How Do Your Employee Benefits Stack Up to the Big Boys?

In the tech industry, capturing and retaining the top employees in the market is hard enough. Coaxing them from a Fortune 500 company can seem like you’re a basketball team recruiting a European sports star; expensive with a lot of unknowns. Employee Benefits can be the factor that shore up your chances of capturing them.

The Big Boys

I work with a lot of medium-sized companies that are always itching to recruit established top talent. Surprisingly, many of my clients have found that this doesn’t always necessarily mean top salaries. There are lots of professionals that are looking for great benefits. Payscale.com did a survey of employees from some of the top tech behemoths (Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, etc). They found that the main benefits these companies provide include:

• Solid healthcare package – The average was 91% coverage, including dental and vision.
• Stock options – After the Dotcom bust, this benefit has left some recruits of small and medium-sized companies skeptical.
• Gym memberships – This can be a relatively cheap benefit that could save on healthcare costs.
• Casual dress – Almost has become mandatory for small and medium-sized tech companies.
• Paternity leave – An expensive benefit that would appeal to late 20’s to mid 40’s professionals.
• Work from home plans – Good for a mature and disciplined staff.
• Education reimbursement –Expensive and may require a contract, but a powerful tool.

The Competitive Edge on Benefits

Healthcare can be expensive, but compensation plans can be really costly, especially pre-IPO. That’s why some of my medium-sized clients offer:

• Longer Vacations –Payscale found the average was less than 3 weeks per year amongst large companies.
• Work-Life Balance –A lot of companies tout it, but you need to be prepared to see an empty office at 5.
• Life Insurance –Though this is offered by large competitors, it is seldom fully paid for by the employer.
• >50% 401K Match –Costly, but this matters to recruits with families.
• Pets in the Office –An environmental adjustment that may be a deal breaker for other allergic recruits.
• Daily/Weekly Catered Lunch –For smaller high revenue organizations this may be an option.
• Happy Hours –Allowing drinking in the office generally appeals to younger recruits.
• Daycare –This may be a huge draw for businesses that like to hire family focused professionals.

We in the Technology Practice Group can do a full assessment of your benefits package and find some middle ground in costs in order for you to be competitive.

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