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4 factors to stop highlighting when recruiting candidates

When recruiting, what is the first thing about the company that you tell your candidates?

If the first things that come to your mind is that the company is well-known, socially responsible or transparent about HR decisions, then you might want to change your recruitment strategy.

According to a survey by Addison Group,  the factors that companies tend to highlight to candidates as a means of recruitment and retention are, in fact, the factors which candidates don't view as very important.

For instance, 29% of candidates say its not important that the company is socially responsible (29%), while 26% think its useless for a firm to highlight it is a well-known company.

Candidates also don't care if the firm highlights it is transparent about revenue or HR decisions (25%), and if it voices it invests in passions or interests outside of work (15%)

The survey also spotlighted what really matters to employees when it comes to benefits and perks.

Scrap that plan to convert a meeting room into a play room with a ping pong table and start investing in comprehensive healthcare benefits for your employees.

While perks like bottomless coffee, game rooms, napping pods and other extravagant benefits are particularly popular amongst Silicon Valley companues, regardless of generation, healthcare benefits still top the list.

Top 4 perks your employees want:

  • Healthcare benefits (70%)
  • High salary (59%)
  • Vacation packages (46%)
  • Equity packages (19%)
ALSO READ: How many benefits does it take for staff to be satisfied?

That said, what are the perks which would sway respondents decision to work at a company over another that would pay a higher salary?

For Millennials, it's all about the free meals, beverages and snacks (40%), tuition reimbursement (36%).

Interestingly, this group also ranked having a dog-friendly office (14%) higher than a napping room, concierge services and a play room complete with ping pong, billiards and video games.

They also value the social aspect of work more than Baby Boomers do, with nearly twice as many (15%) marking work-sponsored happy hours as important compared to Boomers (8%).

At the same time, the survey pointed out that it is also important for an organisation to consider the intangibles in creating a desirable place to work.

5 intangible factors of an ideal company:

  • Work-life balance (62%)
  • Flexible work hours (54%)
  • Experienced leadership (45%)
  • Making employees feel they have control over their career growth (43%)
  • Clear direction on what employees need to do to earn a promotion (39%).
Speaking of work-life balance, the survey found that employees’ satisfaction levels of their company's work-life balance are slipping year-on-year.

This year, only 47% of respondents were satisfied with their work-life balance, compared to 55% in 2014's survey.

Image: Shutterstock

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