Obviously, a good salary is a start, but the successful companies, in addition to their salary offer employees an attractive benefit package. Now, most employers don’t have a problem calculating the salaries for each position within their company, but where they run into trouble is deciding what, if any, additional benefits to offer their employees.

While it is true that the initial salary is often what draws an employee to a company, the additional benefits can mean the difference between a company with loyal, happy, hard working employees and one with high turn over. Many employers believe providing employees with access to a health insurance package and a retirement plan is all they need to do in terms of benefits.. While health insurance and retirement programs are a great benefit, there are several other things an employer can offer to help attract and retain good employees. Consider offering a tangible benefit like a monetary bonus program. The bonus program can be performance or profit based, which ever works best for your company and it is up to you how you want to offer the bonus; monthly, quarterly or yearly. Nancy Butler, of Butler Communications offers her employees a chance to share in the profitability of the company and she finds it greatly motivates her employees to work on the continued success of the business.

Other companies run monthly trivia or sales contests with a monetary reward.. Of course, not all benefits need to cash based, often the ones that are lifestyle based have just as great an impact as those that are monetary. Tim Delbrugge, CFO of Welocalize, strives to make their company a place that employees enjoy coming to. In addition, to usual benefits such as 401k and health insurance Welocalize offers ping-pong in the break room, snacks and the company regularly recognizes workers who innovate or show teamwork. It is a matter, says Tim of finding what works for your company. Don’t be afraid to try a new benefit program, if it doesn’t work, stop the program and go back to the drawing board. For instance, Welocalize decided to do away with formal holiday parties. Instead, each office has access to a certain amount of funds, and they may use it any way they see fit (except splitting the cash between employees).

Each location decides what to do, it might be an office outing or a catered meal, it is whatever the team decides is the best morale booster for that location. It is a matter of finding what works best for your organization, not every business can offer large-scale bonuses or company outings. It is okay to offer smaller benefits like free memberships to the gym or a wholesale club like Sam’s Club. Even things like free coffee and bagels, an occasional catered lunches, or movie passes can greatly increase employee morale. Also, consider offering telecommuting, half days or casual days, whatever best suits your business. Additional benefits, do represent an expense for the company, it encourages employee loyalty, which ultimately leads to the continued success of any business.