‘Perks’ are awesome for employees as they get to enjoy additional benefits, along with their employment and salaries. Employees find perks like free coffee and snacks, flexible work hours, casual dress codes, etc., exciting, making them excellent options for attracting the right talent.
However, in a bid to attract the best talent while honouring budget constraints, companies have started adding perks that do not improve the employee experience. So, let us understand these anti-perks.
What are Anti-Perks?
Anti-Perks are workplace benefits that are marketed as additional employee benefits but end up being useless for them. While not all of them are inherently bad for the employees, they usually backfire on the employers since they are not regulated or well-thought-out.
How Perks become Anti-Perks?
Modern workplaces often announce perks while advertising their vacant job positions to attract the right candidates. It also improves work culture and engagement among existing employees. However, these perks can easily turn into anti-perks in the absence of any predetermined benchmarks.
For example, unlimited leave is often introduced as a modern work perk. However, employees might feel guilty about taking too much time off, making the perk feel like a burden instead of a benefit. Similarly, some employees might abuse it to take unnecessary time off, affecting company productivity. On the same note, the perk of ‘flexible hours’ can easily turn into an ‘always available’ nightmare for employees if there are no clearly defined distinctions for work hours.
Another popular modern work perk is open offices, which are designed to improve collaboration and team building. However, the same perk can also lead to reduced focus due to distractions. Even late-night transportation and company-paid dinners can encourage employees to stay back, leading to them becoming anti-perks.
Why are Anti-Perks Harmful?
The most significant issue with anti-perks is that they can do more harm than good, especially when the employees or employers are unaware of the harmful consequences. It can affect the employee’s work-life balance, reducing their morale, leading to reduced productivity and burnout. Over time, these issues affect employee engagement, job satisfaction, making retention a challenge for HR teams.
On the other hand, employees who realize it may continue to enjoy the benefits, fearing that complaining may make them seem less committed to their workplace. As for the employers, anti-perks can seriously damage the employer brand, as employees can easily observe the disconnect between what they were promised and what they are receiving.
How to avoid Anti-Perks?
Companies have multiple options to avoid anti-perks, such as:
- Set clear guidelines for every perk, including a maximum limit for their usage within a duration.
- Evaluate usage of the perks, using well-defined metrics.
- Set expectations with the employees while they are onboarded.
- Gather employee feedback on their allotted perks to understand their viewpoint.
Conclusion
Perks should simplify work and make the workplace enjoyable for the employees. However, as the name suggests, anti-perks complicate workplaces. While real benefits support employee well-being and improve productivity, anti-perks affect both negatively. Hence, employee perks should be developed thoughtfully, keeping employees in the loop.
