Dive Brief:

• Employers looking to make workers happy and less stressed may want to consider doing their grocery shopping, picking up the dry cleaning or doing some other similar day-to-day task, according to Employee Benefits Advisor.

• The benefit is called errand running services, and according to article author Erin Krehbiel, president of ACI Specialty Benefits (an employee assistance program provider that also offers concierge services), employees are overstressed with long work hours and not enough time to do the day-to-day things everyone faces.

• Krehbiel adds that it's not just a feel-good perk; errand running services actually offer direct ROI in the form of improving retention, engagement and productivity.

Dive Insight:

Errand running, also known as concierge services, has one major positive: apparently, people will actually use it, Krehbiel claims.

Apart from dry cleaning pickup and grocery shopping, other personal jobs that can help employees enjoy more work/life balance and suffer from less stress include pet sitting, postal services, prescription pick-ups or personal shopping.

According to Krehbiel, errand running requests can be made by phone, email, website or mobile app, and errand runners then complete the request and the employee's credit card is charged for any goods or services purchased during the errand. Of course, she adds, errand running providers must fully background-check, insure and bond their workers.