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With so many different employee perks programs available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want software to help you automate recognition for key achievements while improving morale, job satisfaction, and loyalty, but you need to figure out which tool is best. In this article, I'll help you make your choice easier by sharing my insights on the best employee perks programs to automate rewards, boost motivation and productivity, and create a positive work environment.

What are Employee Perks Programs?

Employee perks programs are tools that help organizations offer a wide range of employee benefits, including performance-based gifts, birthday treats, company milestone gifts, corporate discounts, flexible stipends, wellness packages, and more. They simplify the process of administering these perks, giving employees a diverse range of options to choose from based on their personal preferences.

While many companies approach employee perks on an ad hoc basis, investing in a proper employee perks program can save you a lot of administrative hassles. These software systems allow organizations to offer perks at scale, with plenty of flexibility and customization options, including budget management tools. Other benefits include improved employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention, and a strengthened company culture. In addition, offering a competitive employee perks package can also help organizations attract new candidates and stand out against their competition.

Overviews of the 10 Best Employee Perks Programs

Here’s a brief description of each employee perks program that showcases each platform’s best use case, their noteworthy features, and some pros & cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface too.

Best for employee savings programs

  • A free trial is available post demo
  • $450/month
Visit Website
Rating: 3.8/5

Abenity is a perks and discount program management tool that provides organizations with a platform to offer their members, employees, or customers access to a curated collection of discounts and rewards. 

Why I picked Abenity: Abenity provides a platform for organizations to offer a variety of discounts and benefits to their employees. It allows clients to customize their perks program with their brand, control membership eligibility, and send targeted communications to engage users. Members can access discounts across various categories such as travel, dining, shopping, and entertainment through the Abenity website or mobile app. Abenity also offers back-end administrative tools for clients to track engagement, manage offers, and view savings.

The platform additionally includes features for clients to add their own negotiated discounts, create private offers, and distribute tickets and gift cards. It is accessible via a website and mobile app, allowing employees to easily utilize their benefits. Overall, the service aims to support organizations in increasing employee engagement and satisfaction by enriching their benefits package with valuable perks.

Abenity Standout Features and Integrations

Features include eTickets and gift cards, tools for importing member data and managing member registration, engagement and communications tools, a mobile app, analytics and reporting features, and a dedicated client success team.

Integrations include Salesforce, ADP, Workday, Microsoft Azure, ArcGIS, and Google Maps.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Includes wellness and health-related benefits
  • User-friendly platform
  • Available for businesses of all sizes

Cons:

  • Cost may not fit into every organization's budget
  • Limited search functionality

Best for its robust mobile app

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request

TriNet is a cloud-based human resources management platform that offers a variety of services to small and medium-sized businesses. Their technology platform offers employee benefits, payroll, compliance, HR consulting, and other services to help businesses automate their HR processes.

Why I picked TriNet: I picked TriNet because it is a comprehensive HR platform that offers a lot of different services in one place. When you don't have the time or resources to manage all of your HR tasks manually, TriNet makes it easy to handle employee benefits, payroll, and compliance all in one place. It's also a great tool for businesses that want to simplify and automate their employee perks programs and rewards.

TriNet Standout Features and Integrations

Features include an employee perks program, vendor perks and deals, payroll management system, custom rewards, a variety of payment options, and recognition programs.

Integrations include QuickBooks, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, BambooHR, Lattice, Greenhouse Software, Carta, and Xero.



Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Plenty of integrations
  • Easy-to-use mobile app
  • Easy access to payroll

Cons:

  • App can be a bit buggy
  • Employees have to learn new software

Best employee perks program for driving peer-to-peer recognition

  • 60-day free trial
  • From $2.70/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

Bonusly is an employee recognition and rewards platform that facilitates peer-to-peer recognition, automates employee milestones, and provides incentives and rewards programs.

Why I picked Bonusly: The platform is built around peer-to-peer recognition, and promotes a culture of positive feedback and appreciation. Employees start each month with an allocated budget of points, which they can then send out to their peers with personalized recognition messages. Recognition messages can include images, links, GIFs, emojis, and hashtags to give a personalized touch and highlight company values. Once recognition is posted publicly, other team members can comment and chime in to share their appreciation, too.

Team members can then use the points they receive to tap into the platform's rewards program. Reward types include gift cards, cash out options, charitable donations, and custom company rewards. Administrators can also set up automated celebratory messages for employee anniversaries, birthdays, and other important dates. These celebrations can also collect comments, and team members can pitch in additional points towards their peers' milestone celebration.

Bonusly Standout Features and Integrations

Features include personalized peer recognition, automated milestones, various reward types, customized reward options, incentive programs, and an analytics dashboard.

Integrations include BamboHR, SAP, Workday, Namely, Zenefits, ADP, Paychex, HiBob, Sage, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, among others.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Encourage public peer-to-peer recognition
  • Implement rewards and incentive programs
  • Automate employee milestone celebrations

Cons:

  • Not a traditional benefits platform
  • Requires employee adoption for success

Best employee perks program for strengthening your company culture

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request
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Rating: 4.8/5

Kudos is an employee recognition and rewards platform that’s full of modern features to help you build a strong company culture. You can use their platform to gamify the peer recognition process, with employees earning reward points for praising each other publicly. 

Why I picked Kudos: I included Kudos in this list because of the depth of their culture-building tools. While they do offer a points-based reward system like most platforms in this list, they also take it one step further with their advanced people analytics, sentiment surveys, and their Kudos Culture Accelerator. When used in tandem, these features can have a huge positive impact on your company culture. 

Kudos’ Culture Accelerator helps you create repeatable campaigns that honour and appreciate your staff, mesh with your corporate values and company branding, and reward employees with perks of their choosing. Once launched, their analytics dashboard monitors the success of your campaigns to show you how much your culture is growing and improving. 

Using Kudos, you can create custom awards that reflect your business objectives and company values, and empower your employees to submit their own nominations. You can also set up automated recognition campaigns for key dates, and give employees the opportunity to redeem their reward points for prizes.

Kudos Standout Features and Integrations

Features include performance recognition, peer-to-peer recognition, a public Kudos Wall, gamified badges, milestone celebrations, automation so no milestones are missed, a points-based reward system with no transaction fees, culture-building tools, anonymous employee sentiment surveys, and people analytics with easy-to-understand visuals. 

Integrations include ADP, BambooHR, Google Workspace, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Okta, Oracle, Paylocity, Ping Identity, SAP SuccessFactors, Slack, and Workday. In addition, their Kudos API can help you create custom software integrations with any other systems you’re using too. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • You can commemorate important company moments and wins with their image gallery feature
  • Nomination-based awards give employees a voice
  • Their fun, social media-style user interface is engaging

Cons:

  • Pricing details are not transparent
  • No free trial available

Best employee perks program for creating a custom-branded rewards portal

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

Reward Gateway is an employee engagement platform with a focus on five core engagement areas: employee recognition and rewards, employee communications, employee surveys, employee well-being, and employee discounts. When used in tandem, these features can help organizations engage, motivate and retain their top talent, by tapping into employee feedback and rewarding top performance. 

Why I picked Reward Gateway: I included Reward Gateway in this list because of the depth of their employee engagement features and the ability to customize their rewards programs. Customers using Reward Gateway can brand their reward portals to match the look and feel of their company and create custom rewards and ecards that are specific to their organization. In addition, Reward Gateway allows you to segment your reward options for different departments or teams as needed, making your offerings more relevant to your workforce. 

Employees at all levels can recognize and celebrate their colleagues through multi-directional, public feedback that boost connections and help your staff feel valued. Reward Gateway also includes manager-led awards that empower managers to reward great work on the spot. Managers can give their top performers digital rewards such as instant gift cards or award them points to purchase an item of their choice through Amazon Business with no added markups.

Other reward options include custom awards (e.g., extra paid-time off or lunch with the CEO), charitable giving, or prepaid MasterCards. At any time, participating employees can also take advantage of their employee discount program that offers discounts at popular vendors like Best Buy, Expedia, Gap, Home Depot, Macy’s, Staples, Starbucks, and more. 

Reward Gateway Standout Features and Integrations

Features include public recognition, employee-led and manager-led rewards, custom rewards, a wealth of employee engagement tools, engagement benchmark data, communication tools, surveys, customized blogs and content pages, white labeling, and an employer-branded mobile app. 

Integrations are available with numerous HR management systems, productivity tools, and authentication services. Key software systems include Amazon, Google Suite, LinkedIn, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity, Slack, and Yapster. They also have an Open API to support additional custom integrations as well.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Platform functions as a central hub for all employee engagement and recognition efforts
  • Advanced branding tools with access to a Marketing Design Team for assistance
  • Actionable data analytics help prevent employee churn

Cons:

  • Pricing details are not transparent
  • Unclear if modules can be purchased separately or not

Best employee perks program for gifting sustainable products or gifts with a DEI focus

  • Free demo + Lite account available as a trial
  • Pricing upon request

Snappy is a gifting platform that helps organizations create automated gift campaigns for any sort of initiative, including employee perks and customer appreciation gifts. You can use their platform to recognize important employee milestones such as birthdays or work anniversary celebrations, and automate the delivery so no key dates are missed. 

Why I picked Snappy: I included Snappy in this list because I like the flexibility and simplicity of their digital gift giving experience. Recipients receive an email with a digital card that they’re invited to scratch to open. Their gift is revealed with a fun little animation, followed by an opportunity to accept their suggested gift, or choose something else from their curated catalog of over 1 million options. Once confirmed, their item of choice is shipped immediately, cutting down on unwanted gifts and unnecessary shipping or returns. 

I also included Snappy because of their commitment to partner with minority-owned businesses and offer sustainable products in their gift catalog. To help organizations connect gifts to their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) campaigns, Snappy also supports cultural gift campaigns specifically for Pride Month, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month too. 

Snappy Standout Features and Integrations

Features include easy set up, automation, customizable campaigns, bulk gifting, employee metrics, a curated gift catalog of top-trending gifts (including physical, digital and experience gifts or donations), and global shipping to any location. They also have a dynamic gift API that works in real-time to ensure gifts featured in their catalog are currently in stock. 

Integrations are available with 25+ HR software solutions, including ADP Workforce Now, AlexisHR, BambooHR, Breathe, Ceridian Dayforce, Freshteam, Hibob, Lano, Lucca, Namely, Paychex, Paylocity, Personio, Rippling, SAP SuccessFactors, TriNet, UKG Pro, Workday and Zenefits. You can also connect Snappy to a paid Zapier account to create additional custom integrations too. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Discounted pricing available for small businesses with less than 50 employees
  • Integration with HR software ensures no key dates are missed
  • 90% of gifts are delivered within one week

Cons:

  • Pricing details are not transparent
  • List of specific gift vendors is not available for review

Best employee perks program for earning cash back from online purchases

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request

Vantage Perks is an employee perks program that’s available as an add-on to Vantage Circle’s rewards and recognition platform (available in their Transform or Enterprise level packages). Their employee benefits and discount platform can help your staff improve their financial well-being by saving money on services or common expenses like groceries, electronics, restaurants, or even travel and holiday packages.

Why I picked Vantage Perks: I included Vantage Perks in this list due to several unique features within their perks program. Vantage Perks helps your employees save money on common purchases, while also giving them the opportunity to earn cash back, as Vantage Points. These points can then be used for more online purchases, or transferred into gift cards from popular vendors. 

Another unique feature in their perks platform is their Classified page, which allows your employees to buy and sell items within your organization. By hosting this platform privately, this  ensures a safe and secure marketplace and transaction experience for employees who are buying or selling. This system also helps organizations encourage employees to re-use, repurpose, and reduce waste, rather than contributing more unwanted items to the landfill each year.

Vantage Perks Standout Features and Integrations

Features include exclusive employee discounts with popular vendors, a points-based cash back system, bulk gifting solutions, an exclusive weekly offers newsletter, a classified ads system, and a mobile app for iOS and Android devices.

Features within their larger Vantage Circle platform include a long list of employee recognition functions (e.g., a social recognition feed, a wall of fame, a gamified leaderboard, team awards, service awards, employee nudges, and monetary and non-monetary awards), company-wide announcements, HR and manager dashboards, employee and team adoption analytics, and budget management tools.  

Integrations are available with several HRIS/HRMS programs, including BambooHR, Darwinbox, Oracle HCM, PeopleStrong, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, and Zoho People, as well as with popular social and collaboration systems like Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, monday.com, Slack, Yellow.ai, WhatsApp Business, and Zoho Connect. It’s worth noting that some integrations are only available in their Transform or higher packages, while others can be included as an add-on.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Includes a wide range of employee engagement features
  • Vantage Pulse add-on captures feedback, experience insights, and eNPS data
  • Available in 15+ languages (Enterprise plan)

Cons:

  • Perks noted above are only available as an add-on to their Transform or Enterprise packages
  • Pricing details are not transparent

Best employee perks program for distributing edible incentives to hybrid teams

  • From $22/box

SnackNation is a well-known and loved snack delivery service used by many notable companies across the USA, including Amazon, Cisco, Chevron, Google, Levi’s, Nike, Peloton, and Visa. You can use their perks program to send creatively curated, healthy snack boxes to your remote employees or your in-office teams easily with their month-to-month subscription service.

Why I picked SnackNation: I decided to include SnackNation in this list because, in my experience, anything food-related is always an easy win when it comes to employee engagement. SnackNation has also adapted well to modern work scenarios by providing individual single-serve portions (full-size, not sample size) to reduce any health concerns your office staff may have around communal snacks. You can also use their service to deliver celebratory snack boxes right to your employee’s homes as well. 

With over 5,000 participating snack vendors, you’re guaranteed to receive an interesting roster of snacks that will excite your team with each delivery. Common box themes you can choose from include bars, chips, jerky, granola & trail mix, classics and sweets. On top of that, SnackNation also partners with Feeding America to donate 1 meal for every Remote Employee Box purchased, or 10 meals for every In-Office Snack Box purchased. Through this partnership, they’ve donated over 17 million meals to date!

SnackNation Standout Features and Integrations

Features include quick and easy set up, an expertly-curated catalog of premium snacks, budget-control tools, personalized notes included in each box, and flexible in-office or home delivery in all 50 US states.

Integrations for SnackNation are focused on their B2B snack vendor portal, but their subscription interface is so easy-to-use, there’s no need for additional consumer integrations anyway. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • A dedicated Snack Concierge (aka Account Manager) for onboarding
  • Fresh fruit is included through their partnership with Branch to Box
  • Reusable office-friendly display box provided with your first order

Cons:

  • Currently not available outside of the USA
  • Additional shipping charges apply for customers in Alaska or Hawaii

Best employee perks program for personalized group eCards

  • Prices vary by gift selected

Caroo is a well-rounded corporate gifting platform that simplifies employee gift giving at scale, while still retaining a personalized feel. You can use their platform to automate employee milestone gifts for birthdays or work anniversaries, help your new hires feel welcome with a thoughtful onboarding gift, or reward your remote or in-office employees with top quality snack deliveries. 

Why I picked Caroo: Several unique features landed Caroo a place on this list. Their Recipient Choice feature helps you automate the gift giving process, while allowing your employees to choose a gift they actually want. This simple feature helps you avoid gifting something that will go unappreciated in the long run, making it a more meaningful experience on the receiving end. 

Along with your gift, you can include a personalized card, or take advantage of their unique CareCards feature. A perfect solution for distributed teams, CareCards is a type of group eCard that combines word clouds, photos, messages and emojis into a memorable digital experience.

Gift giving through Caroo also gives back to charities, with money donated to Feeding America for every gift purchased. To date, this give-back program has funded over 20 million meals and counting! They also offset the carbon emissions associated with their gift deliveries through a special partnership with Pachama.

Caroo offers worldwide delivery with tracking, making them an excellent choice for international organizations. They also have a handy address verification feature that simplifies the delivery process. All you need to do is provide an email address for your gift recipient, and the system will take care of the next steps for you.

Caroo Standout Features and Integrations

Features include budget control tools, digital gift cards, collaborative group eCards (CareCards), automatic milestone gifting, bulk gifting, office snack deliveries, invoice tracking, recipient address verification workflows, and CSV data importing. Their gift catalog also includes a wide range of thoughtfully curated items for special occasions, across a wide range of categories like apparel, beauty & wellness, food & beverages, gift cards, lifestyle, and office & productivity.

Integrations are not specified on Caroo’s website.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • In-office snack deliveries come with team-building activities like Wellness Bingo or Happy Hour Icebreakers
  • Gift catalog supports diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts
  • Gifts purchased from their Amplify line include a 5% donation to nonprofits

Cons:

  • Software integration details are not transparent
  • Subscription pricing details for Caroo Pro Member plan unclear

Best employee perks program for managing flexible employee stipends

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request

PerkUp is an employee perk platform that helps organizations stay competitive by offering a well-rounded package of employee benefits. Their perks program includes a wide variety of benefits you can customize, including milestone gifts, branded swag, team lunch options for distributed teams, and a variety of wellness programs. 

Why I picked PerkUp: While PerkUp does include the classic employee milestone gift automations like other platforms in this list, three other interesting features are what landed them a spot on this list: their branded swag distribution abilities, their team lunch feature for distributed teams, and the depth of their wellness programs. 

PerkUp helps organizations deal with their branded company swag efficiently. You can host one or more swag stores within their platform, or make unique stores for specific company events like hackathons or retreats. PerkUp will manage your inventory for you and minimize shipping and fulfillment costs through their network of vetted global suppliers across 130+ countries. They offer fulfillment for swag orders of any size too, from 1-unit minimum orders, all the way to bulk orders of several thousand.  

Another unique feature is their lunch perk for distributed teams. PerkUp allows you to set a per person budget for your team lunch, select the recipients (perhaps a new hire, or your entire team), and choose a date that the lunch stipend will automatically be sent on. Recipients can then use their lunch perk through food delivery apps (e.g., Uber Eats, Doordash, GrubHub or Skip), popular multinational chain restaurants, or with other participating local restaurants or cafes. In cases where a recipient doesn’t use their full stipend, any unused funds will automatically be returned to your company too.

PerkUp also provides a framework for distributing other types of flexible stipends your employees will appreciate. Popular choices within their wellness program perks include lifestyle allowances (streaming services, event tickets, etc.), home office stipends (computer equipment or ergonomic office furniture, etc.), fitness perks (gym memberships, fitness classes, etc.), and mental health support (meditation apps, 1:1 coaching, etc.). 

PerkUp Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a global gifts and rewards catalog, milestone celebration automations, spot rewards, custom swag distribution, budgeting tools, global shipping (with free shipping within the US), and flexible stipend programs.

Integrations are available with many HR management systems, including ADP, BambooHR, Bob, Gusto, Insperity, Justworks, Namely, Paychex, Paycom, Paycor, Paylocity, Rippling, TriNet, UKG Pro, Workday, and Zenefits. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Global coverage for international teams
  • Lots of flexible stipend options to promote better work-life balance
  • Hassle-free branded swag fulfillment reduces company expenses

Cons:

  • Pricing details are not transparent
  • No previews of their user interface

The 10 Best Employee Perks Programs Comparison Chart

This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top employee perks program selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best program for your budget.

Tools Price
Abenity $450/month
Trinet Pricing upon request
Bonusly From $2.70/user/month
Kudos Pricing upon request
Reward Gateway Pricing upon request
Snappy Pricing upon request
Vantage Perks Pricing upon request
SnackNation From $22/box
Caroo Prices vary by gift selected
PerkUp Pricing upon request
Preview Image - <h2 class="c-block__title b-summary-table__title c-listicle__title h3" > Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

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Other Options

Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best employee perks program list:

  1. WorkTango

    Best employee perks program for incentivizing positive behavior

  2. Empuls

    Best employee perks program for consumer discounts and instant credit

  3. Xoxoday Compass

    Best employee perks program for motivating sales teams through gamification and financial rewards

  4. Awardco

    Best employee perks program for personalized rewards

  5. ThriveSparrow

    Best for rewards, recognition, and engagement tracking

  6. Nectar

    Best employee perks program for incentivizing health and wellness challenges

  7. Black Bow Gift Co.

    Best employee perks program for Canadian organizations

  8. PerkFix

    Best employee perks program for using artificial intelligence (AI) to measure employee engagement

  9. PerkSweet

    Best employee perks program for non-monetary recognition using badges called Sweets

  10. PerkSpot

    Best employee perks program for creating a tailored communication plan to build program awareness

How I Selected the Best Employee Perks Programs

Wondering how I selected the best employee perks programs for this list? I’m happy to explain my approach. To build this top 10 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of employee perks software platforms with positive user ratings.

To narrow down my list, I then examined each platform in finer detail using the selection criteria below to see how each system stacked up against the next one.

Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best employee perks programs for this article:

Usability

The main goal behind any employee perks platform is to keep your employees happy and engaged. That’s why it’s important to choose a platform that creates a fun and engaging user experience (UX) for users at every level, whether they’re employees, managers, or platform administrators. 

To assess a platform’s usability, I analyze its user interface (UI) to get a feel for what the user experience would be like. I also pay attention to the way the menus are organized, and how easy it is to navigate between features. 

Recognition and Engagement

Most employee perk programs are rolled into platforms that also offer employee engagement and recognition tools. When building this list, I looked for platforms with popular employee recognition functions, housed within social media-style user interfaces. Key features I searched for include public activity feeds, point-based leaderboards, custom badges or awards, and other fun gamification features that incentivize positive behaviours. 

Reward Options

All of the providers in this list offer some form of perks and rewards. Some are focused exclusively on point-based reward systems, while others cover automated milestone gifts, health and wellness challenges, flexible stipends, employee discounts, group ecards, custom-branded employee swag, or gourmet snack deliveries. I’ve included a blend of all these providers to give you a taste of all the top options out there.  

Software Integrations

Software integrations can help your employee perks program operate on auto-pilot. For example, by integrating a gifting platform with your human resource information system (HRIS), you can take advantage of pre-built workflows that send your employees gifts exactly on time for their most important dates, be they work anniversaries, birthdays, or years of service awards. For sales-based incentives, integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) software, or sales databases are also a huge plus. 

To save you some time, I’ve noted key software integrations for each employee perks program in my list. As you’re doing your research, take the extra time to ensure the platform you choose will integrate easily into your existing systems to simplify your processes. 

Cost Management Tools

Often, it all comes down to cost. However, the monthly costs for the employee perk programs in this list vary greatly depending on the type of system. With some programs, you can purchase employee gifts at scale for whatever budget suits you. In other systems, prices are set at the per gift, or per delivery level. 

For this list, I focused my efforts on platforms that include cost management tools like campaign budgets and bulk purchasing discounts instead. I’ve also highlighted other financial-friendly features like employee discounts and reduced (or free) shipping services too.

Employee Perks Programs: Frequently Asked Questions

To further assist you in your journey to crafting the best employee perks program for your organization, here are some answers to frequently asked questions you may have about employee perks programs and why they’re important:

What is an employee perks program?

The exact definition of an employee perks program is broad. Traditionally, employee perks are extra offerings that are granted to an employee above and beyond their salary and health benefits.

Some employee perk programs are focused on in-house initiatives, such as company policies covering extended leave for new parents, employee referral incentives, and other similar offerings. An alternate style of an employee perks program is a type of software platform that helps organizations motivate and retain their employees. The good news is, you don’t have to stick with one over the other.

A well-rounded employee perks program can be a blend of both approaches. The best employee perks programs are comprised of a collection of offerings, including a rewards and recognition system, flexible stipends that employees can spend according to their preferences, financial supports, milestone celebrations, and other types of perks that help your organization attract top talent.

How do employee perks programs work?

The main intent behind employee perks programs are to ensure your employees remain happy and motivated in their roles, and receive proper recognition for their contributions to the company. By acknowledging your employees’ efforts, you can expect to increase your employee retention rate, while simultaneously reducing your employee turnover.

In most cases, employee perks programs include a reward-based point system to incentivize positive behaviors within teams and reward top performance. For example, your employees may earn a small amount of reward points for posting public recognition shoutouts about their team members, or for hitting specific business targets.

These reward points accrue over time and are redeemable for prizes. The most common reward redemption types are physical rewards and merchandise, digital gift cards, and branded company swag, or they may include travel or experience-based rewards. Some platforms also allow you to offer customized rewards, such as an extra vacation day, a complimentary parking spot, or lunch with the company CEO.

Another category of employee perk that’s gaining in popularity, especially for distributed teams, is employee stipends. Stipends can cover a number of uses, including health and wellness items, home office purchases, subscriptions, or even meal deliveries.

Why are employee perks important?

Employee perks are important for many reasons. They help your employees feel valued and appreciated for their hard work. They incentivize them to keep working hard to reach their goals. They also strengthen your company culture, improve morale and productivity, and give your employees a more favorable impression of your organization.

You don’t just have to take my word for it though. There is plenty of research out there to back this up.

A report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation found that 90% of HR professionals believe that employees will stay in their roles with proper rewards and recognition in place.

Another study reports that 78% of employees would remain with their employer because they like their benefits package. On the other hand, 44% of employees would either change jobs or disengage (quiet quitting) if their work efforts were not properly recognized.

A Glassdoor survey on employment confidence confirmed that 79% of employees would prefer new or additional benefits over a pay increase. Digging into that data more, while healthcare insurance claimed the top spot at 40%, office perks and employee discounts were reported as their most valued perk type 19% and 17% of the time, respectively.

In yet another study from 2022, 92% of employees claimed they would repeat a specific action if given proper recognition for it. The same study also found that 80% of employees would work harder if they were shown more appreciation.

All of these statistics clearly show that it’s important to reward your top performers if you want them to stay with your company, and keep working hard. Whether your appreciation for your staff comes in the form of monetary perks, stipends, bonuses, gourmet snacks, or any other form, a proper employee perks program will increase your employee’s job satisfaction, leading to long term retention and higher productivity.

What other types of employee perks should my company offer?

Perhaps you already have a strong rewards and incentives program in place, and you’re wondering what else you can do? Here are some additional employee perks you can offer your staff that go above and beyond. Consider adding these to your benefits package to set your company apart from your competition:

  • Additional paid time-off (PTO)
  • Paid sick days
  • An extended sick leave policy (i.e., short and long term disability)
  • Employee health insurance
  • Life insurance coverage
  • Mental health resources
  • Reimbursement for home office expenses
  • Reimbursement for professional development courses
  • A stipend to cover annual professional certification/license registration fees
  • Tuition reimbursement for upskilling
  • Extended parental leave (paid or unpaid)
  • Paternity leave for fathers/partners
  • In-office childcare or daycare subsidies
  • Flexible schedules (i.e., flexible work hours)
  • Gym membership subsidies
  • Sabbatical opportunities
  • A registered retirement plan
  • Commuting benefits
  • A complimentary parking space
  • A pet-friendly work environment
  • Pet insurance

Final Thoughts

I hope this article helped you understand how important it is to keep your employees happy. As I've explained, there are many different options for how you go about it. However, the software systems in this list will remove the hassles and headaches by automating key portions of the process for you.

Before you go, here are some other in-house resources that address employee perks and the employee experience:

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By Kim Behnke

Kim Behnke is an HR Tool Expert & Writer for People Managing People. She draws on her 9 years of human resources experience and her keen eye for systematic processes to support her analyses of the top HR tools on the market. She is passionate about maximizing efficiencies and streamlining workflows to ensure internal systems run smoothly. Kim's HR experience includes recruitment, onboarding, performance management, training and development, policy development and enforcement, and HR analytics. She also has degrees in psychology, writing, publishing, and technical communication, and recently completed a Certified Digital HR Specialist program through the Academy to Innovate HR. When away from her desk, she can usually be found outside tending to her ever-expanding garden.