The Most Attractive Perks for Hiring the Best Talent

When it comes to attracting and securing the best talent for your organisation in your job ads, being sure that the workplace perks are attractive is of the utmost importance. A recent independent survey has uncovered the current most desirable workplace perks...

When a highly sought-after candidate who is actively seeking a job change is offered two similar positions at two similar companies, there is going to be a definitive factor that influences her decision. In most cases we can safely assume that she didn’t just assign heads or tails to each and flip a coin. Clearly something caused her to invest her future into one company over the other.

But what is that one thing?

Well, it can be difficult to assess in these situations what cost you the candidate. Some candidates are less willing than others to divulge the reason. Often they are wage focussed. But they can also stem from cultural issues and perks. In a recent independent survey of 1,000 professionals it was uncovered that a whopping 71.8% of those surveyed saw no workplace perks at all in their current position, although 70.5% considered them important.

So clearly workplace perks are big business for recruiting companies. In fact, you could say that the workplace perks that you include in your job ads are your secret weapon to attracting, and securing, the best talent for your business. What is particularly interesting is that quirky perks - such as games rooms, social events and office food and drink - aren’t as popular amongst candidates as many would have you believe.

In fact, the “office of the future” style perks that have been thrust into the limelight by big tech companies like Google were actually held in the least regard among these professionals. Games rooms, fitness facilities, food, drink and social occasions took the bottom four places in the leader board.

So what are the most attractive perks?

According to the independent study, traditional workplace perks are still the biggest draw among applicants. Investing in them could be key to persuading the ideal candidate to invest in your company. We’ve listed the top five in reverse order:

Paid time off on your Birthday

Clearly today’s candidates appreciate feeling recognised on their birthday. 21.3% believe that paid time off on your birthday is a desirable perk, showing that they want to engage with businesses that are aware of personal lives as much as work lives.

Staff discounts

Commonly it is monetary incentives that play into a candidate's decision to choose one business over another. Where staff discounts on products or services are available, commonly a candidate will be working with the brand or business because they liked it in the first place - so staff discounts are a great perk, according to 22.6%.

Extra holiday

Again it comes down to recognising a staff member’s need to have a healthy home life as well as a work life. Offering above the minimum holiday for a year is a great way to encourage more applications, as 37.3% of those surveyed agree.

Seasonal bonuses

As with staff discounts, seasonal bonuses tap into monetary incentives as they have an immediate relation to a candidate’s bottom line. Unlike higher wages in general, seasonal bonuses have an aura of a business that wants to appreciate and reward its employee’s efforts at the end of the year, while understanding and appreciating the common need for this extra revenue at an expensive time. 39.1% agree.

Flexible working

Flexible working has become more and more prominent among professionals in recent years. Not only that, cloud-based workforce management software such as Slack and Asana have facilitated remote working. Being flexible about how and where an employee’s work is conducted is ultimately the biggest workplace perk, gaining 47.2% of agreement, as it gives them a greater sense of autonomy and freedom in their work.