3 Benefits to Attract More Skilled Workers

Posted April 7, 2017 - Revised April 10, 2017

With the unemployment rate shrinking to fairly low levels, companies are having a hard time filling positions, making skilled workers more valuable than ever.

Some businesses look at improving and refining the benefits packages as a way of both keeping the skilled workers they already have, and attracting top talent.

While companies have commonly leveraged benefits to bring in and keep employees, to some extent they are now explicitly offering particular perks to target skilled workers. Healthcare coverage, retirement plans and vacation benefits are still the top benefits used to retain workers, but lifestyle benefits, flexible work arrangements and career advancement opportunities are now increasingly being used.

Lifestyle benefits

For many of today's workers, millennials in particular, the baby boomer idea of plugging away from 9 to 5, then going home to a personal life every workday until they retire is an unappealing one. Instead, today's workers want the freedom to enjoy their workdays on their terms. From worker-run Zumba classes to visiting their kids at an on-site daycare facility, workers want their job and schedule to adapt to them and their interests, not the other way around. Other common perks include an on-site gym, supplying lunch during office hours and transportation arrangements.

Many of these lifestyle benefits can supply both quantifiable and intangible rewards at a reasonable cost. For workers, these benefits bring convenience and allow them to better engage in non-work interests. For employers, producing an integrated work-life culture can boost productivity, job satisfaction and loyalty.

Flexible work arrangements

Many skilled workers spend their entire day working on a computer, and because of our highly connected world, it means they can do their job wherever there is a connection to the internet. Today’s workers now fully expect to be able to work remotely from time to time, if their job duties allow it.

A flexible work arrangement isn't just for goofing off or sipping lattes at the local cafe. It can be very valuable to an employee who is raising a small child or caring for a sick loved one.

Even if the duties of a job demand that a worker must be on-site to perform them, a company could still allow for a flexible schedule. For instance, a worker might be allowed to work four 9-hour days and one 4-hour day.

Career advancement opportunities

Today's skilled workers realize they are probably not going to stick with the same company for 40 years. Many of them are only so loyal to their employer and are ready to jump ship if a better opportunity comes along.

Skills training, mentorship programs and supporting continuing education are all ways for a company to speak to the career ambitions of skilled workers. In return, workers are not only more likely to choose a company that can help them advance their career, they’re also more likely to stick with that company.

At Ambassador, we work with our client companies to help them attract the kinds of workers they are looking for. If your business is currently looking for a talent acquisition or managed services solution, please contact us today to work with a full-service staffing agency!