Dive Brief:
- Nearly 6 in 10 job postings on Indeed in May advertised at least one employer-provided benefit, reflecting more than a 50% increase since January 2020, Indeed’s Hiring Lab reported July 25. This is likely driven by post-pandemic labor market tightness.
- The postings most likely to mention at least one employer-sponsored benefit were those in low-wage sectors and with limited remote opportunities. Still, both of these sectors offer fewer benefits overall, Hiring Lab economist Allison Shrivastava wrote.
- Professional sectors have the lowest share of postings that advertise a benefit, Hiring Lab found. This may be because job seekers assume employers in these sectors offer benefits and expect to negotiate them later on, researchers noted.
Dive Insight:
A helpful takeaway for HR pros and hiring managers: Advertising employer-sponsored benefits in a strategic way can help an employer stand out from the crowd, per Hiring Lab.
“In a tight labor market, adding benefits to job postings in lower-wage sectors — where they aren’t often given and where job seekers may be less likely to assume they’re offered — could go a long way in attracting applicants,” Shrivastava pointed out.
Likewise, employers offering limited remote work opportunities may view some benefits as an important recruiting tool amid still-intense competition to attract candidates, Shrivastava said.
However, this same strategy may be less important in the tech and other professional and knowledge industries, where remote work is more common and where job seekers may expect benefits to be offered.
“In other words, benefits may be more commonly included as part of a negotiated compensation package in some sectors, and a low share of postings with benefits explicitly offered in these sectors probably does not mean benefits aren’t offered at all,” Shrivastava noted.
There was one notable exception, however: in May, 12% of postings for software development jobs advertised at least one family benefit, the highest of any sector analyzed, Shrivastava wrote.
Others may soon follow suit. In a survey by Business Group on Health and Fidelity Investments, more than half of the 160 employer respondents said they plan to address the impact of social determinants of health — social and economic conditions that affect a person’s ability to be healthy — on personal well-being in the next few years, according to findings released in May.
Some employers said they’re tackling the social determinants of work — factors affecting how an employee can show up for work in a healthy way — such as by providing caregiving or child care benefits. More than three-quarters reported providing family-forming and reproductive support this year.
Nationwide, pay transparency has also increased, and a lack of pay information in a job posting can be a deal-breaker for many job seekers. More than 2 in 5 of U.S. workers who responded to a Robert Half survey said they’d lose interest in a position if the job ad lacked a salary range in the job description, June results showed.
One HR exec provided another tip: As HR pros become key strategy players in their organizations, they can use their expertise to unlock brand success, Orlando Ashford, chief people officer at Fanatics argued in a recent op-ed to HR Dive.
This involves consistently communicating to employees and prospective talent organization’s brand as an employer, including how it wants to be known for among its workforce and future employees, Ashford explained. HR professionals can also use recruitment as a branding opportunity when reaching out to potential applicants, the op-ed recommended.