Concierge Benefits = More Productive Employees
Looking to distinguish your firm from others and increase employee productivity? Consider adding concierge benefits to your benefit portfolio.
According to SHRM’s 2014 Employee Benefits Survey, 3 percent of employers offered concierge benefits. Industry observers expect that figure to increase, as employers try to attract skilled employees in the millennial generation.
What are Concierge Benefits?
A corporate concierge offers personal services that help employees balance their work and home lives. Just as a concierge at a hotel can make reservations and run small errands, a corporate concierge service can do the same sort of personal services. Services offered can include personal tasks such as making a restaurant reservation or buying tickets for a concert, making travel arrangements or finding a plumber or babysitter. Without a concierge, employees might otherwise spend work time handling these tasks.
In years past, many employers forbade employees from conducting any and all personal business during work hours. But today, some human resource professionals are looking at things differently. With employees working longer hours and facing longer commutes, allowing people to take care of personal tasks—within reason—during work hours can actually reduce stress and increase productivity.
Offering concierge services might also be bowing to the inevitable. A survey by digital media group Captivate found that 93 percent of business professionals responding took care of personal business during work hours. Some of the personal tasks they did included making online orders, leaving the office to run errands or going shopping during breaks. Twenty percent of employees admitted doing all these chores in a given week.
What’s the Benefit for Employers?
Concierge services can boost employee productivity and reduce stress. Best Upon Request, a concierge benefits provider, compiled data from 2,275 customer satisfaction surveys in 2012 and 2013. It found that employees who use concierge services save an average of two hours for each concierge request fulfilled. Half say they use that time they would have otherwise spent on work.
According to Best Upon Request, employees who used concierge services reported the following:
- Reduced stress: 80 percent
- More productive at work: 70 percent
- Feeling more valued by their employer: 90 percent.
Best Upon Request reported that several clients attributed decreases in employee turnover at least in part to their concierge program. Bronson Healthcare Group in Michigan saw employee turnover drop 54 percent in the three years after implementing their concierge program.
How Do Concierge Services Work?
Concierge services can be either on-site or virtual. An on-site or local concierge can provide a wider variety of services, such as shopping, picking up dry cleaning, etc. Virtual services are limited to tasks that can be done online or by phone.
Services cost from $3 to $8 per employee per month. Unlike voluntary benefits, employers typically pay for the concierge service, but employees pay the actual cost of services—such as the cost of their concert tickets or travel. If the employer pays for actual services, it must report their value on the employee’s Form W-2. The value will be included in the employee’s taxable income.
Some EAPs (employee assistance programs) offer concierge services as an add-on, but you can also buy standalone concierge services.
Concierge benefits can help distinguish your firm from your competition. For more information, please contact us.
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