Reading through the newspaper headlines at the moment, you could be forgiven for having serious concerns about the global financial outlook. Whether you're fighting to keep your business afloat in a competitive market or simply looking to keep a roof over your head and pay the bills, there's a lot to be worried about. It follows, therefore, that more or less everybody is primarily concerned with making sure themselves, their families and their businesses are able to withstand the ongoing tumult in the global economy. But for employers, this increases the risk that talented, experienced employees could be tempted elsewhere.

However, with many people hesitant or simply unwilling to take the risk of switching to a new job, it can prove particularly challenging for businesses to replace workers they've lost to competitors - and with conditions so difficult at present, having a high staff turnover can become a serious distraction to the task of keeping your business on the rails. The job of hanging on to upwardly mobile employees is hardest of all, as their skills are always likely to be in demand. But increasing salaries and forking out for bonuses isn't always a feasible option for many companies, so it's important for bosses to show a little enterprise and look for alternative ways of ensuring staff don't decide to up sticks elsewhere.

This is perhaps one of the main reasons that employee benefits have become relatively commonplace over the last few years. Handing out pay rises year on year - even where they're genuinely merited - could tip some firms into financial trouble, but supplementing regular income with other forms of reward can provide encouragement for workers without costing their employer an excessive amount of money. Employee benefits can take numerous forms, many of which can have a significant impact on individuals' everyday lives, but in some cases the gesture is as important as the actual reward on offer.

One of the most popular forms of employee benefit is childcare vouchers, which give staff discounts on the cost of finding someone to look after their youngsters. Childcare has become particularly expensive over recent years and is regularly cited as a major concern among parents. However, not every member of staff is going to have children to worry about, so you'll need to find other forms of reward to keep them satisfied. After all, rewarding one section of the workforce while seemingly ignoring others is only likely to generate ill feeling between employees - and it could inadvertently damage morale.