5 Things Candidates Want Benefits-Wise

You’ve found a great candidate to join your team, but it’s time to prepare a competitive benefits package to hand over with the job offer. You want to make sure you have the best benefits so that your candidate doesn’t choose a different position over you, solely because of their package. Lucky for you, you found us and we know the top five things candidates want benefits-wise.

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1. Healthcare Benefits

Number one is, of course, great healthcare benefits. According to most employees, they specifically look for jobs that provide them with great medical, dental, and vision coverage and keep them happy in their positions. This is the most important benefit that candidates are looking for, especially if they have a family relying on their coverage. By offering the best packages possible, you will create satisfied employees who eagerly accept their job offer and stay with you for a long time, if not until they retire. While finding the best plans may be tricky and expensive for you, it is worth the price to have happy employees and high retention rates.

2. Strong Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance continues to increase as one of the benefits candidates look for most. Workers value their own lives and free time and are less likely to commit to a job that will keep them working after hours for no extra pay, or take up their weekends with lengthy and complicated assignments.

When company culture has a poor work-life balance employees get burnt out very quickly, soon dreading their company. You’ll find incredibly high turnover rates as employees search for a company that values them as a person, not just a worker. While there may be an occasional need for overtime and weekend assignments, keep this to a minimum so that your employees get a chance to relax and come to work the next day feeling refreshed and ready to work. Candidates want to work, but they also want a chance to live their lives. With proof of a robust work-life balance, candidates are much more likely to find your company enticing.

3. Paid Time Off

Another benefit candidates look for is paid time off. There are always going to be times when your employees need to take off. There are many reasons, sickness, lack of childcare, family visits and emergencies, vacations, and more. Because of this, candidates find it beneficial when your company offers paid time off.

This continues to blend with the aforementioned work-life balance. If a candidate plans on taking a vacation with their family but will not be compensated during their time, they may feel less inclined to go, once again building resentment and burnt-out. However, if they have enough paid time off, they will use that and come back to work feeling recharged.

There are many different types of paid time-off plans your company can look into: bank, accrued, and unlimited. There are positives and negatives to all of them, so decide which one works best for your company. You can even bundle them together and allow your candidate to choose, further giving them the exact benefit they are looking for.

4. Flexible Hours

Next, a huge benefit that candidates want is flexible hours. This means your employees are not confined to working exactly 9-5 but rather can tailor their schedule towards their own needs and productivity. For example, maybe your candidate’s daycare doesn’t open until 9, so coming in at 9:30 and leaving at 5:30 works best for them. Or maybe they’re attending an event that they need to leave early for so they come in to start their day earlier.

So long as they get all their work done and communicate well with you and their team, does it matter if they stick to an exact schedule? This flexible schedule allows them to not need paid time off for small adjustments like this and makes candidates feel more in control of their own lives, causing them to be much happier at your company.

5. Hybrid Work Opportunities

Many candidates also look for hybrid or remote working opportunities. Depending on your line of work, keeping your staff cooped up in an office may not be necessary or increase productivity. Candidates are looking for benefits that allow them to get their work done quickly, and sometimes taking out a commute here and there will do it! By adopting a hybrid policy, even if it’s one way out of the office, many candidates will be much more intrigued by your job offer.

You want to entice these candidates you speak with to both apply and accept any potential job offers. Candidates nowadays are looking for benefits that accommodate their lives and well-being in and outside of the office. By adopting these benefits, your candidates will take your job opportunities and offer much more seriously and imagine their future with you in it.