TM - January 2008 - (Page 29)

Much has been written about the talent war and the efforts companies must make to attract and retain the best and brightest employees. There’s really no argument — at the baseline, companies must offer pay and standard benefits commensurate with their industry. Yet, to be truly competitive, many organizations are offering nontraditional benefits to catch candidates interest and to keep them feeling appreciated once on the job. mployers today are getting creative in order to attract and retain workers, offering perks once reserved for the C-suite. Some employers — including leading companies such as Peoplesoft, Pixar and Fox/Newscorp — are offering pet care services, recognizing that 63 percent of households own at least one pet. They also recognize related services — such as overnight sitting and daily visits, boarding and day care, even pet taxiing and group dog outings — decrease their owners’ absenteeism and improve productivity. Such benefits are also competitive advantages in markets suffering the full effects of the talent shortage, such as technology. Leading companies such as Google are decidedly less affected by the waning pool of talented employees, receiving tens of thousands of resumes monthly. Yet, its self-described benefits go “beyond the basics,” including advantages such as financial help for adoptions. Its “well beyond the basics” benefits at the Mountain View, Calif., headquarters include free lunch and dinner prepared by gourmet chefs, an onsite doctor and hair stylist, shuttle service to several San Francisco Bay area locations and on-site services such as oil changes, car washes, dry cleaning, massage therapy, fitness classes and bike repair. Of course, few companies have the resources of a Google — or Fox/Newscorp or Pixar, for that matter. Many mid- and large-size companies are offering less radical nontraditional benefits to attract qualified employees. A huge attraction for workers is support for child care — in some form. Some provide on-site child care for sick children or reimburse parents for child care-related issues several times per year. Benefits research by the Society for Human Resource Management shows, for several years running, close to three-quarters of companies surveyed offered flexible savings accounts for dependent care. Only a small percentage of companies nationwide offer either on-site care or after-school care, yet these benefits are a hit with workers. The St. Paul Companies, an insurer in St. Paul, Minn., offers onsite child care for employees returning to work after the birth of a child. The company quickly got into the business of providing work-life programs when it found that to get the best from each employee, it needed to have the “whole employee.” Synovus Financial Corp. in Columbus, Ga., built an on-site day care center and has one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry. It also was included in Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, for its child care and other perks, such as on-site gyms, a company store and a cement walking trail. More companies look to attract and retain talent by offering comprehensive wellness benefits. Those that do can foster a healthy workplace and cut the spiraling cost of employee health care. In 2006, employer health insurance premiums E talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 29 January 2008 http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - January 2008

TM - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Learning Connections: Working With Those People Leading Edge: Hub Caps for a Buggy Human Performance: Hawthorne Effect Revisited Beyond Affirmative Action: The Changing Face of Recruitment Assessment Centers in Talent Management: Strategies, Use and Value Nontraditional Benefits- How to Hook the Best Talent Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management Cross-Training for Workforce Agility Mapping Talent Among Younger Workers Dashboard: Using Personality Data to Identify and Develop High-Potential Leaders Application: Shaffer Title Uses Myers-Briggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Insight: Dreier, Stein & Kahan LLP: Using Strategy to Bring Back the Law Profession Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Stop in the Name of Leadership

TM - January 2008

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