apps, why not offer a cool subscription that everyone will enjoy, like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime? Your staff will thank you and rave on about it for years to come!
12. Branded items
This option is necessary now that your employees don’t have access to the office stationery cabinet. Without the luxury of topping up on notebooks, pens and other desk accessories, the cost of purchasing them yourself can rack up.
So, don’t give your staff additional bills, and instead send them monthly packages filled with branded goodies. You can even have comfy sweatshirts made and start a smart social media campaign with a branded hashtag to go with it! The more your employees love you, the more consumers will start to pay attention.
13. Medical insurance
Although healthcare costs are increasing, medical insurance remains one of the best benefits you can offer your employees. Many people around the US go without needed care because of the costs involved; so, if you offer to cover some of those expenses for your team members, you’re automatically bound to stand out as an employer.
Although it’s trickier to arrange medical insurance for overseas employees, it’s not impossible. There are many ways you can do this, such as through health stipends, reimbursement plans or by working with an EOR.
14. Education allowance
Investing in your employees’ professional development is an excellent way to make them feel valued and supported. Not to mention that the more up to date they stay with trends and practices in your industry, the more you’ll benefit, too.
So, identify a selection of online courses, and offer to either cover the cost entirely or allow employees to find their own courses and sponsor them in part. If you want, you can even invest in a subscription such as Udemy’s Team Plan, which grants you and your employees with access to thousands of courses.
15. Coworking space stipends
Sometimes, working from home can get tiring and lonely. For employees who miss having real-world interactions (even if it’s just sitting quietly in the presence of other people), you can offer a coworking space perk!
Offering to cover the costs of using coworking spaces a few times per month can offer your team members a change of scenery, which can do wonders in boosting their engagement and productivity. Meanwhile, employees who have pets, kids or several roommates might be able to focus better if they step away from home.
16. Family care benefits
Care.com’s 2024 Future of Benefits Report states that providing childcare and senior care benefits to employees can have significantly positive effects on their engagement and productivity. Caring for family members can be a huge burden, in terms of time, energy and expenses, so stepping in and providing assistance cannot go unnoticed.
The survey showed that 21% of employees wouldn’t hesitate to change jobs to obtain this type of support; meanwhile, another 20% stated that they have previously left a job for this reason.
17. Employee recognition programs
It can be a bit harder to recognize employees’ efforts when you’re working in different locations, have no face-to-face interactions, and sometimes aren’t even online at the same time. Still, it’s important to show appreciation of your staff members’ contributions and to celebrate them as much as possible.
Some areas you can build your employee recognition programs around include:
- Individual performance
- Team performance
- Years of service
- Personal development
- Improvement of systems or processes
18. Housekeeping assistance
Despite some contradictory data, some surveys indicate that remote employees work longer hours than people working from the office. This makes sense, given that it can be hard to draw the line and set boundaries when you do everything at home, whether it’s for business or pleasure.
Freeing up a bit of extra time for your remote employees, therefore, will be appreciated. You can achieve this by offering to cover various chore assistance services, like house cleaning, vehicle cleaning, house fumigation, and more.
19. Coffee subscription boxes
US workers often end up spending upwards of $2,000 a year on coffee. Whereas it can be trickier to provide lunches to remote employees, you can still save them some money (and make them really, really happy) by offering weekly or monthly coffee deliveries or subscriptions.
Some coffee hampers are small enough to fit in a mailbox, meaning your employees don’t even have to be at home at the time of delivery — which can be handy if you’re looking to treat international employees, as it makes the process more straightforward.
20. Pet care stipends
Younger generations may be having children at lower rates than previous generations (or at least doing so later in life), but they still rank first where pet adoptions are concerned. So, if you’re looking to keep the Millennials and Gen Zers on your team happy, consider covering some of their pet care costs.
This can be anything from pet insurance to pet sitting services for when they’re away, or on the days they feel like doing their work from a coworking space.
Final thoughts
With a little imagination and dedication, you can easily transform your business and build a great remote company culture. Our increased use of technology makes up for the lack of human interaction that many remote workers may face. So, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries and make your own rules up when it comes to rewarding your staff! You know them better than anyone else!
But for now, hopefully, a few of these ideas will aid some great inspiration!
What company perks will you be implementing? Join in on the conversation below to let us know your thoughts!
This article is a partial update of an earlier version originally published on October 15, 2020, and contains contributions by Joanna Zambas.