The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, 3rd Edition

Chapter 28

Pay and Benefits

Nothing is more pleasing and engaging than the sense of having conferred benefits. Not even the gratification of receiving them.

—Ellis Peters

People work for many reasons, and compensation is just one of those reasons. To create and sustain a successful small business, you need to take into account the many benefits that people derive from work. From the noble (the desire to make a difference) to the mundane (the need for health insurance), work means different things to different people. Although pay is the main way you compensate employees for a job well done, it is by no means the only way. What you want is to create the conditions that foster a happy, productive workplace:

• Happy employees work better. They are respected, and in turn they give respect.
• Happy employees are engaged. When people are forced to do the same thing over and over again, lethargy cannot help but creep in. The great managers mix it up and play to people's strengths, not just the job's requirements or description.
• Happy employees have a stake. Ideally, they have a financial stake in the business, but it can also be an emotional one; they buy into the vision. Employees who believe in the business are typically satisfied people.

In this chapter, a smorgasbord of benefit options is offered for your consideration. Remember, great benefits foster grateful employees.

What Is Required?

By law, you are required to give employees only certain benefits, although they are probably not ...