You hear a lot these days about the importance of offering killer employee perks. That's because nearly 80% of employees care more about the perks they’re given than what their actual salary is, according to Glassdoor .
That being the case, in order for your business to attract top talent and land the best candidates, it’s critical that you offer an extremely competitive benefits package as a part of your recruitment strategies. No, that competitive package shouldn’t include the term “ unlimited vacation ”— something we now know to be the nicest way to say, “you have to work all the time.”
Here are four things it should include:
1. Free food in the office
Although everyone knows they need to buy food to survive, for some reason, it seems terrible to have to spend money on lunch, for example, when you’re at the office. After all, you go to work to earn money — not to spend it.
Convince your employees that they won’t have to open their wallets at work by offering free food and drinks. While some more financially secure companies might be able to spring for gourmet breakfast, lunch, and dinner, others can get by with offering one or two free meals a week. Remember, this benefit is also an investment in productivity: folks can’t work as well on empty stomachs, and your employees won’t leave the office searching for food either.
2. New gizmos and gadgets
Nobody wants to start a job only to be given a five-year-old laptop stained with someone else’s palm grease. Or one that runs on an archaic operating system and super-slow processor.
In today’s tech-driven, mobile world, employees want to be able to use the latest tools and technologies at work. These things make work easier. You don’t have to give your employees smartphones, tablets, and laptops, but you should make sure they’re able to work from anywhere. With a mobile device in hand and access to the cloud, they’ll be able to.
3. Flexible schedules
As long as employees are doing their jobs well — and don’t miss any meetings or deadlines — does it really matter when or where they work? In today’s day and age, it shouldn’t. According to a recent study by Ernest & Young : 74% of employees indicated that the ability to work flexibly is the benefit that appeals the most to them.
If you equip your staff with the right gadgets, they’ll have no problem working remotely. And if you provide enough quality food and drink in the office, you won’t have to worry about never seeing them
4. Free health insurance
Even as healthcare costs rise in perpetuity, U.S. workers believe their employees are responsible for taking care of their own insurance costs. According to The Street :
As it stands now, most companies with aggressive benefits packages don’t offer their employees wholly free healthcare. Position your company as one that does, and applications will come flooding in. And if you can’t afford to cover the total costs, subsidize it as much as you can.
If, as Glassdoor’s research suggests, today’s workers care more about perks than salaries, it’s time your organization reflects that reality. Better benefits packages will attract better candidates — which means your business will be stronger.