Hangover leave? Maybe not, but companies get creative with perks

The war for talent has gotten extremely intense as companies try to differentiate themselves from their competition.

But what perks are really in demand?

A recent poll by Trusaic sampled opinions about some fantasy fringe benefit ideas said to have floated around the job market. Among them: hangover leave, breakup leave, compassionate leave for heartsick sports fans, social media detox days and houseplant bereavement leave. But in the long run, attracting and retaining employees requires serious and creative solutions, experts say.

“If you want to keep people you need to address more fundamental issues,” says Matt Gotchy, executive vice president of marketing at Los Angeles-based Trusaic, an HR and compliance technology company. “Our aim was to highlight the way that the war for talent, Great Resignation and inflationary times are driving employers to offer ever more lavish benefits,” he says.

He explained the offbeat list Trusaic compiled for employees to vote on — see ttps://tinyurl.com/z9fynx63 — is rooted in “what’s going on in the workplace” and reflect some of the unusual perks they’re hearing some companies offer.

Local experts haven't particularly seen the perks highlighted on the Trusaic list, but among those now being offered by some companies are meditation/mindfulness sessions and days off for menstruation, according to Janine Nicole Dennis, chief innovations officer at Talent Think Innovations, a Wheatley Heights-based business strategy firm.

But Trusaic also highlights in its report on its poll findings that deeper-rooted initiatives like fair pay and pay equity “may be one of your best weapons” to win the war for talent, Gotch says.

That just doesn’t draw employees in, but helps keep them, he says, noting Trusaic offers a solution that analyzes pay equity across various dimensions including gender, race and ethnicity.

Company culture matters

Joseph Camberato, CEO of National Business Capital, a Hauppauge-based firm that provides small business financing to businesses nationwide, agrees that paying employees fairly is critical and as such assesses employee pay structure at least annually.

But beyond that, it’s also the company culture that really gets people to stay, he says.

“I think some companies throw out these well-worded perks to attract people, but are they really retaining people with a hangover day?,” Camberato says.

He said the firm does offer employees a no-questions-asked morning monthly to show up late to handle personal needs.

Beyond that, it has a culture team that comes up with a yearly calendar of activities that includes a health component, a personal and business growth component and a fun component with group outings.

They also thought about retention and attraction when they moved into their new 12,000-square-foot Hauppauge space three months ago. Among perks it has a complimentary breakfast bar with fruits and snacks, a stocked pantry, and an employee lounge/idea lab with couches. The company invested about $1-million into the space, Camberato says.

So what else might employees want?

With inflationary times, consider incentives that help with costs.

At Austin Williams, a Hauppauge-based ad and digital marketing agency, they just recently gave all employees a 3% cost of living raise due to inflation, says President Eva LaMere. That’s in addition to normal end-of-year performance raises.

The firm has also instituted a permanent hybrid schedule with Mondays and Fridays working from home and Tuesday-Thursday in the office.

Feeling connected

In addition, Austin Williams has a culture committee that plans about a dozen annual events, which helps employees feel connected, LaMere says.

And earlier this year, they instituted an open Paid Time Off policy, which allows paid leave for whatever an employee requests it for without designating a set number of days. The only request is they take no more than 10 consecutive business days off, LaMere says.

Dennis of Talent Think Innovations has seen more companies adopting an Open PTO model.

Employees appreciate a company culture that gives people time back and treats them like adults to take the time they need as needed, she says.

She’s also seen some employers even give cultural sensitivity time off for instance in the wake of racially charged events in the news.

Remote power

Another trend surfacing in the wake of higher gas prices and inflation is a greater interest in employees wanting the perk of being “digital nomads,” says Rick Maher, chief executive of Turning Point HCM, a Mount Sinai-based HR outsourcing firm.

At the start of COVID, people went remote due to health and safety reasons, he says.

Now there’s a shift for employees wanting to work remotely to realize savings including gas/commuting costs and even taking that a step further with some wanting to work for a local company, but opting to do so from another lower cost state or even country, Maher says.

So they’d get paid Long Island salaries, but don’t bear the expense of living in a high-cost area, he says.

“This digital nomadism is giving employees real power and real options,” he says.