Today’s savvy, in demand tech talent know they have the upper hand and aren’t afraid to ask for what they want. Your way into their hearts is listening to their desires and offering a total compensation package that meets their needs. Here’s how it works. 

You can’t magically fix a talent short market with a $10k salary bump alone. If you really want to stand out against competitors and appeal to the right candidates, you’ll want to make sure your benefits are tantalisingly good. 

Here’s how total compensation can help you compete in a talent short market. 

Because it’s more than just the cash 

Money isn’t everything. Consider for yourself, would you rather a new job offering a hefty sign-on bonus but much longer hours onsite, or take a small pay cut for greater leave entitlements, flexibility, and development opportunities? 

Candidate expectations are much more focused on benefits these days, which is why it pays to think about your offer as a total compensation package, and not just $X salary for X outputs. 

Total compensation is the collective amount awarded to employees for their work. It encompasses base salary, commission, employee benefits, retirement benefits and/or financial advice, profit-sharing, paid time off, professional development allowances, health and wellbeing initiatives, and/or bonuses. 

Putting a price on all of it can really dress up an average salary and make it easier for candidates to compare offers. But to do it properly and make the biggest impact, you must listen to what your people want… and provide for them. 

Listening to what candidates want 

The world of work has changed, and employees are demanding to be seen, valued and fairly compensated. While salary remains a top driver for most capital city candidates, our 2022 Candidate Motivators Report shows how much the benefits, such as wellbeing and flexible work, matter. What’s really worth noting, is just how personalised candidate motivators have become. 

Traditional one-size-fits-all benefits might only meet the needs of a tiny fraction of the workforce, but we clearly see candidate motivators changing based on location, gender, seniority, and speciality. With some educated speculation, it’s easy to link challenging pandemic experiences with the shift in mentality. 

Consider that while some might score health and wellbeing high, wellbeing doesn’t necessarily mean virtual yoga classes every Friday ️for everyone ☑️ After so many lockdowns, some people now probably view wellbeing as minimal zoom meetings, no weekend emails, and increased flexibility around working hours and location. What do your employees value? 

You can read our Candidate Motivators summary here. 

What you need to think about with total compensation 

When developing your total compensation strategy, you’ll need to consider a few things, like: 

• current candidate motivators 
• employee feedback 
• your budget 
• your organisation’s values and goals 
• real-life market data for skill specific roles and industries 

You’ll also want to make it as well rounded as possible for the people you’re trying to attract. Include the value of intangible benefits like culture and flexible work, with tangible perks like home office expense subsidies, work-from-anywhere, wellness funds and professional development. 

Selling your total compensation package 

Get your current employees on board first using a strategic communication campaign where they can access all the information they need about what’s on offer. In addition to pointing them to your new Perks and Benefits page, you can also use employee stories to promote your benefits in action, highlighting how teammates are enjoying them. This can then get rolled out to your careersite for candidates. 

Consider a multi-layered, multi-platform rollout to get the message through. 

This talent short market isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so how you compensate people above the salary is key to being able to stand out. 

Download our 2022 Candidate Motivators report