Even small companies can afford benefits

A small company is often a more attractive workplace for young people today than a corporation. According to the report "The Image of Family Businesses as Employers" published by the On Board Think Kong Group, one in three Polish millennials prefers working for a small, family-owned company rather than a corporation.

At the same time, 65% of respondents believe that small companies do not emphasize their uniqueness in recruitment ads. Owners of small and medium-sized enterprises are still far from practical employer branding. This concept, like benefits, is still associated with very complex activities and costs that small businesses are not prepared for.

However, this is quite unjustified. Neither employer branding nor benefits solutions are inaccessible to us – small companies. They are not expensive when you look closely at the tools available.

I say "for us" because I am also the owner of a small, dynamic company, which deals with benefits. One of my challenges is to make access to benefits solutions easy even for the smallest company. I am deeply committed to this because I believe there is no reason why employees of small organizations should not be able to benefit from modern solutions that impact their work comfort, and employers should not have access to modern HR tools and solutions.

Let's start from the beginning. When it comes to employees, I face similar challenges as a large company.

I dream of and am still looking for young, talented, and committed people for my team. I carefully watch every penny each month, just like many small business owners. I understand well that in Poland, salary still plays a crucial role for employees, and I strive to provide decent wages for my team.

I have it!

But that’s not enough. I also know that millennials seek interesting projects – mine is one of them! I know the labor market studies and understand that young people often prefer family-owned businesses over large corporations – that’s good news for us! We are far from being a corporation. Close relationships with owners, their engagement, a culture of trust and mutual respect are factors that motivate millennials and are values they find and appreciate in smaller companies.

I try to remember this and build the company based on these values, among others. They are very important to me as well, and if they can motivate my employees, that’s great.

If I can build these relationships authentically within the company, I’ve already achieved a third of the motivational work.

Another significant part is related to how we manage and communicate with young people – this is a very important aspect of the owner's job, requiring authenticity, consistency, and continuous development of the management team, and it has a huge impact on team motivation. This is a topic for a separate text.

I refer to the "Employee Barometer (2016, Edenred)" report – it confirms that an increasing number of people point to the motivating function of benefits. 84% of respondents say that benefits increase their motivation to work, 83% notice their positive impact on the quality of life at work, and 68% appreciate their impact on strengthening work-life balance. These indicators also apply to my team! And to every other team, even in the smallest company.

My team, like people in corporations, dreams of having private medical care co-funded, cinema tickets, or memberships to sports clubs.

Sports cards are unattainable for me; they have a prohibitive price. As a small company, I am unfortunately an unprofitable customer… Medical subscriptions for a few people also turn out to be very expensive, as the risk of use in a small company is calculated high.

Perhaps a cafeteria system? From the start, you need to pay several thousand zlotys for it; I’m not an attractive customer, it’s a waste of time… Moreover, its implementation in the company is a technological challenge and takes time – precisely my time, as I do not yet have an organized HR department.

And that’s exactly why I came up with the Nais program, which effectively brings the world of benefits closer to small companies. The program is already available on the market, and I hope you will come across it soon.

It is completely free for even the smallest company (as long as the company has a total of 5 people, and their employment form is not important). It is a SaaS platform – logging in and setting up a company account takes as long as drinking half a cup of coffee. It does not require any technological efforts. I decide how much money I want to allocate for my employees and how often I want to reward them. Finally, I have access to private healthcare at a decent price; I can fully fund it for my people or co-finance it so that they feel valued. I can subsidize subscriptions or tickets to the pool or fitness club. Yes, we don’t have a Multisport card, but that doesn’t mean my employees can’t enjoy sports activities at my expense. Instead, I can freely pay for cinema tickets, bowling, physiotherapy massages. They are eager to use language courses at an online school.

They freely decide how to allocate the funds I provide for them.

In the end, I am satisfied because I receive a clear usage report. And I only pay for what people actually used.

How much do I need to spend per person monthly? On a bad month – 25 PLN; on a big occasion, even 100 PLN, but I always decide. Do I have to do it every month? Not at all! I fund employees' accounts when I want and need to.

Iwona Grochowska

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