Employee benefits for some businesses are steeped in history, have remained the same for a number of years, or are based on a collection of bolstered on regulars such as Cycle to Work and discounted eye care scheme.
Please don’t get me wrong, both of those examples are perfectly relevant and attractive benefits however, to remain competitive and to stand out from the crowd – and to demonstrate and live your company values – now may be the time to dig them back out and question if they are still representative of your business and appeal to the market we are in right now.
It all ties into your EVP – Employee Value Proposition – which is the offer you give to an employee in exchange for their skills and experience. This external proposition is what will (or won’t) engage and entice talent and is integral to the identity, engagement, and retention for your current team. So, how can your ‘offer’ to current team members and new candidates support and promote your company values, and what benefits are possible options to consider demonstrating the type of employer you are and want to be?
If you say your business develops team members – how does your benefits support this? Do you offer a mentoring scheme, CPD opportunities, memberships for industry leading professional bodies? If one of your values is community how do your benefits illustrate this? Have you considered offering volunteering days, charity events, discounted schemes with local retailers and businesses? If wellbeing is an important aspect of your culture…benefits to consider could include Employee Assistance programmes, a mental health first aider present onsite, flexible working options, annual financial planning advice, animals in the workplace and buddy systems.
As a recruiter, the opportunity to share those reflective benefits on an advert and with a prospective employee maximises the opportunity to ‘sell’ the Employer brand and to engage with those who share the same values, priorities and outlook – hence improving retention and reaffirming your unique culture to stand out from competitors.
Also remember your current team have bags of personal insight to share. Don’t forget to ask them… And the benefit for all of this? The financial investment is not necessarily costly.