Five ways to attract talent through your benefits strategy

Did you know that Ben &Jerrys' employees get three free pints of ice cream a day to take home? And Brewdog employees can take a week's 'pawternity' leave if they adopt a new puppy or rescue dog? How often do you hear one of these anecdotes and think it'd be nice to work for them; they sound like a great employer?

Put yourself in a candidate’s shoes; you might have been offered two jobs, each with roughly the same salary and core benefits, but one of those organisations has added a freebie-style perk, presented their offering in a glossy, user-friendly brochure, or put together a video to show how their current employees are using their benefits. You’d probably be more inclined to head towards that one. As employers, there are only a handful of hygiene factors which we need to get right; thereafter, new recruits will be looking for the details.

1. Get the core benefits right

First things first: your core benefits need to form the spine of your recruitment strategy. What was once seen as a “perk” is now a given. Pension, private medical insurance, critical illness, life insurance, even lifestyle and technology benefits are a de facto part of working life in 2018 – and if you don’t offer these to your best potential talent, your competitors will.

2. Researching Generation K

When it comes to attracting talent straight out of school or university, you’ll need to know all about Generation K (also known as Generation Z – those born between 1995 and 2004) and their wants and needs. Economist Noreena Hertz has conducted extensive research on this demographic, and has highlighted some of the characteristics unique to them. Although we can’t make assumptions about individuals based on generation-wide statistics, it is helpful to know what you need to do to improve your chances of authentically engaging with an audience of young candidates.

Although you’d be forgiven for assuming that Generation K candidates will only be interested in technology benefits, Hertz found that healthcare is actually a huge consideration for them. This age group is experiencing more anxiety than any demographic that has come before. An offer of health screening, mindfulness applications, employee assistance services and digital healthcare could be the difference between recruiting a good candidate and a great one. This generation will also be very interested to see how you present your benefits, so you’ll need some inspired communications too, but more on that later.

3. Introduce your benefits from before day one

Why not make your benefits a bigger part of the recruiting process? Most organisations give little more than a cursory mention of their main benefits, which is often buried somewhere within the job description. Or, the benefits they have on offer will be verbally listed off in the middle of an interview with a nervous candidate who’s just wanting to get through the hour alive. This means that most candidates probably don’t know about your benefits until they start asking questions, which may hold up the interview and offer process.

Proacting and having an actual conversation around the benefits which are available to your people will show your candidates that a) You’re a caring employer, and b) They can have all of these amazing things, too.

4. Involve your people in a re-vamp of voluntary benefits

Your younger workforce will be as keen as your older employees to see where they can make savings on day-to-day spending. This is still a generation that consumes in a material way – particularly with technology – but the majority of their spending is experiential and well thought-out.

Saving on their grocery shopping and utility costs helps, while enabling them to invest more in experiences, and perhaps put extra money aside. However, getting your people involved as architects of their own experience at work is key to engaging and therefore recruiting the best new talent out there. This isn’t a generation that wants to passively consume; they’re innovators and creators and they want their voices to be heard. While the research tells us a lot about what this demographic wants as a whole, statistics don’t matter to the individual; co-creating a personalised scheme is what is going to ensure voluntary benefits stay relevant.

5. Looking a million dollars

There’s no denying it: appearance matters. It matters a lot. Whether you’re showcasing your benefits to your current employees, your new talent, at recruitment fairs, to partners, to agencies, or wherever – the presentation of them affects your employer brand.

You need to give as much care to your benefit brand and style as you do to your company brand, otherwise you’ll be on the wrong end of some Glassdoor reviews which say your fabulous external appearance and messaging is only a façade, and that the experience of working with you is different. This hugely damages the authenticity of your employer brand and is very difficult to recover from.

So, how can you go about grabbing the attention of the people you most want working with you? Well, there are a lot of options:

Social media

Having a prominent social media presence which displays your company culture and encourages employees to get involved is probably the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to showcase your benefits. A quick video interview with someone who’s taken up Cycle-to-Work; a quote from someone who’s been positively affected by your new mindfulness app – all of this substantiates your employee value proposition.

Candidates from all walks of life are looking for social proof, so the first place they’ll look will be Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram. Give them what they’re looking for, in the place they’re looking for it, and you’ll not be disappointed. Don’t make it hard for them to find out about the great things you do for your people.

Recruitment

We’ve mentioned that making benefits a bigger part of your recruitment process could be a sure-fire way to recruit the best; so how about you send interviewees away with a beautifully designed and branded benefits brochure, complete with employee testimonials? Or, you can ask candidates to prepare for an interview by watching your latest employee testimonial video, or by sending them an online brochure.

Having these resources readily available in your ‘Careers’ section of your website will enhance the application experience for new candidates, and demonstrate transparency.

You could also get current employees more involved in recruitment. By bringing existing team members into interviews to chat with candidates about the benefits of working with you, the recruitment process becomes more open and you stand a better chance of bringing someone who truly aligns with your culture into the team.

These are just a few ideas which will help you attract talent with your benefits strategy. The most important thing to remember, however, is to keep your employees – both newbies and old-timers – involved in the entire process. From developing your communications campaign, to building your benefits offering, to saying ‘hello’ to your interviewees; giving your people a voice in your organisation’s strategic decisions will foster a transparent, open culture, which encourages your employees to be your biggest advocates. And ultimately, that’s what will get the best and the brightest talent through your door.

Author is Kathryn Kendall, Chief People Officer, Benefex.

This article was provided by Benefex.