How to create a great benefits package

In our business context, IT professionals are flooded with job proposals and opportunities. They have become savvier than ever in the search for the best benefits, weighing their options and considering what is the best they can get. People know their worth, and if you want to attract them, you should know it too, and show it by offering competitive benefits. The key question here is: how can you create a benefits package that fits your staff? Here are some ideas.

• Understand your population
  Start by looking at the age groups of your employees. Are they young professionals living alone, or do most of them have children and families? Looking at this in the big picture will help you focus the benefits on what is really useful for your team, whether it is gym discounts, happy hours at work or flexible schedules that would allow them to, for instance, take their children to school.
  
  
• Use focus groups and surveys
  Do not be afraid to ask people what they want. It is true that sometimes the answers are vague or too broad, but you may also get some interesting insight into what is on your people’s minds. Create surveys, or use the ones you already have, and consider focus groups as an alternative, where you can hear first-hand what your staff thinks.
  
  
• Analyze which benefits are actually being used
  If you already have benefits in place, it would be useful to take a look at which perks your people are using, and which are often left aside. For instance, if you offer training benefits and no one is using them, there are two possible problems: a. your population is not interested in that benefit, or b. there is a communication failure and people do not know that such a perk is available.
  
  
• Try to reach all employees
  Think of benefits that aim at the largest number of employees possible. Some benefits seem “cool”, but they are only useful to a small portion of your people. If you invest time and energy in getting to know what the needs and preferences of your staff are, you will be able to offer things that appeal to most of them. There is not just one answer to this: every organization will have to adapt its benefits package to its particular context and culture.
  
  
• Offer remote work benefits
  That we do not see each other daily does not mean we have to stop offering things that make work lighter. Did you use to offer free lunches on Friday? Why not send a voucher from Uber Eats or a similar app to keep the tradition? For example, we use a platform called  Hoppier to send tokens of appreciation to our Virtualminders all around the world, or for them to have a snack during our company-wide meetings, or to celebrate a special occasion… The ideas are endless.

Last but not least, it is vital that you communicate the benefits your company offers in every stage of the hiring process: at the job description, at the interviews, during the onboarding process…and even remind your current staff regularly! People sometimes forget or ignore certain benefits that could be truly helpful for them. There is not just one recipe or a list of benefits that work like magic. The key, we believe, is to have open eyes and open ears, ready to “give people what they want”.