Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Attract Candidates With Company Benefits

There are companies who believe a bonus at Christmas and getting bank holidays off is all they have to offer to get great applicants flocking.

Many companies curse Google because they now think they have to get a slide fitted as well as having a Christmas bonus!

The thing is, your potential candidates are looking for a lot more than more money at Christmas, bank holidays off or even a slide.

Your candidates want meaningful benefits, they want to know that a lot of thought went into the benefits you have to offer, they’re not afterthought benefits just to get one up on your competitor. Meaningful benefits show that you value your employees.

So, what are meaningful company benefits?

How do company benefits keep employees happy and how do they attract candidates?

Coffee

Not the instant stuff out of a jar! Caring for your employees means giving them good coffee. The experience of choosing the coffee, chatting about the one they tried earlier, the aroma is enough to motivate many employees. It’s also a way of making sure your employees are getting plenty of breaks. Breaks are needed to recharge, connect with others, share ideas and happy stories. Your employees will be appreciative and in return more productive.

Employees who drank a moderate amount of coffee - three to five cups a day - were less likely to have early signs of heart disease on their medical scans. > original source

Comfortable chairs

When Ali Clabburn from Liftshare started his company the very first thing on his list was “get employees comfy chairs” He wanted his employees to be comfortable whilst sitting in front of their computer screens everyday. He didn’t know how he was going to afford comfy chairs, he just cared enough to make it happen.

By making sure your employees have the benefit of comfortable chairs, you’re not just saying “I want you to be comfortable at work” you’re saying you care enough about their back support and you care about their posture.

Comfortable chairs not only make great employee benefits, they also benefit the company. By having good chairs your employees will improve their comfort, posture and even health ( bad chairs can contribute to carpel Tunnel syndrome) By having comfortable chairs your company could benefit from happier employees, increased productivity and less number of days of sick due to improved health.

Cameron Reid, a specialist in osteopathy and Managing Director at Cameron Reid Training in Norfolk says that:

“Good office chairs are essential.”

He suggests that if employees spend two or more hours a day sat down then employers should want to make sure they are comfortable. Cameron goes on to say “Sitting increases the strain on the lower back in all of us so support and good sitting habits for employees are essential”

Local Discounts

This is so simple to do and it connects your company with your local community. Go and meet your local shops, cafes, restaurants and service suppliers and let them know that you want to promote them to your employees. Negotiate a special rate for your employees and include the businesses on board in your benefits package to your employees. This will keep money flowing in your local community, connect the community to your company, your employees to the community, everyone is happy.

Employee Volunteering

We’d hope that your employees are passionate about coming to work to do a job they love, but what are their outside of work passions?

Some may love animals and contribute to the RSPCA or foster cats. Some employees may be trying to raise money for Macmillan because their family has been affected by cancer. Perhaps you’ve got employees who’s other interests are helping young people to get a chance in life. Whatever your employees outside of work passions are, as a company it’s good to be involved.

You can encourage outside work interests by allowing employees to do a certain amount of time volunteering. This could be by allocating a certain amount of paid work time monthly or quarterly or by matching, for every hour your employee volunteers their free time for, you will match it with paid for volunteering. Remember to cap it if you choose the matching option. By offering employee volunteering as a benefit you’re saying that you care about them and you care about what they care about, that’s a very strong message. Your employees will be happier and will probably develop new skills which can be used within the workplace.

Volunteering gives employees a higher purpose and a better perspective on life which will also help within the workplace.

Health

As a company you have to care about your employees health, if they take time off sick that affects your company. Don’t panic, it doesn’t mean you now have to build a gym on site, that would be nice though.

Think of the little things that can help your employees and show them that you care. Things like:

Regular eye tests
Stop smoking programme
Weight management programme
An after work running club
Fresh fruit in the kitchen
Free bottled water

All these things will help make your employees happy, it shows you care, in return when your employees are happy, you’ll be happy because it will show in productivity.

Happy employees will attract other good candidates to your company because a powerful employer brand message gets spread. Why work for anyone else when you’re the preferred employer who genuinely cares?

Company benefits don't have to cost a fortune, it's the thought that counts.

JOIN Jobhop and spread the word.

Julie Bishop Jobhop.co.uk

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