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Rethinking Total Rewards: Small Business, Big Benefits

Small businesses offer big benefits. Offering a competitive compensation package is critical to successfully hiring and retaining top talent. You may think that as a small business, you can’t compete with the big businesses. It’s time to shift that perception!

While you maybe can’t compete with large employers on salary or extravagant benefits, a creative total rewards package can be just as enticing. Small businesses can turn a lot of their unique features into a competitive edge that big companies can’t easily replicate.

Community & Culture

Small businesses have greater control over what makes an engaging and motivating work-place culture. Despite what the big corporations would have you believe, ping pong tables are out and authenticity is in. The research is clear that employees value recognition and feeling heard far and above a beer tap or massage chair. Use a less is more approach to in-still a sense of community. Having an open flow of communication that supports a two-way dialogue with employees, promotes creativity, innovation and an employee-friendly culture. Ensure that managers are also taking advantage of their small teams to provide feedback and have routine pulse checks with employees.

Growth & Impact

Just because your company’s career ladder isn’t fully outlined yet, doesn’t mean that you can’t offer training and education for employees that will up-skill them for the future. Getting to know individuals and their aspirations means you can tailor learning opportunities to their needs. Not only does this lead to a higher-performing workforce, but it shows employees and potential talent that there’s room for career growth at your company.

Being a small business, chances are your employees get the opportunity to wear many hats. Although this may mean a steeper learning curve, not being siloed into a specific role allows for new challenges and a lot of growth. Top performers often seek out opportunities to innovate and want to be a valuable part of something bigger. Having less people gives employees the chance to make a real impact, without having to deal with bureaucracy or go through layers of management to get a decision made.

Flexible Benefits

While it’s always a good idea to cover the basics, there’s so much more to employee benefits than a dental plan. Think outside the box when creating your “total rewards” package. As a small business you can treat employees as individuals, offering flexible hours and family friendly policies designed to suit people’s lives and schedules and support work-life balance. Other inexpensive perks could include holding potlucks, monthly book clubs, team activities and “bring your dog to work” days. Having benefits like these also incorporates elements of team bonding that further contribute to a fun, but productive work culture.

There are so many advantages to working for a small business that you can leverage to make your company stand out from the crowd. Listening to your teams and employing creative strategies like those above, can put you ahead of the game.



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