The success of just about any business rests on attracting and retaining the right talent. To do this, we need to offer the right incentives and employee benefits. This might be a simple matter of offering more money, but additional perks can also help to sweeten a particular deal, and encourage the employee to view the company in a positive light.

Done badly, perks can look like a gimmicky fig-leaf for low pay. Done the right way, on the other hand, and they can encourage employees to value the company, and to stick around for longer.

Let’s look at some of the more effective, valuable perks.

Flexible Working Hours

When a job gets in the way of an employee’s home life, they may feel that they have to choose one or the other. This generates resentment, and a long-term desire to switch to a job whose hours are more manageable. Not having time to see your children because you’re working every evening is a definite downer – especially if you could really be doing the same work at a different time of day.

Working From Home

A related perk is the ever sought-after ability to work from home. This will allow employees to get the job done under their own motivation. But, perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates a level of trust on the part of the employer, which employees value.

Vacation Time

Granting paid time off is always a trade-off. If employees are to remain productive and focussed, then they’ll need to have the time put aside to unwind. If they’re not given it, then they’ll seek employment elsewhere. It’s important that vacation time is not only allocated, but that there are no cultural barriers to actually taking it. If employees are given reproving looks and excluded from lunchtime trips to the pub every time they decide to go on holiday, then the effect might be much the same as if they weren’t granted any extra holiday at all!

Employee Loans

Sometimes, employees might need short-term finance. That’s where employee loans come in. You’ll link repayments to the salary you’re paying out each month, and improve credit scores in the process. Loans of this sort are safer and carry a lower interest, and will effectively allow employees to earn an advance on their pay-check whenever they like, which can help them to manage short-term finance.

Health Insurance

This is something that’s often-cited in polls of American employees. But even in the UK, with our nationalised healthcare, employees might look for financial support so that they can go private when an emergency arises. When you pay out to one employee, you’ll demonstrate to the rest of your workforce that they’ll be looked after if they should find themselves struck by sudden illness or injury.

Starting out

The nature of the trade, i.e. investing, is complicated business and as a beginner the world of finance might seem more than a little daunting. Delving into the subject of investments you have most likely come across concepts such as bull and bear, booms and busts, rise and fall. Then there is the market itself, a battle arena of magnitude if there ever was one. Even the most experienced traders still find its volatility unsettling. Maybe you find yourself trying to keep up and learn by reviewing forex trading by DailyFX on a regular basis but you are still not quite grasping the rules of engagement. This is not uncommon. Many who start out wanting to create their own successful financial venture struggle. In the midst of trying to create the best financial strategy it might be desirable to have some tips on what to keep in mind when going after that first elusive deal.

3 useful tips

Make sure too align your investments with your own personal agenda, objectives and goals. 
– Exercise caution when deciding on which investments are most suitable for your individual financial strategy. It is important to stay objective when reviewing different investment possibilities and too not let personal emotions lead the way. With this said, many investors swear by their “gut feeling” and wouldn’t do business any other way. What is important is to make sure that your gut feeling is also backed by relevant market information. There are many sites, such as FxScouts, that are able to offer guidance. Your investment portfolio should reflect your values and beliefs in everything from methodology to holding structure.

Be prepared for the volatility of the market
– It is notoriously difficult to create accurate projections of where the market will go. With constantly fluctuating asset prices due to both micro and macroeconomic events, keeping track is challenging. One way to learn how to read the market is to acquaint yourself with different stock chart patterns. By mastering the art of the patterns there is a fighting chance of being able to have some sense of control when it comes to your investments. Make sure to only invest what you can stand to lose in the first instance as it will cushion the blow somewhat of the first fall, because there will be a fall.

Seek professional advice
–  By seeking advice from a qualified advisor you will most likely avoid a lot of headaches. Especially if you are just starting out in the investment world. The complex nature of the trade entails many pitfalls and even though there will be times when mistakes will be made and bad investments will follow, having the opportunity to run strategies by a professional will at least put the odds in your favour, hopefully. Investing in an advisor might just turn out to be the soundest one you will ever make.

In conclusion, before you make your first investment, these tips might help you along the way. Seek professional advice and learn which of the most common approaches to acquiring assets might be most suitable for you, then align your investment portfolio with your own personal goals and objectives and finally, make sure you are prepared for the ups and downs of the market.

• Smaller, cheaper things – like a chocolate bar or a £1 charity donation – bring people the greatest joy per pound rather than large, expensive items
• The Ice Cream Index is based on groundbreaking methodology that explored which of our summertime spends delivers the most happiness per pound

LONDON, 19th July 2019: Chocolate and donating to charity give British people the most happiness per £1 during the summer months. Buying a bar of chocolate makes us happiest relative to price, according to research by Zopa, the FeelGood MoneyTM company – while giving money to charity came in a close second.

Zopa, the FeelGood MoneyTM company and soon to be bank, commissioned behavioural analyst Darius Lucas to carry out ground breaking research to help people make the most of their money over the summer months. The unique research asked Britons to consider 100 summertime spends and give them a happiness rating out of 1,000. Items ranged from the simple – a humble ice cream, to the extravagant – a £1,000 weekend in New York.

The scores were then weighted alongside the cost of the items to reveal summer’s top list of feel good purchases in the ‘Ice Cream Index’. The score was also influenced by how long it took people to decide; hovering over an item for a longer time led to a lower score.

The results show that it’s the little things in life that give us the biggest feel good factor, with items such as ‘a book’, ‘a home-cooked family meal’ and ‘cocktails at happy hour’ scoring higher than ‘a high-tech drone’ and ‘a holiday in New York’.

Clare Gambardella, Chief Customer Officer at Zopa, said: “This just goes to show you don’t need lots of money to feel good this summer – it’s how you spend it that matters. Zopa offers customers the chance to feel good about their financial lives and so we commissioned the Ice Cream Index to discover which items really make people happy when the sun shines, whatever their budget. It links two subjects at the heart of Zopa – money and happiness!

“In fact, as the research shows, social connection is one of the top things that cheer us up during the hotter months. Whether it’s going to the pub with a friend (number 26 on the list) or giving to charity (number 2), connection outweighs material things”.

Summer of experiences

Experiences rather than products give people more happiness for the same amount of money, with holidays beating expensive tech items.

People also report higher happiness levels from items they use on a regular basis than from something they only use once, or less frequently but which costs the same. For example, a Netflix subscription makes us happier than a one-off rejuvenation treatment, and we prefer an unlimited phone contract to a music festival.

“This is consistent with ‘reinforcement theory’”, says Darius Lucas. “Longer-lasting items provide more reinforcement opportunities, or events that associate that item with positive emotional reactions. So people learn to expect happiness when they think of these items.”

Furthermore, items directly associated with physical pleasure give more happiness than items that aren’t – for example, we favour a comfy sofa or relaxing Jacuzzi over a designer watch or high-tech drone. “This is an example of the availability ‘bias’ or ‘heuristic’,” says Lucas, “where we have a mental shortcut to something because we’ve already experienced it.”