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Beyond Salary: The Right Benefits and Perks for Attracting Talented Job Seekers

In Company Culture — by Dave Anderson

When a person sets out to find a new job, they often have a particular amount of money they hope to earn in mind. That’s why it’s so important to include compensation details in a job description.

However, salary isn’t the end-all-be-all for many job seekers. Some people value other qualities in a job that will help them enjoy their work even more. They know that working for a paycheck doesn’t always lead to happiness.

So what can your company do to attract the best job seekers on the market, beyond offering favorable compensation? In this article, we’ll outline a few perks that can set your company apart from other employers.

Great benefits

After salary, the average job seeker is most concerned with having the right benefits. They want to ensure they won’t have to pay too much when they go to the doctor, will be able to save for retirement and can take time off when needed.

However, health insurance, 401ks and PTO are table stake benefits in most professions. Your company should strive to provide the best plans and policies as possible but it’s the secondary benefits that can set you apart from other employers. The right ones depend on what on your employees need and what your company can swing but here are a few examples worth considering:

• • Stock options – Giving your employees a cut of the profits is a great way to keep them motivated and help grow the company.

• • Education reimbursements – Encouraging employees to acquire new skills by paying for a portion of their tuition is a win-win for both parties.

• • Wellness benefits – Healthy employees do great work. Consider reimbursing your staff for gym memberships or fitness equipment purchases.

• • Commuting benefits – If your employees spend a lot of money getting to work, you can ease the burden by paying for bus passes, train tickets or parking.

• Community service opportunities – Support your employees’ community service endeavors by giving them a few days off each year for volunteer work.

Your company needs to have the budget and resources to offer secondary employment benefits. Try to figure out a few that work so you can show potential employees that your company cares about their needs.

A comfortable workplace with great amenities

Bland offices with cubicles and bad lighting have given way to hip workplaces with nice amenities. Employees spend a large portion of their lives at work and want to be comfortable so they can do their best work.

It’s not possible for every company to have the extravagant offices that have become popular online. However, do your best to provide a workplace that has everything your employees need to stay productive throughout the day. That can be as simple as having meeting rooms outfitted with the right equipment and a kitchen or break room with coffee, drinks and snacks.

It’s also important to give each individual employee whatever they need to do their job. In a typical office, that can mean providing a comfortable desk, phone and computer with the right software installed. When bringing on a new team member, ask the hiring manager what tools they’ll need to accomplish their tasks.

Flexible work schedule

While having a great workplace helps attract job seekers, allowing them to get away from the office every once in awhile is a great perk as well. Offering a flexible work schedule shows that your company trusts its employees to get work done on their own terms.

There are a lot of different ways to offer a flexible work schedule. As technology advances, many companies are allowing their employees to work remotely 100 percent of the time. If that’s not feasible for your company, you can limit work-from-home days to once a week. Some companies even do half-day Fridays in the summer or snow days in the winter. One of the most reasonable approaches is simply to tell your employees to work from home when they need to.

An opportunity for advancement

Every professional has career ambitions. Most people of course want to earn more money in the future. But they also want to take on new challenges and have new experiences.

One of the main reasons people leave jobs is because they feel like there is no room for advancement. It’s often easier to get a promotion by accepting a new role than asking for more responsibility in a current job.

Even if your company is small, you can help employees grow professionally by providing internal training and mentorship programs (education reimbursements are great too). When a more senior position becomes available, they’ll be ready to step in because your company groomed them for the opportunity.

This approach also benefits your company. Employee turnover will be decreased and there will be fewer roles you’ll need to hire for.

A great work culture

One of the best ways to keep employees happy and attract new ones is simply to provide a great place to work. When people have a bad time at work, they eventually leave for another job. And with websites like Glassdoor, word gets around if you have a negative workplace.

If your company hasn’t done so yet, make an effort to establish a positive company culture. Define values that are important to your organization and promote them so you attract like-minded job seekers.

Even still, a great culture goes beyond generic values and mission statements. Strive to have a supportive workplace where people are kind and work together. Every professional wants to enjoy coming to work every day. As the saying goes, “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

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