All too often, we hear small businesses say, “I’m a small business, so I can’t offer (insert benefit here).” Whether it’s health insurance, retirement, or some other allowance, small businesses often feel like they are too small to spend money on benefits. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your size prevents you from offering extra benefits or perks for employees.
While you may not have the funds to offer a full range of benefits right away, businesses of all sizes should always be looking for ways to add value to employees and reinvest in the people that work for them. As a growing small business, it pays to be intentional about your people strategy.
Begin with the recognition that your employees are people. Just because they were willing to forego some benefits to work for your small business doesn’t mean they don’t have needs. Additionally, they are just as worthy of the benefits as employees at larger companies. They have the same life needs, like health insurance, retirement packages, and paid time off (PTO). Honor the fact that they said “yes” to your small business by looking for ways to add more benefits over time.
Business owners are often intentional about creating a business strategy. They outline plans for meeting sales goals, increasing revenue, and handling expenses. They think about how to increase their business, but too many of them overlook their people strategy. How do they grow their work force and the employees they already have? At WhyHR, our goal is to help businesses strategize about the intersection of growing their business and growing their people.
Admittedly, this growth is an ongoing process. In addition to looking for ways you could add benefits for your people today, create plans for how and when you will reassess your benefits plan in the future. Two ways that small businesses can offer extra perks without spending too much money are flexible schedules and flexibility on how PTO is used when life situations arise. Flexibility is one of the things that attracts employees to a smaller, more personal environment.
Even if you start with flexibility as the only perk you can offer, don’t stay there forever. Know your checkpoints and milestones for when you should consider adding more PTO, health insurance, or retirement benefits.
One great way of offering more benefits without eating into your bottom line is to use additional revenue to reinvest in your people. As you add team members, you will be creating additional revenue. As that happens, set aside a certain percentage of that revenue to reinvest in your people strategy. Using this method, you will be able to fund additional benefits without impacting your current profits.
Though it may not be possible to offer a full benefits package when starting out, never forget that your people are your strength. Build out your people strategy and reinvest in them as a part of your overall plan to grow your business.
Need help thinking long-term about your business strategy and people strategy? Get in touch with the WhyHR team today to schedule a consultation.
