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Shelter Chieza Change Management
Who would refuse an offer to have a health and fitness club subscription paid by the company for the rest of the year. Its now common for companies to demand an employee to undergo a health screening test before signing the final dotted line.

Although wellness programmes have become a trend for the more “stable companies”, the smaller companies have tried following suite. It’s no longer viewed as a softer and justifiable form of discrimination.

Various opinions have been raised as to how far an employer must know your personal issues through medical examinations.

However, companies have slipped out of it justifying their actions and claiming that they are in the process of identifying how many workers have medical concerns so this was an exercise to enact programmes that help them. I

It is expensive for the employer to employ someone that is not well.

The number of hours and days granted to that person can be overbearing for the company. In fact, health benefits are a tremendous value to employees but are a tremendous expense to employers.

As an employer, keeping employees happy should be an ultimate priority.

In other economies, the 9 to 5 working period has been eliminated. There is now concentration on what a worker has achieved.

The employees that are given this incentive know very well how easy it is to be laid off so they are constantly on their toes. In fact most of them work more hours than the 9 to 5 ones.

At some point Facebook had incredible perks for parents and parents-to-be. If you are a new mom or a new dad, you could get four months of paid parental leave, reimbursement for day care and adoption fees, and $4 000 in “baby cash” after their child is born.

Some companies go so far as inviting guest speakers for a Educational and Training Series. In this session employees have an hour-long gathering to ask probing questions such as how they achieved what they did or management methods to tricky situations they are currently facing.

Of course, these have relevance to the company’s overall mission and vision

As a company you will benefit if you have on site health services where employees can be regularly attended instead of taking time off to visit health institutions that are located far from their work stations. We have heard of employees that have waited for service in long queues chewing away the company’s productive time

We would all want to work for Google that has physical therapists, chiropractors and massage therapists on the Google campus.

During some time the company Starbucks announced its College Achievement Plan.

It allowed their employees that work 20 and more hours a week to attain a bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online programme, with full tuition coverage.

Things like special event tickets and transportation may not be that difficult to find.

They go a long way in appreciating the employee.

Its mutually satisfying when both parties appreciate the efforts for incentives. A line or two to endorse your employee for the credit facility goes a long way into appreciating the employee.

If more and more employers would appreciate that employees spend most of their time at work, it would be a healthier working relationship.

Employees that are offered lunch on the premise usually have less time to roam around. A canteen on the premise encourages uninterrupted working. You may also want to look at other service providers that come to the office to help you with concierge services such as dry cleaning, car servicing, vegetable providers.

Now some critics have come out heavily against the carrot and stick approach which is typically outlined by the perks outlined above.

The carrot and stick approach is suggested to have been first used by farmers to keep animals moving.

When the donkeys stopped for whatever reason, the farmer would dangle the carrot on the horse’ nose. If after this attempt failed, then the stick was used as a form of punishment to get the horse moving.

This idea may work for some people and may not work for some others. Employee satisfaction is not easy to attain but it is possible.

Be careful though, there are some instances in which higher paid employees no longer need all those carrots dangles in front of them. Offering them such kinds of incentive s may end up frustrating them.

I have often queried those internal programmes that set targets to say if you sell for this much, we will offer you this much.

The reality is that employers must pay their employees competitive remuneration so they do not spend time trying to cover up for the inadequacies and inequitable salary distribution structure.

People have a way of focusing on the inherent satisfaction. A human being has more satisfaction in exercising their capabilities and exploring and learning.

Threats and fear have never been a wise way of getting something achieved.

• Feedback: Shelter Chieza is a management consultant. She holds over a decade of management experience. She can be contacted at [email protected]