Something for the weekend: Communications agency Sunny Bird PR provides its seven employees with an allowance each month, on top of salary, to spend on perks as they see fit, which has seen one employee plump up her reward package with free Botox injections.
Sunny Bird PR provides staff with £100-worth of vouchers each month via online business community tool BBX, which allows businesses to exchange their services, as part of its efforts to attract and retain employees.
This money can be spent on any perks offered via the tool, including transport, team building activities, hair and beauty appointments and hotel bookings. Lizzie McManus, account director at Sunny Bird PR, reported that she would not have been able to get the Botox treatments without this injection of extra cash.
Founder Sunny Bird has reported that her organisation has saved a total of £22,120 so far by using the business service exchange tool to provide perks by trading its own services, rather than paying for them outright.
Sunny Bird PR also uses BBX vouchers to incentivise employees to meet aims and targets.
Other perks that the organisation's employees have enjoyed over the years include jet skiing, haircuts, chiropractor visits, weekends away, eating out, sushi making courses and gym memberships.
Bird said: "It's been an eye opener for my business and the way we operate, it's allowed me to purchase items for both my business and my team that I otherwise wouldn't have had the cash for."As a small business, having a productive and happy team is an absolute must. Finding good staff is a challenge in itself so I work hard to try and retain them."There is so much research out there that demonstrates an incentivised and rewarded team is generally a happier one. It doesn't just have to come down to bonuses or pay rises, it can be the little-and-often 'thank yous' that make a big difference to team morale too."Here at Employee Benefits, we know that giving employees the choice of how to tailor their own reward packages is becoming more and more common. If we had the chance to get a cheeky lunchtime face-lift, we might not need coffee to stay so fresh-faced...
