In the for-purpose world, budget is top of mind when it comes to most business decisions. And that’s no different when we talk about recruitment. It’s generally assumed that salaries in for-purpose organisations are lower than corporate or government equivalents. But what do you do when those lower salary budgets risk you missing out on the best candidate for the role? 

We recently chatted with recruitment experts Kirsty and Nikki from McLaren Associates about the power of perks and they confirmed that even if for–purpose organisations can’t match the salary of private or government organisations, extra benefits are often an option for the right candidate. With a little bit of creative thinking, it is possible to present an attractive offer without blowing a budget.

What sort of things can you offer as additional perks?

There are plenty of options when it comes to adding benefits to your job package. Some of them are obvious, like offering working from home flexibility, and some are a bit more creative.

Flexible working, which can include:

• Flexible start/finish times (school hours, and more)

• Nine-day fortnights or four-day weeks

• Working from home either full-time or in a hybrid arrangement

• Asynchronous work - looking at output and delivery rather than simply time logged and allowing employees to work whenever it suits them as long as they can meet deadlines/outputs

Extra leave which can include:

• A day off on the employee’s birthday (or the closest weekday when it’s a weekend)

• Additional annual leave

• Sabbaticals for long-term staff members

• Shut down periods of paid leave at times like between Christmas and New Year

• Extended parental leave

• Time off that can be used for volunteering

• 37.5-hour week vs 40-hour week (it seems small, but that extra 30 mins a day might make your employee’s life a whole lot easier!)

Health and well-being benefits which can include:

• Mental health days (duvet days)

• Professional development or personal learning opportunities

• Contributions towards healthcare, such as eye exams or glasses

• Wellbeing packages (gym memberships, health insurance, therapists and more)

Other perks which can include:

• Company cars either for work use only or for all use

• In-office facilities such as a great coffee machine or free fruit

• Offering your “assets” to your employees outside of hours - such as your meeting spaces for their voluntary work, community group meeting etc, vehicle use on weekends to move house etc. Use assets you already have to offer extra benefits.

• Discount on products or services either from your organisation or from other companies

4 things to think about when putting together your employment package

When we chatted to Kirsty and Nikki, we asked them for the key things that employers should think about when putting together an employment package. Here are their best tips.

#1 Be clear on your budget Before deciding on anything to do with new hires, whether it’s salary or additional benefits is to be clear on your budget. It can be helpful to benchmark the role against similar jobs in other for-purpose organisations and more widely to see how your initial salary options compare. You can outsource this but if you want to do it in-house we have a great DIY Salary Setting resource that can help. Once you are clear on where your salary needs to be and what your budget is, you can look at the scope for additional benefits

#2 Find out what’s important to your employees One of the best ways of making sure your benefits are going to hit the mark is to survey your current employees (and candidates if you can). Flexible working is usually a popular choice, but there may be other options that you hadn’t thought of. It can also help to make your options more general - for example, instead of having a specific policy that contributes towards the cost of glasses, have a more general policy that offers a yearly contribution towards eyecare which can be put towards check-ups, glasses or contact lenses. Or a wellbeing allowance to go towards gym membership, yoga or meditation classes or even coaching or counselling.

#3 Advertise it clearly If you’ve decided on a package of benefits in advance, then make sure you advertise it clearly. List the benefits in your job advert (especially if you know your salary is at the lower end of the scale) so that applicants can clearly see what they will get. Ideally, feature this first in your job advert and make it part of your attraction strategy.

#4 Be willing to compromise. When we chatted with Kirsty and Nikki, both they and Do Good Jobs founder Julia emphasised the importance of looking for a win-win situation. You need to strike a balance between making sure your benefits are attractive to your potential employee but aren’t going to blow your budget for the year. You should be prepared for a bit of discussion to find the right package. And don’t be afraid to think about packages individually - what works for one employee might not work for another, so tailoring can help.

We hope you’ve been inspired to think outside the box when it comes to your next job negotiation. And don’t forget, if you are looking for more help when it comes to setting salaries and packages, check out our DIY Salary Setting resource or reach out to Kirsty and Nikki about your next recruitment at McLaren Associates