If I had a dollar for every time a founder asked someone at affix what perks & benefits candidates are asking for, I’d be able to fund their entire benefits package for the next 5 years. What founders are really asking when they say this is:

“How can we stay competitive to attract great talent to our startup?” 

That’s because many startup founders feel like they can’t match the amazing benefits packages offered by the big corporations and tech unicorns. And fair enough. Sure, it’s inspiring to read about the industry leading policies they offer, but it can be pretty daunting for small businesses to know where to start.

But honestly? The founders I speak with are usually surprised by just how much they can actually compete, without breaking the bank (or cashing in my hypothetical pretty pennies).

The trick is in knowing what employees actually care about, and creating pocket-friendly employee benefits that directly address their needs and desires. According to a recent PwC “What Workers Want” report, flexibility, parental support, workplace culture, and wellness sit at the top of the list of benefits employees want – and you know what? They don’t have to cost a fortune.

Here are a few startup-friendly benefits you can offer employees that address what they actually want.

Flexibility is priceless (and free)

You only need to look at the stats to see why flexibility ranks as the number one request employees are making over and over again. A whopping 65% of employees ranked flexibility as a “very important” benefit, according to the PwC report.

In a Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey, 43% of respondents said they achieved more productivity thanks to flexible working hours. While 85% of businesses report an increase in productivity after implementing flexible work policies Gitnux.

The best part is that flexibility doesn’t cost a cent! But, it does require you to trust your team and treat them like adults. If the thought of doing that makes you uncomfortable… well, then I think you have a much bigger problem than flexibility my friend!

Allowing remote or hybrid work and flexible hours shows your employees that you trust them and care. So why not give the people what they want?

As a small full service digital agency for not-for-profits, Ntegrity gives employees full flexibility to work from home or the office whenever they want. And despite calling Melbourne their HQ, Founder Richenda Vermeulen is open to hiring absolutely anywhere in Australia, trusting the digital systems her and her team have built will keep their teams creative, connected and collaborating.

Similar to Ntegrity, here are a few ways that you can create a more flexible workplace:

• Be outcomes focussed. Let people work when and where they are most productive. As long as work gets done, who cares if someone is at their desk at 9am or 9pm?
• Don’t demand reasons for time off. If someone needs to duck out to pick up their kids, go to the gym, or see their GP, it shouldn’t be an issue as long as they communicate with their team.
• Offer periodic wellness or mental health days with no questions asked.

Look, I get it. Facetime is damn valuable, especially in a small business. I myself would go to the office 5 days a week if I could as a matter of personal preference. I’m not suggesting you need to be a 100% remote company (but if that’s your jam then awesome!).

But the world of work has changed and people, rightly, want an employer that gets it. As a recruiter, the number one reason I speak with folks looking to make a move is to find greater flexibility in their next role.

Parental and family support

57% of employees said paid parental leave is a very important benefit, but the sad reality is that offering extended leave can be pretty bloody costly for startups.

Unfortunately, needing to care for their children is a reason why so many working parents delay their re-entry to the workforce, with the most significant burden often placed on women.

Not only is this detrimental to their careers and the advancement of women professionals, but it also eliminates a significant portion of the workforce who could be doing amazing things at our businesses.

As an employee benefits platform that provides on-demand access to expert advice for caregiving employees and their managers, Circle In has been committed to practising what they preach from the early days.

Six years into their journey, they offer their employees a suite of caregiver-specific leave including gender-neutral parental leave, fertility leave, grief (stillbirth, miscarriage, abortion) leave, and family and domestic violence leave.

That’s on top of a variety of other benefits that were designed with inclusion in mind.

Not every business might be able to model their caregiver support benefits after Circle In, but perhaps they can inspire ideas that better suit you.

A few creative and startup-friendly parental and family benefits you can offer include:

• Provide flexible hours for school drop-offs, appointments, and the ad hoc needs all children have.
• Consider giving employees a “return to work” bonus when they return from parental leave.
• School holidays can often be the toughest time as a working parent. Allow parents to bring their kids into the office when working from home isn’t an option. Bonus points for providing child-friendly activities to keep them entertained!

Working with great people

They say people leave managers, not companies. While we don’t completely agree with this, there is a grain of truth that should be more broadly explored.

The PwC report shows us that 54% of people rank “working with great people” as a top priority. As recruiters, we know all too well that one bad apple can indeed spoil a bunch.

That’s why investing in hiring top notch, culturally aligned folks is one of the best things you can do. Not just for your business (the cost of a bad hire can be up to 30% of that employee’s first year salary), but also for the engagement and happiness of your people.

At affix, we advise businesses to look outside rigid requirements for skills and experience, and instead take a holistic approach to hiring folks who they can see themselves working with.

If we’re spending a majority of our working week collaborating and communicating with our colleagues, then building teams with great people is a no brainer. Here’s what you can do:

• Invest in your recruitment process from the get go, making values and culture alignment a key metric of your hiring process.
• Schedule regular team building activities, even simple things like lunch together.
• Regularly audit your culture, request employee feedback and integrate your company values into your ways of working to ensure everyone is on board with your company’s culture, goals, values and more.

Seek to understand

We can give you a list of 10 other startup friendly benefits to attract and retain employees (and we will if you tell us you want them!). But none of it truly matters unless you seek to understand your target market. In this case? The ideal “persona” of the employees you want in your business.

Unlike traditional customer personas, employee personas shouldn’t be as granular with details about what they read, where they shop, or whether they’d prefer spag bol over mushroom stroganoff for dinner.

That’s because diversity of interests, backgrounds, and perspectives is crucial to having a high performing team. Instead, think about the overarching values that are important to you as a business, and how those values might be reflected in your future employees.

By getting a deep understanding of the kind of folks you want on your team (beyond skills and experience), you’re better able to brainstorm benefits that might support them.

Say for example that one of your business values is Never Stop Learning. You might want to hire folks who have a growth mindset and tend to listen to podcasts, read books, or enrol in online courses.

From there, you could consider benefits that could attract them such as:

• MasterClass or LinkedIn Learning credit on their 1 year anniversary
• Dedicated podcast or book club to exchange ideas and recommendations
• Quarterly lunch & learns where you bring in an expert to teach everyone about a topic

It’s about the benefits, not the bucks

As a startup, you may not have the resources yet to offer flashy benefits. But you can make a meaningful impact in the areas employees care about most. With a little creativity and intention, you can compete for talent and show your team they matter.

What other low-cost benefits have you found effective? We’d love to hear from you!