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

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

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• YouTube

Call to Action

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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, having the opportunity to take some time off and recharge can improve their overall well-being or job satisfaction. Or maybe they don’t come to work when they’re having a bad day, and they need a mental health day, or they don’t feel well. And you know, rather than do a crappy job, they know that they’re not going to miss out on pay because they can stay home instead of working. And so if you are required to do this in your state, then you should definitely be also talking about this. But if you’re not you should consider maybe you know, for every I don’t know, every quarter you earn one day off, and you can define one day is six hours or six visits or however you might want.
The next one is pet-friendly policies. So obviously, for the ones that have pets, that basically means you could give them discounts on their own pet care. So when they’re doing pet care, they can or I’m sorry, when they’re away, maybe you give them pet care either completely for free, and you pick up the tab, or maybe you only charge them what your costs are. So labor plus maybe expenses. And that also could be a really good part too, for someone who might travel a lot or find themselves needing a pet sitter themselves.
Wellness amenities, this is something that, again, this is kind of a little bit like creative, but you know, if you’re a networker or you chat with your, you know, local health spots, if you will, there’s a possibility that they might be able to offer you a gym membership for a reduced cost. And especially as a dog walker or pet sitter, it is kind of important to keep up with your physicality, right, and to stay in shape or to stay moving so that you can, you know, do the demands of the job. And so it could be a gym, a yoga class, maybe even meditation center sessions, maybe you pay for the calm app, you know, and it’s just some silly little park, or you pay for Pandora, or Sirius X Lite, or Spotify, because they’re walking around and driving around so much. These are interesting perks that show that you’re trying to take care of your peeps. And that can come in any form that you desire. But just think about it guys think about it. Generous paternal leave policies. So sometimes people are going to start a family. And I know that that is a difficulty for us. But you know, just saying that you have a paternal leave policy, which by the way we can’t discriminate against so we have to ELP could also be a really good talking point. And then employee discounts in parks. Again,<br />I kind of mentioned it a little bit. But it’s just kind of a way the difference of how you phrase it that could simply be giving them you know, free or reduced pet care services. And that’s all the things that you can do.
So just to recap here, we’ve got health insurance, a retirement savings plan, flexibility, professional development, paid time off pet-friendly policies, wellness amenities, generous paternal leaves, and employee discounts and perks. You guys I told you this be a quick episode. We’re going to be back again next. Next week talk about six warning signs to watch out for during the hiring process like red flags, red flags, that’s all we’re gonna be talking about is red flags. You’re not gonna want to miss that.
We will be back next week on the 23rd. But until then, I hope you all had a very wonderful Valentine’s Day. And thanks for listening to the podcast. Always keep jumping and come join us. Like if all you’re doing is sitting on the sidelines right now, and you’re just listening to the podcast, you are not getting the full potential of jump consulting and how we can support you. So join the mastermind jumpconsulting.net/mastermind or jump on a 20-minute call with me just go to the website jumpconsiulting.net/20 And you can get a free coaching call with me. It’s a coaching call. That’s all it is. It’s not a sales call. I promise. I get way too excited helping you to even try to talk sales. But I hope to connect with you please come out of the airspace where we’re sharing this time and reach out and let’s connect I want to connect with you. You guys. I hope you have a wonderful day and remember when life gets down always keep jumping.