Perks Benefit at the Workplace - Research Paper Example

Perks Benefit at the Workplace Introduction Perks benefit at the workplace can be referred as the strategic motivational advantages offered to the employees to raise their morale towards the organization and encourage them to deliver better productivity in alignment with the determined organizational goals. In accordance to the principles of employee benefits, strategically designed perks usually take into account the monetary along with the fringe benefits. In the recent scenario, it has become important for the employers to include benefits in the employee compensation package to keep them motivated and satisfied in return of their productivity. In general, perks benefit to employees can be observed in two forms; extrinsic and intrinsic. In case of extrinsic motivation, it is perceived that the employees work better if provided with material benefits such as paid leaves, travel concessions, over-tin bonuses and performance based special allowances. In the similar context, intrinsic perk benefits reflect about the value accredited factors that motivate employees and can be practiced in the form of workmanship. Few instances of the employee benefits can be illustrated as child care, health benefits, paid holidays and social security among others (Chi & Gursoy, 2009). Emphasizing the values and benefits generated by perks given to employees, ABC Company has taken under consideration a brief understanding about the importance of employee benefits for the organization as well as for the workforce altogether. ABC Company deals in the services sector that includes retailing, investment and wholesaling among others. The company also deals in the wealth management, credit cards and the mortgage lending. Correspondingly, the study intends to discuss about the implications of the perk benefits for the employers as well as the employees. With this aim, the study discusses about the various kinds of perks that a modern workplace can offer, such as paid days off, custom break rooms with various activities and the fitness equipment’s along with procuring good and cool mangers among other commonly identifiable perks. Advantages of the perks Intrinsic motivational factors usually engage people from different dimensions triggering and stimulating their common value principles and cultural aspirations, which are needed to be generated from within rather than imposed from outside as in the case of extrinsic employee benefit perks. For instance, enriched working environment may be stated as an intrinsic perk for the employees while his/her promotional incentives should be summed as extrinsic perk. Competition can therefore be categorized as one form of extrinsic factor that greatly encourages performers to succeed and receive incentives to gain respect from his/her subordinates. Although distinct, the intention of both these kinds of perks is to motivate employees towards better performance, leading to the accomplishment of the overall organizational goal. In this respect, it is vital to note that offering perks has become an essential part of effective Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies, which is not only capable of motivating employees positively, but also raise their confidence, satisfaction and degree of moral to make the entire operational process smoother and more efficient (Bhadoriya & Chauhan, 2013). There are certain compulsory benefits, which become an obligation for the employer when designing employees’ compensation benefits or perk benefits, which has also affected the HRM policies practiced in ABC Company. Among the compulsory benefits offered to the employees as perks, fringe benefits are supposed to be one of the primes. Payment of fringe benefits maintaining transparency and legislative guidelines have enabled the organization to increase employee productivity as well as the commitment, rewarding the company with accelerated customer end satisfaction (Bhadoriya & Chauhan, 2013). Notably, being in the services industry, ABC Company has to pay due attention towards ensuring utmost customer satisfaction, wherein a satisfied employee force is deemed as the key to such accomplishment (Chi & Gursoy, 2009). This particular fact apparently justifies the ultimate benefits of giving perks to employees, uniformly based on mandatory legislative provisions. There are few basic elements within the workplace environment that are expected to motivate the employees in a positive manner. The elements such as choice, competence, meaningfulness and purpose among others accelerate the productivity of the employees and can be attributed as the forms of a few noteworthy and quite beneficial intrinsic perks. For instance, choice, as the motivational factor enables the employees to derive work-satisfaction from the job roles and responsibilities they have been assigned. Furthermore, maintaining the competency level is also found to boost the confidence level of the employees and motivate them to accept tougher challenges to grow consistently. Another element, i.e. meaningfulness, reflects about the employees’ understanding with respect to concerned work. In this respect, it gets easier for the employees to perform their job roles in a structured and planned manner. This not only allows employees to enhance their performance level but also raises their scope to balance their work-life more efficiently. In return, an effective, objective oriented and sustainable workforce is generated, which further adds to the internal competencies of ABC Company. Again, purpose, as a perk also reflects about aligning the employees’ personal objectives with that of the organizational objectives, which further contributes to the advantages of other perks (Bhadoriya & Chauhan, 2013; Salisbury, 1998). In ABC Company, the employees are also provided with a packaged benefit of health care, paid vacation and pension among others. However, few inclusion criteria is applied in offering these perks, which further provides a scope to evaluate the benefits of these packages. As was observed, employees deemed fit to obtain these benefits tend to continue with the organization for a longer period of time as compared to the employees, excluded from the benefits. Such inclusionary rules also tend to motivate employees to perform better and attain those perks; hence, rejuvenating their individual as well as the overall performance of the organization (Salisbury, 1998). Paid leave benefits is another such extrinsic perk that has often been argued to lay a direct impact on the overall employee productivity and sustenance within the organization, minimizing chances of employee absenteeism and attrition to a substantial extent. As paid leave benefits provide the employees with the opportunity to revive as well as deal with issues not related with work, this particular benefit has helped ABC Company to retain its employees and increase their productivity. There are basically two types of the paid leaves given in ABC Company, viz. off-the-job and on-the-job paid leaves. In consideration with off-the-job paid leaves, about the organization offers vacation packages, bereavement and sick leaves among others. Apart from this, on-the-job paid leave reflect about the rest periods, clothes-changing time and the wash-up time among others. These paid off leaves have assisted the ABC Company to design the work schedule for better performances and productivity (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 2000). It is worth mentioning in this context that attendance policy is vital for every organization as it assists in the establishment of a consistent attendance system within the workplace. Therefore, it can be ascertained that attendance management within an organization lays a greater impact on the annual turnover rate of the company. The ABC Company also maintains the attendance policy (Frey & Osterloh, 2002). It has helped it to maintain a check on the working hours and dedication of the employees within the workplace. However, during emergencies, the employees might have to leave early with respect to the scheduled time. In such case, the provision for early leave pay contributes to the productivity of the employees. This provision accelerates the confidence level of the employees and proves to be beneficial for ABC Company to retain them (Covington, 2011). Another employee benefit perk, offered in terms of provision for custom-break rooms with activities, as the intrinsic benefit also act as the motivation factor. Continuous stressful situations within the workplace tend to decrease the productivity of the employees. Contextually, the provision of breaks during working hours for performing relaxing activities have proven to be successful in increasing the employees’ performance. Playful activities act as the stress relief factor that plays a vital role in increasing the productivity of the employees. ABC Company would be benefited with respect to productivity and retention of the employees pertaining to this particular employee benefit (Smedley, 2012; Frey & Osterloh, 2002). In the recent scenario, modern day organizations are becoming increasingly conscious with respect to employees health. Keeping in mind this objective, the organization has been implementing the provision for fitness equipment within the workplace. Correspondingly, in order to reduce extensive stress from the employees, they are provided with options for exercising and getting stress free, which can also be treated as perks. Exercise, herein ensures boosting of the employees’ confidence by reducing stress and providing them with work satisfaction. ABC Company also practices the similar intrinsic benefit to retain the employees and increase their productivity levels. This further helps the company with respect to growth and development (Frey & Osterloh, 2002). ABC Company has taken the strategy of recruiting dynamic executives for managing the activities of the team in a proficient manner. It is usually ascertained that dynamic and friendly executive or leaders are likely to impact the performance of the employees. A dynamic leader is likely to create a friendly environment for the team members and thereafter augment employee morale. The dominancy of the supervisors has been found to impose considerable negative impacts on the performance level of the employees, increasing stress on them rather than assisting them to deal with it efficiently. Apart from this the democratic style of leadership is usually associated with productivity and accelerated performance of the employees (Frey & Osterloh, 2002). Hence, dynamic managers can also be characterized as perks for employees to motivate them intrinsically. Risk and Challenges Associated with Perks Negative motivation has also been regarded as a vital factor to keep the employees updated about their loopholes related to work. Thereupon, feedbacks have been considered as an important element that enables the employees to direct their efforts to match with the relevant challenges. As observed, negative motivation is likely to increase the productivity level of the employees, especially the poor performing staff members, imposing a certain degree of pressure on them to deliver better productivity to the organization, wherein positive motivation is deemed fit and most appropriate for performing staff members to increase their potentialities continuously. It is in this context that giving only focus to perks shall lead ABC Company to massive challenges in terms of hindered sustainability of the organization’s productivity trend. In the absence of negative motivational factors, focusing only on the above stated perks, the mentors in ABC Company might lack in rendering adequate assistance to the employees in developing their understanding about the reasons for their failure (Covington, 2011). Hence, it can be stated that the extrinsic and the intrinsic benefits that are provided by the organization apply certain negative implications also. In case of the intrinsic motivational factor, the challenge underlies in changing the set behavior of the employees. This can be explained with reference to the fact that the inbuilt behavior and set norms of an individual are difficult to be transformed. ABC Company similarly faces the challenges with respect to the implementation of the intrinsic motivational factors in the forms of the mention perks with insignificant focus on practicing negative motivation tactics to promote the performances of poor-performing or non-performing employees. In order to execute the mentioned strategies effectively, the entire procedure of the intrinsic perks require extensive attention by the management to ensure that the determined goals are accomplished effectively. As discussed above, the intrinsic perks include self-management and self-pride. These two wider human aspects cannot be imposed by any external factor; rather, it needs to be developed from within. Therefore, it tends to take lengthier preparation time. Besides, it has been ascertained that it is necessary for the employer or the organization to have an in-depth understanding of the employees’ behavior when focusing on implementing perks for employee benefits, as it also increases high chances of disparity amid the workforce. In the long-run, this might further increase chances of employee conflicts and hamper the stability of the entire workforce (Covington, 2011). To be precise, the intrinsic nature of employees varies significantly in terms of their personality and behavior. It is owing to this particular reason that it becomes difficult for the organization to effectively implement the tactics of intrinsic motivation. A greater challenge, which ABC Company currently faces, is the equal delegation of job responsibilities within the employees owing to their differing capabilities and strategic competencies. This further increases the chances of conflicts as any difference in the distribution of power might lead to the emergence of conflicts within the workplace (Fishbach et al, 2010). In case of the extrinsic motivation, monetary pay can be regarded as an important consideration for the employees. This involves extensive research on the part of the organization before framing the design, with respect to the extrinsic benefits. The organization faces challenges in determining the exact allocation of the monetary amount to various extrinsic benefits. Furthermore, extrinsic motivation causes detrimental impacts on the employees. It is fundamentally owing to this particular reason that a tendency exists within few employees to adversely use the pay benefits they are receiving. Focusing on practicing perks, it further becomes difficult for the employer to determine the exact and appropriate rewards along with benefits for the employees. In ABC Company as well, it has been observed that the extrinsic motivation factor had considerable impacts on the intrinsic motivation factor. According to the cognitive evaluation theory related to motivation, it has been observed that under few conditions, there are certain extrinsic rewards that greatly underlie the intrinsic motivation factors and thus, both these factors can be asserted as interlinked. Suggestively, as the process of the extrinsic benefits also reflects persistent risks related to the process associated with it, intrinsic motivational factors can be used when designing more effective employee benefit perks (Fishbach et al, 2010). Considering the case scenario of the ABC Company, recently it has faced a critical situation of challenges while implementing the extrinsic reward. The company while framing polices and allocation of the reward in pre-assessment segment, it faced the challenge with decision-making process. Extrinsic reward usually entails within it pay packages, which requires a minimum budget. At first instance the company failed to effectively allocate the rewards funds accordingly. In the initial years, the company faces extensive loss due to adverse use of the rewards by few employees. However, after implementing few advance strategies with regard to fund allocation associated with extrinsic perk, the company was able to execute the operations effectively by providing positive motivation to the employees. Conclusion The study reflects about the importance of the employee benefits in the form of perks. It further discusses about the relevance positive implication of the perks on the productivity of the employees. The study further reflects that employee benefits perks can be apparently linked with the two forms of commonly used strategic motivational techniques, i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic. The findings correspondingly revealed that in case of intrinsic perks, the motivational factors mainly reflect about the employees’ engagement in gaining self-pride. Apart from this the above-discussed intrinsic perks also reflect about the self-management efficiencies of an individual and tend to enhance it with the application of positive motivation factors. The employees get motivated by achieving the desired objectives, rather than any external incentive. In case of extrinsic perks being available to the employees, illustrations obtained reflect about the external monetary benefits in terms of paid leaves, vacations as allowances and special bonuses either based on their performances or extra efforts made in achieving organizational goals. Monetary benefits such as the incentives, paid leaves, exercising and room for activities among others provide positive motivation to the employees. This further increases their productivity and assists the organization in achieving the desired objectives. As per the observations made in this study, ABC Company has been able to derive considerable success and growth by making provisions of these benefits for its employees. Furthermore, the study reflected that negative motivational factors also sometimes lays positive impact on the employees, in the absence of which, only benefit perks might prove to be as effective as desired and thereafter might increase risks of internal conflicts and instability for the organization. References Bhadoriya, S., & Chauhan, S. S. (2013). A critical analysis on intrinsic & extrinsic factors of motivation. IJMBS, 3(3): 20-26. Chi, C. G., & Gursoy, D. (2009). Employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and financial performance: an empirical examination. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28: 245-253. Covington, B. G. (2011). God's Company and His Employee Benefits: Righteous Manufacturing Inc. iUniverse. Frey, B. S., & Osterloh, M. (2002). Successful management by motivation: balancing intrinsic and extrinsic incentives. Springer. Fishbach, A., Eyal, T., & Finkelstein, S. R. (2010). How positive and negative feedback motivate goal pursuit. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(8): 517–530. Salisbury, D. L. (1998). Do employers/employees still need employee benefits. EBRI, 1-71. Sansone, C. & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: the search for optimal motivation and performance. Academic Press. Smedley, T. (2012). Workplace design: how office space is becoming fun again. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/feb/17/workplace-design-office-space-fun Read More