Top 3 Most Attractive Benefits For It Professionals

by Mark Schacter on Jul 31, 2018 in IT Insights , IT Recruiters , IT Staffing , Job Market

GOOD HEALTH INSURANCE

Health care insurance is often ranked as the top consideration before employees accept a position. It’s the most expected and desired benefit for employees, with 56% of covered individuals stating that the quality of their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their job.

While this typically translates into an additional expense for employers, the investment results in healthy and productive employees. Along with that, employer contributions are tax-deductible and even lower employer payroll taxes by 7.65% of employee contributions. With these tax breaks, paying for better health benefits over higher salaries can make for a solid trade-off.

AUTONOMY

You don’t need to break the bank to offer attractive perks to your staff. There are a variety of low-cost extras that employees appreciate, such as increased flexibility. Instead of adhering to a rigid schedule, you can allow employees to decide their daily hours for themselves. Where one employee may prefer to work 7 am – 3 pm so they can pick up their kids from school, another may opt to sleep-in and come into the office from 9 am – 5 pm instead.

Similarly, providing opportunities to work remotely is a great incentive for workers. For many, working from home is a dream. With no dress code, commute, or in-office distractions, it’s significantly easier to focus on the tasks at hand. That being said, working remotely isn’t always a realistic alternative. Instead, consider offering additional vacation time or extended paid parental leave.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

87% of millennials said that professional development or career growth opportunities are important to them in a job. Furthermore, when employees are satisfied with career path options available to them, they’re more likely to remain with an employer. From supplementing the cost of education to developing leadership development programs, there are endless ways to assist employees in improving their skill sets.

The tech industry is ever-changing, with new programs and technologies breaking into the scene constantly. By offering training and development opportunities, you show your employees that you care about the workforce, as well as their achievements as individuals. For this reason, programs that support long-term success attract highly driven and career-focused candidates.

Along with providing invaluable opportunities to your team, training programs have the additional benefit of increasing productivity and staff expertise. They help to shape company culture and aid retention efforts, as employees feel more engaged and appreciated within the workplace.

WHAT EMPLOYEES ARE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR IN THEIR NEXT IT ROLE

Benefits can supersede better paying offers that have little to no work-life balance. 88% of respondents in a Harvard Business Review study disclosed that they would consider a lower-paying job with better healthcare or more flexible hours over its higher-paying counterpart. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to providing employee benefits, during a time when rates of loyalty to employers are low and the cost of replacing employees is steep, fulfilling your teams’ needs is paramount to a successful attraction and retention strategy.