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Employers Fight Talent Crunch with Lavish Perks
With a recent Manpower Group survey finding that 46% of U.S. companies are having difficulty filling open positions, employers are becoming increasingly creative with perks. Nearly a third are going above and beyond with perks, according to Manpower.
The not-so-old standbys are still being offered—signing bonuses, tuition reimbursement and so on. But NPR recently reported that CNN now lures potential employees with promises of pet insurance and autism support, among other benefits.
CNN is hardly alone in this respect. At Goldman Sachs, for example, traveling bankers with infant children can ship home their breast milk free of charge. Abbott matches an employee’s 2% salary contributions toward paying down student loans with a 5% contribution toward the employee’s 401(k) plan.
“America has a talent crunch,” Steven Lindner, a talent acquisition expert at the Society for Human Resource Management, told NPR. “There’s not a single employer, large or small, that I come in contact with that’s not struggling to find qualified candidates.”
That’s especially the case with specialized jobs. CNN parent company Turner is trying to recruit data scientists, product managers and information security professionals, according to Angela Santone, Turner’s top human resources officer.
However, recruitment isn’t the only goal of these perks. “While our programs do make us more competitive with candidates, we also believe in offering these benefits to engage and retain our current employees,” said Santone.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny
