FBC


UPFRONT» HR 3 Paid time off for volunteer- ing and money for donation


At Salesforce, a cloud computing com- pany, employees receive six days of paid volunteer time off a year, as well as $1,000 per year to donate to a char- ity of their choice.


Facebook provides $4,000 in cash to employees with a newborn.


4Baby Cash


take Friday afternoons off all summer long.


5 Half-day Fridays 6 Partial reimbursement of student-loan debt


Tax experts PwC offers its employees a $1,200-a-year reimbursement on stu- dent-loan debt.


Rethink Your Perks and Incentives


Salaries are important, but good employee benefits prove that a company really cares


BY PAULA COMFORT


example, traditionals are mentoring millennials. • If compensation dictates behav-


T


iour then perhaps Gen Xers might need to be compensated in a different way than Echo babies. • And then there are the perks.


Many studies have illustrated that perks and benefits can significantly impact recruitment. Inc. magazine recently published an


inspiring article on the best company perks, provided by companies such as Google, Facebook and Airbnb. It got me thinking. According to the recruit- ing website Glassdoor, more than half (57 percent) of all workers say that perks and benefits are among the top things they consider when deciding whether to accept a job. And almost 80 percent of employees


18 Fitness Business Canada July/August 2016


oday, most companies have a multi-generational work force. • This can create a signifi- cant HR challenge when, for


say they would prefer additional ben- efits, such as health insurance or paid time off, over a pay raise. The fitness industry needs to man/


woman up on incentives and perks! Perhaps a menu of incentives to se- lect from would help employers cover all the bases. I recommend doing an employee survey to determine which perks your inter-generational team thinks would be ideal. Here are 10 of the most incredible


perks that some companies are offer- ing right now:


spouses and partners of deceased em- ployees with 50 percent of their sala- ries for 10 years.


1 Death benefits


REI encourages its employees to enjoy their favourite outdoor activities by offering two paid days off each year called "Yay Days".


2 Yay Days American outdoor-gear retailer Google provides the surviving


Burton provides employees with sea- son ski passes and "snow days" to hit the slopes after a big snowfall.


Twilio offers employees a Kindle plus $30 per month to purchase books.


8 Books


pany for one week in December and one week over the summer (difficult to manage in the service industry but could be done by rotating teams).


9 Required time off 10 Life- and career-coach- ing sessions


Asana, a task-management software company, provides employees with external executive- and life-coaching services.


Creative and customized perks help win and retain top talent. Get on it!


Paula Comfort has 20+ years of experience in the fitness in- dustry. Most recently she was managing director of Fitness for Spa Chakra Inc., a luxury spa and health club company where she started the division. Previous roles include area


vice-president of The Sports Clubs of Canada/ Bally Total Fitness. She is currently a partner in her own consulting company, 360 Impact Group. Contact her at paula@360impactgroup. com or 416-565-6025.


Adobe shuts down the entire com- Cloud-communications platform 7 Ski passes and snow days Ski gear and apparel company World Wildlife Fund employees


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