While some may be driven by promises of big raises or bonuses, small perks are the primary motivators for many employees. What's worse is that taking the free coffee or catered lunches away can take its toll on employee morale.
"The little perks make people feel like they want to go the extra mile to get the job done," Phil Wallner, president of Provident Link, an IT information technology recruiting firm, told Workforce Management. "When you remove those perks and you're asking someone to still go above and beyond, you're setting yourself up for some turnover problems."
Human resource consultants said management often feel perks are expendable during tough economic times. But small perks show that employers care. In some cases, the free after-hour pizza can motivate a crew in the final stretch of a project. More problematically, removing them often symbolizes trouble within a company.
"It can make them start looking around," says John Ryan, president of executive search firm RSMR Global Resources Inc. "The first reaction is, 'We're having financial problems. Maybe I should look for a new job.'"
Beyond free coffee and periodically a free lunch, perks may include health clubs on premises, flex hours, free subway cards, petty-cash for Halloween parties, or even the annual holiday party.
The article offered few easy solutions on how to smoothly remove perks during cost-saving periods. One consultant advised underscoring to employees how they will benefit in other ways. Another said it should be crystal clear why the perks are being taken away.
"If a company can be transparent enough to indicate that they're just trying to cut back costs by 5 percent, maybe they can stave off any gossip or rumors," says Mr. Ryan.
Carol Sladek, national leader of work/life consulting for Hewitt Associates, says employers must understand which perks, small or large, engender loyalty in their staff before taking any away.
"Perhaps you take the free coffee out of coffee stations, then you find 95 percent of the population really valued it," Ms. Sladek says. "These fun little perks are near and dear to people."
Indeed, at the former workplace of Aaron Andersen, a nonprofit exec in Chicago, employees didn't care when management eliminated their free bottles of apple, orange and cranberry juice. But replacing Starbucks coffee in the break room with a private label generic offering was taken as a symbol of larger problems that would later come to fruition.
"People felt undervalued," Mr. Anderson told Workforce Management. It was "really, really bad coffee."
Discussion Questions: Is it worth the cost savings to cut back on small perks during tough economic times? How should management decide which perks to take away, and how should they do it?