The big companies out there are offering attractive benefits as part of their employee retention initiatives; they have great spending power. How can small businesses match up against them? The truth is, you don’t really have to. What matters is the quality and practicality of the benefits included in your package. Here are four ways to satisfy your employees without the need to spend big.

1. Size Up What Fits The Needs Of Your Workforce. Re-evaluate Frequently

Offer benefits that suit the demographics of your employees. Maybe 85% of your people are fathers and so extended maternity leave may not be so ideal. Or maybe the majority of them do not drive, therefore, a car allowance is not applicable to them. A transport allowance could be a replacement or let them have flexihours so that they can avoid the peak hour madness. After making adjustments to what goes into the basket of benefits, remember to re-evaluate them frequently. Because, with each passing year, the demographics and the needs of your employees change.

2. Make Benefits Useful

When benefits are utilized frequently by the employees, it means they find them useful and they benefit from them. Note that the key phrase here is “benefit from them”. If you are offering a slew of perks that no one uses, that is equivalent to not providing any at all.

How to determine if they are useful? Check and re-check the demographics (as mentioned above). Complement it with feedback from your employees to find out what your people really want. Match the needs from the findings and decide on those that fit the current setup of your company.

3. Find Out What’s Causing Your Employees Distress

You could already be offering unbeatable benefits but if you don’t find out what causes distress in your employees, the benefits don’t matter. Maybe it’s the mad rush hour, waking up early or the late night calls. If it’s the rush hour, consider letting them work flexihours. Or if kids are their worries, allow them to take time off as long as they deliver. Whatever it is, make an effort to change so that working for the company does not mean additional stress and worries for them.

In other words, don’t make work a routine. Give them the flexibility to plan their own schedule so that they can arrange work responsibilities, family and personal matters well.

4. Promote Autonomy, Mastery And Purpose

Your employees’ emotional health is equally important. It is a human’s inherent nature to continuously improve; if we overlook this fact, the employee will, in no time, look for changes. To prevent such situations and spur your employees to do even better, cultivate these three elements in the work culture of your company. When combined, the three elements are even more powerful than monetary rewards. This video says it all.