When writing a job advert, recruiters should consider the same things that a marketing person would include in a product or service advert – not just what the job is but the benefits it offers. Those benefits need to make the job stand out from the competition and can help to demonstrate how much employers value their employees and what they do to support their employees wellbeing.

Staff benefits can be split into two types – the tangible benefits and the intangible benefits. This blog considers the possible tangible employee benefits an employer can offer.

Tangible employee benefits are clearly definable things or services that an employer can offer above their statutory requirements and should be of real value to the employee.  As such there are certain things that should not be considered a staff benefit:

• Holiday – Offering 28 days holiday is not a benefit, it is a legal requirement, and therefore there is no point including this in your job advert unless you offer considerably more than statutory. Some organisations have trialled ‘unlimited leave’ or ‘discretionary leave’ schemes with varying success.
• Auto-enrolment pension scheme – again as this is a statutory requirement. You shouldn’t consider this an employee benefit unless you offer a competitively high employer contribution.
• Gimmicks – Free Fruit Friday or a ping pong table in the staff room may sound tempting initially but is it really what employees want? After a few weeks you might find the fruit is going mouldy and the ping pong has become a hot desk.  Unless you’ve consulted with your employees (which we would always recommend) and have discovered that a free breakfast with your morning briefing really helps to motivate and inspire your team, we would avoid ‘quick wins’ and gimmicky benefits in favour of longer term, sustainable and genuinely valuable employee benefits.

So what kind of employee benefits could you consider?

• Holiday – whilst offering statutory holiday is not a benefit, offering above and beyond statutory may be a positive for some candidates, for example offering an additional day’s leave for their birthday or offering a scheme where employees can ‘buy’ additional holiday.
• Pension – if you can offer above the set minimum employer contribution rate of 3%, then this could help differentiate you, as many businesses don’t.
• Flexibility – is the role remote or hybrid? We have found that job candidates are being put off by employer requests for employees to be in the office everyday
• Hours Flexibility – Restricting working hours to traditional ‘9-5’ hours could be putting off your otherwise ideal candidate. Consider whether the working pattern really matters and let people know if you’re flexible.
• Travel/ Parking – if the employee won’t be working from home, can you provide help with the cost of travel? If your location is in a busy city centre, free secure parking maybe a big bonus.
• Private Medical Insurance and Hospital Cash Plans – with the current NHS crisis and long waits to see a medical professional, offering private medical insurance can be a really strong incentive. Hospital Cash Plans are also beneficial, offering money back for medical appointments etc.  Some PMIs include a hospital cash back scheme.  Interested in a Hospital Cash Plan – ask us about Simplyhealth
• Work life balance – being able to demonstrate that you support a positive work life balance can be really attractive. For example, how do you encourage employees to switch off at the end of the day?
• Employee Assistance Programme – could you offer access to an EAP. These generally include a 24/7 mental health support phone line.  Interested in an EAP – ask us about Health Assured.
• Access to a benefit and reward scheme that offers discounted tickets and services such as cinema tickets and gym memberships. With the current cost of living crisis, everyone is looking for a bargain.
• Professional finance advice – Many more people are struggling with debt and the cost of living.  Providing access to trustworthy financial advice can have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing.
• Life assurance – whilst no one wants to think about the worst happening , it is always reassuring to know provision is in place if it does.
• There may be other things that are particularly relevant to your organisation or industry which you can identify in consultation with your employees, such as access to certain relevant facilities, services or technologies.

Salary – If you’re hiding the salary you’re offering, then it’s time to consider why that is:

• How does it compare for genuinely similar roles?  Consider not only job title but also job description, industry and sector.
• How does it compare with other roles within your own organisation? If someone starts a role and discovers they are being paid considerably different to someone doing exactly the same role – can you justify the difference?
• Is there room to negotiate? Is there a salary band and can you clearly define how someone could move up to a higher level and within what timeframe?

Many candidates will not even consider applying for a role unless they know the proposed salary.

Once you carried out an employee benefits review and put together a benefits package to be proud of, including any ‘intangible’ benefits, promoting these to job applicants can help give you the edge over your competition. If it’s time to review your employee benefits package, we can help. We can make recommendations, support you with employee consultation and help you put together the ideal package for your needs.

If you’ve got a vacancy and some great employee benefits to promote, talk to us about our Fixed Fee Recruitment package – providing cost-efficiencies for you and a positive experience for your candidates. We have also partnered with excellent employee benefit solutions that could help your business.