Using Employee Benefits For Recruiting and Retention

One of the reasons that demand across the recruitment industry has continued to increase is a significant percentage of businesses are facing major challenges. According to LinkedIn, 32% of organizations say that employee retention is their top priority. Similar numbers show that organizations are facing more problems with employee recruiting and retention than they did in the past. Although the specific causes of these problems may vary somewhat based on the industry, the good news is there is a clear solution that employers of all sizes can use.

For any organization that's struggling with recruiting or retention, benefits offer a proven solution. More organizations are realizing that benefits provide a point of leverage for both recruiting and retention. The first type of benefits that organizations can use are health care benefits. Although today’s current political climate has left a lot of questions about the future of healthcare in this country for both individuals and businesses, quality healthcare continues to be the benefit that people care about most.

For companies that already offer great health benefits, it is important to communicate this information during recruitment efforts. If a company offers health benefits but they're not of the greatest quality, it is worth looking into the total cost of offering better benefits. The upside of offering higher quality health benefits often outweighs the additional cost of implementing this kind of program. And on the retention front, organizations should see if it is possible to offer some bonus benefits to employees who stay with the company for an extended amount of time.

Health benefits are not the only thing companies can use as incentives to potential and current employees. Retirement planning and savings benefits are also something that most candidates value. Finding the right way to integrate these benefits into recruiting and retention programs can make it possible for organizations to find and keep the type of highly-skilled employees that are in such high demand across all industries at this time.

If a company offers great benefits but still struggles to find or retain employees, they may wonder why they are having this problem. In most cases, the answer is that they are not communicating clearly or consistently enough about their benefits. In terms of clearly communicating, it is important for companies to let potential employees know exactly what is included in these benefits. Studies show that 49% of employees classify choosing benefits to be very stressful, which makes it clear that candidates and employees desire more help and communication to understand benefit options.

On the consistency front, existing employees are commonly overlooked in regards to fully understanding benefits. Regardless of the quality of the benefits that a company is offering, if few people in the organization understand what's available, the benefits aren't going to help with the task of increasing retention.

Although organizations with solid benefits may be frustrated that they have not had as much recent success with recruiting or retention as they would like, the good news is that a handful of communication adjustments may be all that is needed to start seeing improvements.