Offer Your Employees These No-Cost Job Perks

If you own or operate a small business, you probably have looked for perks that you can offer your employees to help boost morale, increase productivity and generate some loyalty. However, you don't have the budget of a big company, so extras like company cars, gym memberships and in-house babysitting are probably too expensive to even consider.

However, there is one perk that you can offer your employees, and it won't cost a dime: Flexibility!

A flexible schedule is extremely valuable to the working mother, the working father, the part-time student, or even the employee who has a second job. Here are some of your options:

Telecommute: A telecommute position means the employee works off-site. Most telecommuters work out of a home based office. If you offer this perk, you can choose to reimburse the employee for things like work-related mailing costs, long-distance calls, and other job expenses that you would normally pay if the employee were working from your regular office. Although some employers fear that this would lead to "behind the scenes" slacking on the part of the employee, many telecommuters feel they are more productive when working from a home office. It may help alleviate the stress of a long commute, and many telecommuters prefer to avoid "office politics." By working at home, they have a more pleasurable - and thus productive - business environment.

Flex Time: People who choose a flex time option often have children, aging parents or other commitments that require them to alter their normal schedule. Flex time employees may choose to arrive at work a few hours early so they can, in turn, leave a few hours early. Or they may choose to arrive at work late, but then stay long after everyone else has left the office. Flex time allows people to essentially design their own schedule - within reason - as long as a minimum number of hours are worked each week and all deadlines are met. This is a great perk for parents who want to be finished work by the time their kids get home from school.

Compressed Week: With a compressed week schedule, the employee works long hours for four days a week to fulfill full-time requirements. This "compresses" the typical work week to four days, thus giving the employee three days off each week (instead of the usual two). For example, the employee might choose to work ten hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Since the employee has worked 40 hours by the end of the day on Thursday, he/she then gets to enjoy a long weekend consisting of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Although all of these perks require you to be a little flexible with your schedule, you may find that giving your employees more flexibility actually increases productivity among your staff. Offering these perks is a no-cost way to gain loyalty from your employees and generate an overall positive work environment.