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What perks do you expect your employer to offer?

03 June 2015 Candidate Blogs
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The bar is being raised as employers compete to get the best people on board

Organisations and their suppliers are coming up with all kinds of benefits to entice candidates to join them and to encourage employees to stay. But since different benefits have different perceived values across diverse working groups, organisations now have to respond to their varying needs.

One such phenomenon is up to four generations of individuals now working together with varying roles and responsibilities in their management and operations. These employees will have uniquely different needs and wants in the workplace that employers should ideally address across the board.

So if the bar is being raised what then can employees expect from their employers. As recruiters we see quite a lot of different packages being offered and after a quick scoot around our different industry sectors we’ve gathered together some of the more standard and some non-standard benefits being offered. What’s clear to us is that across the sectors, industries have different norms so before you request any perk, make sure it is appropriate.

 

Standard Employee Benefits

At the basic level you should expect a workplace environment that rewards its workers for hard work and success and for this to be commensurate with the job, level and industry. You should have the opportunity to expand your personal and professional capabilities, advance in your career, and enjoy the resulting benefits of this.

In our standard group of benefits you should expect at least one or a number of these:

  • Insurance, health and wellness including private medical and dental insurance, vision insurance and eyesight testing, occupation accident insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, specs voucher;
  • Financial and retirement benefits, such as pension and retirement plan, performance bonus, equity incentive plan, profit share, and stock options;
  • Family and parenting including maternity or paternity leave, childcare vouchers and elder-care assistance, and reduced flexible hours;
  • Vacation and time off, such as paid holidays, sabbatical leave, and sick days;
  • Discounts, such as employee discounts, company car, and employee assistance program;
  • Professional support including diversity program, job training, and tuition assistance for graduate studies

Of course, each employer will have specific salary and benefits packages for its different groups of employees. You should consider the whole package being offered by the prospective employer before accepting a job and compare this with a similar company.

Tip: Look at jobs through recruiters like Morgan Hunt for the benefits packages offered by the employers.
 

Non-standard Employee Perks

Many organisations are also providing their employees, from senior executives and managers through to administrators, with workplace-specific perks. These non-standard perks are usually designed to address the unique workplace conditions, thus, providing the employer with the opportunity to increase its retention rate.

In Morgan Hunt’s non-standard group of benefits we came across these more than once:

  • Fresh fruit days
  • Birthday day holiday
  • Mortgage savings fund
  • Early release on Friday
  • Christmas party
  • Summer BBQ
  • Free beverage
  • Free breakfast
  • Final salary or above statutory contribution pension scheme
  • Charity fund raising days
  • In-service insurance, income protection, and death benefits
  • Gym membership
  • Travel loans

Some of our perks are law-mandated benefits which means that the employer must provide this and you are within your right to demand these benefits as part of your contract of employment i.e. pension. Some work-specific perks may be part of your employment package others will be discretionary.

Also remember that some perks are subject to P11D, which means you may need to pay tax on the value of the benefit so you need to think carefully on these before accepting the perk.

If you know what other organisations are offering you can lobby yours to consider offering these too but before going through this process it is always worth sparing some thought to the benefit that the employer would get from offering you the additional perk. That way it will be easier for them to justify the additional expenditure for example for reasons of; safety, productivity, and enjoyment factors.

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