Often, companies confuse work perks with great corporate culture. This blog post will help you learn the difference between a great culture and perks.
Perks and culture
Company leaders think that to create a great corporate culture, they need to purchase the pool tables, ping pong tables and get a keg for the office. Others think that they should offer four-day workweeks. However, these are perks and not company culture. The two are different things. If a company focuses on adding flashy employee perks, they may attract employees but they will not retain them.
Perks are great
The above paragraph should not confuse you. Perks are great. Allowing your employees to bring pets to work is a perk. Texting employees after they had to put their pet down is a culture. Before we look at why work perks are important, let us look at the components of culture.
Components of culture
Culture is made up of experiences and emotion. It is the intangible mood and feelings promoted by tangible actions. It is about caring for your employees and promoting a community sense that allows your employees to feel connected to something greater than their roles in the company. It is allowing your employees to feel comfortable in the company and be themselves. Culture creates an experience that employees would not otherwise be able to have. It is spending the time to listen and support employees in their personal lives.
Components and benefits of perks
Work perks are short-term motivation and happiness. Perks will attract employees but companies are not investing in personal and professional development if they are not willing to spend time gauging individual motivators. Without empathy for employees who are struggling with their issues, employees will leave as soon as they get a higher paycheck somewhere else. It is therefore important to combine culture and perks.
