Episode 327: Candidate Magnet: How to Attract the Best Job Candidates with the Top 5 Benefits They Want

We all love to hear this kind of news -- "Congratulations on your new job" or "You got the promotion - Isn't that great?" However, these kinds of things take time and are more than just executive decisions. There are several things that attract top talent and retain them long-term. One of them is offering employee benefits that not only help to create a work environment where they want to stay but also deliver tangible benefits to keep them happy and productive. Greetings and a warm welcome to Bella In Your Business: Pet Industry Business Podcast. In today’s episode, we talk about the top five most valuable benefits that can help companies attract and retain the best job candidates in the highly competitive job market of today. During the episode, we go over nine ideas for employee benefit packages that can be offered to employees, such as health insurance, flexible schedules, retirement savings plans, and more. You simply can't afford to miss this episode, particularly if you're aiming to hire and retain top-performing employees. Let’s get started! Topics Discussed and Key Points: Top five benefits that attract and retain top job candidates 9 Ideas to add to the employee benefit package Benefits help with satisfaction and retention. Paid vacation, sick leave, and personal days can greatly incentivize potential job candidates. Employees' pet care discounts Timestamps: [00:47] Introducing today’s show [02:34] Health insurance [03:24] Retirement savings plan [04:07] Flexibility [05:13] Professional development opportunities [06:19] Paid time off< [07:17] Pet-friendly policies [07:48] Wellness amenities [08:56] Generous paternal policies [09:17] Employee discounts and perks [09:37] Recap Notable Quotes: [00:01:15] “The fact of the matter is, with this type of climate, this hiring climate, people are looking for benefits. They're looking at the employee market right now and they're looking for places where they can belong.” [00:01:28] [00:01:28] “Just because you started this from your own blood, sweat, and tears years ago, it does not mean you cannot offer benefits.” [00:01:36] [00:02:22] “If you have a mix of traditional and innovative perks, you can really create a culture that values and supports your employees.” [00:02:31] [00:04:14] “Many job candidates value having a flexible schedule or the option to work remotely, and it could allow for a better work-life balance and the ability to manage personal responsibilities.” [00:04:25] [00:06:30] “Paid vacation, sick leave, and personal days can be a huge incentive for potential job candidates. Having the opportunity to take some time off or recharge can improve their overall well-being or job satisfaction.” [00:06:41] Links: Resources Podcast: Bella in Your Business: Pet Industry Business Podcast  Pet Care Team Training Access Destination Hire Connect with Bella Website Facebook Instagram YouTube Call to Action: If you liked this episode, please head on over to iTunes and leave a five-star rating and review. Every single review helps get this community bigger, stronger, and better. It gets other jumpers just like you into the community. Always remember when life gets down, always keep jumping. Transcript: Welcome to another episode of Bella in your business. What is going on you guys, it is February 16. And we are here still talking about hiring. In fact, the destination hiring group has been popping off the past two weeks. And we're kind of coming to a close on that. So I hope you didn't miss out. But if you did, you can still join, all you got to do is go to jump consulting dotnet forward slash destination higher plug in the code 20 Bella, to get $20 off, it was only $27 You can get a 21-page download with all kinds of free templates, that alone is worth it. And what you can do is you can just reread everything the group is closing this weekend. So there is still time if you act now. Anyways, we're gonna get into it. Today we are going to talk all about the top five benefits that can attach, attract and retain top candidates. And you guys here's the thing, I want you to realize that I know we're all small businesses, and most of us just started from nothing. And I think a lot of times we have this thought process in our head of oh my gosh, we definitely cannot afford benefits, we cannot say we have benefits because I'm just a small mom-and-pop business. And you know, I'm not a big corporation, and I don't have all the money for that. And I'm just trying to stay afloat. But the fact of the matter is, is that with this type of climate, this hiring climate, people are looking for benefits. They're looking, it's an employee market right now. And they're looking for places where they can be long. And just because you are, you know, you started this from your own blood, sweat, and tears years ago, it does not mean that you cannot offer benefits. And today, I'm here to give you a whole bunch of ideas, let's see nine to be exact, that you can kind of think of to add to a quote-unquote, employee benefits package. All of these might not be right for you. In fact, they probably aren't. But I do want you to consider these. And perhaps you can add this to your company, therefore adding happiness to your employees and more bragging rights to your hiring ads. So without further ado, let's get going. I literally have a coaching call coming up in 10 minutes. So this is not going to be a long podcast episode, you're gonna be able to get in and get it and get out. So we talked about why it's important to attract them. But you know, these benefits help with satisfaction and retention. And, you know, if you have a mix of traditional and innovative perks, you can really create a culture that values and supports your employees. So the very first one and the most obvious one that everybody thinks of is health insurance. Now, yes, it is a pain in the butt to like get, but there are insurance plans out there that you actually could afford to have. And so high quality health insurance is often at the top of many job seekers' lists. And obviously, it's important for you to have coverage for yourself and your family. But what I would do is I would talk to an insurance broker, and I would find out what opportunities they might have and what the price points are before you go and say that's not for me, or that's going to be too expensive. I want you to consider how much does it really cost? And what kind of benefits can you get? Because you might be surprised. So don't discredit things just because of your own fears. All right, jumpers, we don't do that. We make decisions. And we make decisions based on facts. The second one is a retirement savings plan. Having a retirement savings plan such as a 401 K, or pension plan can provide financial security for the future, and help you plan for retirement. Now with this, this definitely means that again, you can maybe match some of it or all of it or whatever you want. All of the things that we're talking about today are complete expenses for your business. So this will help reduce your income, which is a good thing. So I mean, if you were sitting pretty fat, and happy at the end of 2022, and you had some profits to play with, this is definitely an opportunity, this whole podcast, all these ideas are things that I want you to think about. The other thing is flexibility. And this might sound like really, you know, abstract, and it kind of is so you'd have to define it. But many job candidates value the ability to have a flexible schedule or the option to work remotely. And it can allow for a better work-life balance and the ability to manage personal responsibilities. So we all know that dog walking is pretty much in the middle of the day or the middle of the day in the morning. And that petsitting is morning, afternoon, and evening. But what happens in those in-between slots, if you have it organized that way, which is the way that I recommend you do it? You typically have a flexible schedule because it's not typical like bank hours where you clock in at eight and clock out at five with an hour lunch break. They're not chained to your location. They're able to be running around and not traditional not like sitting in an office. And that's kind of cool. and your shifts are also, you know, staggered, right? So let's, let's leverage that. So so far we've got health insurance and retirement saving plans. And then we've got flexibility. The next one, number four is professional development opportunities. Many job seekers are looking for companies that offer training and development opportunities such as mentorship programs or learning further, these employees can grow and advance their careers. And so things like adding pet care team training, nudge nudge, wink, wink, I'm also the co founder. But it's a program where you can train your employees in under two hours, in an exciting way, with a checklist, and you get so many bonuses like quarterly blueprints for your team meetings and monthly training reminders that you can pass on to them. But they can potentially get two certifications. One is for pet sitting and dog walking. And the other one is for pet First Aid CPR. I mean, they own that now, you can't take them, that away from them. That is their knowledge. And that is pretty cool, especially for someone who's going to vet tech school or maybe wants to become a veterinarian, or work with animals just in general. All right. And so when you can say, you know, we certify you, that is, that is a perk. Alright, paid time off. So I want you to think about this. A lot of states actually require you to do this. But we don't really actually talk about it, right? So paid vacation sick leave personal days can be a huge incentive. For potential job candidates,