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Office perks 'key to staff retention'

Providing staff with perks like free tea and biscuits could be key to improving staff retention for UK businesses, it has been claimed.

Charles Cotton, performance and reward adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), said these sorts of benefits can help garner a sense of appreciation from staff members and this can be key to ensuring workers do not look to move companies in order to gain better working conditions

He commented: "The smaller and medium-sized employers don't have those sorts of resources, so they have to focus on the more relationship building type of rewards, such as a Christmas party or a celebration to recognise achievements."

According to the latest CIPD Employee Outlook survey, job satisfaction levels have hit an all-time low in the UK of plus-35 points, down from plus-45 in summer 2009.

Furthermore, 29 per cent of respondents said their standard of living had declined in the last six months.