More and more companies are offering non-remunerative benefits to hire new employees or retain those who work for them, among which the possibility of remote or mixed work, premium prepaid medical plans, professional training and bonuses predominate. with discounts in supermarkets and appliance chains.
Although the fundamental aspect continues to be the salary offer, the concrete thing is that the potential candidates to fill vacant positions -in general in the sectors with the highest demand- also value having a job that not only takes into account the remunerative benefits.
That’s why a significant number of companies usually add a package of extra benefits to attract a greater number of candidates or to retain those who are already part of their workforce.
“Currently, more than 70% of medium-sized and large companies opt for the strategy of offering extra benefits in their offers in order to attract talent -especially in IT searches-“, said Alejandro Servide, director of Professionals, Technologies and RPO of the consultancy Randstad Argentina, in dialogue with Télam.
The main concerns of potential candidates currently go through the type of work and the mechanism that will be used to update salaries.
“When you call a candidate, the first thing they ask you is if it is virtual or face-to-face or mixed, and the second thing is what the remuneration and total compensation consists of, since today if you do not give certain benefits you do not retain them”Servide pointed out.
Rocío Heredia, Operations and selection leader of the Human Capital consultancy, added that “the pandemic implied a change in the work model and paradigm, bringing the home office as a stronger requirement, in addition to competent salaries in the market, with adjustment for inflation”.
In this sense, both companies specialized in the recruitment and selection of personnel coincide in highlighting the importance of the salary offer, and in a following degree the extra remunerative proposals.
One of the main benefits is usually to offer a family prepaid medical coverage since, “it improves the quality of life of its employees and their families, timely treatment and access to all specialties,” said Heredia. because this “translates into economic savings that have an impact on health.”
Other “attraction” tools are vouchers with discounts for monthly purchases in supermarkets or household appliance chainswhile in high positions payment for parking is usually offered or the possibility of having their own garage at the company’s headquarters.
When contemplating different employment opportunities, “professional growth opportunities and access to learning programs” are added as a decisive factor, since it is considered an “investment in the future of an employee to progress in the organization,” they told Télam. from the human resources area of the consultancy Michael Page.
Regarding the expectations of workers, currently most also seek their employer to offer them training and professional development tools.
In response to this concern, companies often offer external training programs -through corporate discount agreements- or, within the firm, for example, with a mentoring program.
Consultants specializing in human resources also mention other types of advantages that companies choose, such as extra vacation days. “which allows you to combine holidays with your vacation days and have small rest periods throughout the year,” said Servide.
To which are added periods of extra breaks -such as not working in the week between Christmas and New Year’s celebrations-, without this impacting vacation days.
Regarding the parameters that companies take, the consultants affirm that they previously measure these “extra” benefits, with studies within the organization.
Many even offer services to be able to evaluate these elements that are decisive for candidates: “We use anonymous surveys from the company, we develop an improvement plan and mapping the remuneration of the people we interview. Lately this type of service has been in great demand by small and medium-sized companies”, they explained from Randstad.
Therefore, employee retention has become essential, especially when it comes to positions related to technical careers (engineering, mathematics, computer science, etc.), since these benefits directly impact the performance and success of the company.
