A contribution from Michaela Rhein in the category #News from 12 June 2020
At the office, a professional coffee machine, additional free coffee, fruit and muesli are among the classic benefits that are offered to employees, but simply cannot be transferred to home office. We put together 5 ideas for how you can transfer the work place experience, and its benefits, to a remote work situation.
You only have 1 minute? Our top 5 perks:
- Care packages and vouchers: Surprise your team with care packages, vouchers and online team events. Contact us and together we will find an ideal solution for your team.
- Mental health and relaxation programs
- Good equipment for home office
- Learning, development & online team building
- Mentorship programs within your organization
Our top 5 perks in more detail
1. Care packages & vouchers
Most companies offer their employees a professional coffee machine as well as free coffee, daily fresh fruit, small snacks, or even a full lunch. Make these benefits available to your employees in their home office by surprising them with care packages that include freshly roasted coffee, tea and healthy snacks. Another option is to issue vouchers for online shops or lunch services, so that your employees can decide for themselves what helps them to stay motivated and focused while working from home.
We offer care packages, vouchers and online team events.
2. Mental health and relaxation programs
It has been proven that our mental health influences our work, motivation and productivity. While some employees like to work from home, others find it difficult to cope with the external circumstances of their home. Offer your employees programs to keep them in good mental and physical shape. Health apps, such as Humano, offer trainings for all levels and practices for mindfulness. At Coffee Circle we recently connected with Mila health, a mental health organisation, which offers 1:1 consultations via video call and received good feedback.
3. Good equipment for home office
At home many employees don’t have the equipment that is normally offered in an office. In a survey* we conducted, 57 % said that they don’t have their own work space at home and therefore struggle with concentration or suffer from back pain. While in an office every employee has a desk, a monitor and a good internet connection, at home these things aren’t a given. Support your employees financially so that they can set up a proper workplace at home. In addition, occupational therapists offer online consultations for remote employees for a healthy workspace setup.
4. Learning, development & online team building
In small and large companies, team events such as Friday Beers, barbecues or table tennis tournaments are often organized. If there are many employees who work exclusively from home, they cannot participate in these events. A good alternative are online team events, where people learn something new together. These can take place on an informal basis or in the form of, for example a feedback training, and contribute to personal development. Another possibility is to invest the budget for team events directly into the personal development of employees, for example by participating in online conferences, webinars or coachings.
We offer online Coffee Tastings for all team sizes.
5. Mentorship programs within your organization
In the future, working from home will become more and more common. Onboarding of new employees will take place online and new employees may not get to know their colleagues personally until the annual Christmas party. Through internal virtual mentoring programs, new employees can connect faster and get the opportunity to get to know colleagues who have been with the company for a longer period of time. This gives your company the chance to spread its mission through its employees.
Conclusion: In times where more and more companies offer their employees the possibility to work partially or permanently from home, many creative solutions exist to ensure employee happiness. We are curious to see what the future holds and wish you and your team success in testing new measures.
*Mini survey on Linkedin, March 2020 with 54 responses
Michaela Rhein
Micha arbeitet bei uns als UX Researcherin im Experience Team. Am liebsten trinkt sie fruchtige Filterkaffee Röstungen aus dem V60. Bevor sie nach Berlin gekommen ist hat sie die Welt bereist und gibt gerne Geschichten zum besten. Ansonsten ist sie auf ihrer Yogamatte oder im Park anzutreffen.