Employees are your most precious assets. But they can also be a devastating cost to your business if you’re not careful. In a previous article, we’ve mentioned some of the strategies you can use to avoid unnecessary costs when it comes to your team. 

We considered researching benefits carefully, as there’s plenty of employee benefit programmes that may not be suitable for your company’s needs. Training is also another financial pitfall for businesses. Training comes at a high cost, and it’s fair to say that you want to introduce conditional training plans and development plans to ensure that you can not finance training in vain. We also reviewed the risk of aggressive internal promotions, which could make you miss out on external talent. But there are some other situations where your team could drive high costs.

Hire remote talent

In the modest of a pandemic, recruitment is taking a new dimension. Businesses are not afraid to consider remote employees anymore, and this might also include international employees. In a world where everyone works online, remote teams are not a problem anymore. Except that you could face expensive bank fees to pay a salary to your new US-based expert. It can be helpful to consider opening a USD bank account to avoid exorbitant transfer fees! Some online banking solutions let you create multiple currency accounts. 

Consider flexible working time

Flexible working time has become hugely popular during lockdown. However, there’s a good argument for maintaining flexibility even in a post-pandemic environment. Indeed, flexibility significantly increases productivity, as your team is less likely to take sick days for stress or depression. Additionally, according to a study run by Cranfield University, 90% of managers notice that the quantity and quality of work improve with flexible working arrangements. Paying your employees the same wages and getting more done, that sounds like a smart investment! 

Reduce business travel

Admittedly, in times of pandemic anxiety, business travel is cancelled except for essential travels. However, a lot of companies are ready to restart life as normal as soon as the covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Travelling for business, however, is not always the best solution. Indeed, employees lose a full day of work for a meeting that may not last more than a couple of hours. Additionally, travelling also increases business costs, including transport, food, and other essential expenses made on the go. The pandemic has proven that meetings can be held remotely, using video call conference tools or even phone calls, without compromising the deal or the business relationship. 

Consider useful perks

In essence, perks and benefits may seem like the same thing. But there are crucial differences. Benefits pay for expenses that employees would have to make with their wages. On the other hand, perks are extra rewards or incentives that come on top of the salary. Perks, however, can be expensive and fail to appeal to your team. Free bar on-site, for instance, is a popular perk in agency sectors. But it drives neither productivity nor motivation, nor does it increase employee retention. 

As a business, you need to invest in your employees. Yet, there is a big difference between investing money that supports employee growth and wasting your budget on irrelevant strategies.