What is Perk-cession?
Perk-cession is the reduction of perks by companies, due to recession in the employment marketplace.
After the recent global pandemic, companies have started providing an increased number of additional benefits and perks to counter the effects of ‘The Great Resignation’. However, these perks were not effective enough to attract employees back to traditional offices since they had grown accustomed to the flexibility provided by the ‘new normal’, which consisted of remote and hybrid working.
As a result, companies started to scale back the additional incentives and perks they had provided earlier. A major reason was that baby boomers who retired during the Great Resignation did not join back mainstream workforce. Another factor was that the younger workforce, who were the targeted generation for being the beneficiaries of these perks were no longer interested in them. Instead, they were embracing the new normal and the added flexibility it provided.
Employers can resort to perk-cession for multiple reasons, ranging from economical to simplification. While the most obvious benefit of perk-cession is the reduction in costs, it can also improve employee productivity as perks like pool tables or gaming rooms can be a distraction. Similarly, by providing multiple, perks, companies need to put more effort into maintaining them and removing such perks simplifies operations.
A major point to keep in mind during perk-cession is to inform the employees of the reasons behind removing their perks. By staying transparent, your employees won’t feel cheated when the perks they were enjoying would be suddenly removed. Similarly, the management can concentrate on other non-monetary perks to still engage their staff. For example, companies can provide their staff with flexible work hours or remote working options, which would not cost more for the organization.
Companies can also focus on employee well-being as these initiatives are valued more by the staff. It will also help the staff to perform well as they would be stable both mentally and physically due to the employee well-being initiatives provided by their organization. The HR teams can also be smart and creative when it comes to perk-cession. For example, instead of free lunches, companies can provide monthly team luncheons, which cut costs while also engaging the staff.
However, perk-cession is not completely ‘bad news’ for the employees. Companies have realized that instead of providing trivial perks, employees can be attracted to truly meaningful perks. Hence, the organizations which have undertaken perk-cession have also started providing other benefits that help change the lives of their staff members.
