What benefits can you offer that help recruit good talent?

http://blog.jabbik.com/2008/08/benefits.html

by ecommercematt • 18 years ago

13 30 18 years ago

blog.jabbik.com

thehorge• 18 years ago

One of the perks that more companies should start providing are incentives to workout. Providing a gym or subsidizing a gym membership for an employee will not only benefit the employee's health, but with a healthier employee there is less of a need for sick days. The employee can concentrate their paid time off on vacation. When the employee is feeling good about themselves, the quality of work and their attitude might improve as well.

time_management6• 18 years ago

I agree with this. The hour spent working out is regained in productivity.

gaius• 18 years ago

One of the best companies I worked for was just around the corner from a Holmes Place (upmarket chain of gyms), they got us all memberships and we could literally hold meetings in the sauna or jacuzzi.

Only place I've ever worked where everyone had seen everyone else naked...

ojbyrne• 18 years ago

I'm guessing that was an all-male company?

ardit332• 18 years ago

First, great pay, and a good amount of stock options, interesting work, and good work enviroment.

After that.

4 weeks of vacation --- minimum.

Good health care

Real dental coverage

Gym subsidy

Comuting help (shuttles, or public transport subsidies)

time_management6• 18 years ago

I'd agree with all this, to the letter, and I'd add one, because aside from a signing bonus, it's relatively cheap:

Moving assistance, both in the financial sense, and in terms of connecting people with necessary services and utilities. This is especially salient in a place like New York where life is not as "convenient" as one might expect it to be.

ecommercematt2• 18 years ago

We're based in New York, so this interests me. What sort of extra help do you think we should give to people relocating here?

mrtron2• 18 years ago

If I was going to go back to working a fulltime job - those are a list of requirements I would have.

sanj2• 18 years ago

nearby, quality childcare

tptacek5• 18 years ago

This is an excellent idea. Do you know how much decent child care for school age children costs? ~$20/hr, fully loaded.

sanj2• 18 years ago

I'm painfully aware how much it costs.

The bigger question to me, as with charities, is how much goes to the people that matter. In this case, the ones that care for my kid.

tptacek5• 18 years ago

A four day work week.

elai• 18 years ago

Free Lunch? It can be productivity booster too, since your staff don't have to spend an ~hour walking, hunting for a good restaurant, waiting for food, eating said food, and walking back when the food is just right there.

This can be more of a personal preference type of thing.

a-priori• 18 years ago

Also, it would encourage employees to eat together and therefore socialize.

dangoldin• 18 years ago

Ability to work from home - telecommute.

Judge work by result and not by time spent.

jon_dahl• 18 years ago

After you've met a salary/benefit baseline, the most important thing to recruiting good talent is the work. Often, a good employee will take a fair salary for really interesting work over a great salary for boring work. I've talked with people willing to even take a pay cut to get out of a boring job.

IMO an employer should (a) pay employees fairly and (b) treat them well, give them enjoyable work, etc. And then (c) share the company's profits, if there are any (or when they come). I think this is more important than having an impressive slate of benefits.

vaksel• 18 years ago

You also need friendly atmosphere, make people want to come to work, instead of having it be a chore

briancooley• 18 years ago

In priority order for me:

1. interesting work (not sure if this is considered a perq by most, but it is for me.)

2. time off, both via flexible work schedules and generous vacation

3. located within a short commute of desirable and reasonably affordable housing. alternatively offering telecommuting

Other benefits like health/life/disability insurance are nice, but they won't make or break a deal for me any longer.

DaniFong• 18 years ago

As I posted on the blog:

I often cook the troops quality, gourmet food, give them cool trips and the chance to put up crazy installation art, and throw many person dinner parties (with outsiders, too).

I also am getting graph paper placemats:

http://einfall.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/engineers-a-paper-ta...

What benefits can you offer that help recruit good talent?

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