You think you deserve a pay rise, your boss thinks differently. Or, you’re a new hire who is negotiating your compensation package and reaching a stalemate over salary. What can you do? Think outside the box and look for benefits that are immediately financial but which will impact your personal bottom line.
When you look into the small print, you’ll find that many companies offer non-financial benefits such as transportation schemes and employee mental health assistance programmes. Some will even offer benefits that are immediately financially beneficial such as health insurance or life insurance for your and your family.
Depending on your personal situation, employers that offer extensive parental leave or adoption/surrogacy leave may be of interest. But what about benefits that aren’t immediately obvious as being financial in nature?
When negotiating a new contract, it’s worth considering the following perks, because when you deep-dive it becomes obvious that they will add a serious bump to your salary.
The pandemic had a lot of negatives, but one of the biggest, and perhaps most unexpected, benefits was that it changed how and when we worked forever. Companies were forced to embrace remote working and restructure how they worked so that employees could achieve targets and complete projects while collaborating virtually. And for most, productivity increased – and profits soared.
With 29 per cent of workers now choosing to work remotely full-time, it’s clear to see that the benefits impact more than your work life balance. Flexible working hours and remote work also benefits your pocket, especially if it saves you money on childcare and commuting costs.
If you can tailor your work day around your children’s school schedule or avoid having to pay for after school clubs because you are now home, that is money in your pocket, which is essentially adding pounds to your take home pay.
One company that has embraced remote working and flexible working hours is Airbnb, which essentially lets its employees work from anywhere at any time, as long as it’s not disruptive to company or team objectives.
Currently hiring for roles across finance and campaign management, the company has dozens of open roles currently; explore all opportunities across AirBnB here.
We know that playing the stock market comes with great risk, but with great risk comes reward – which is why so many people are starting to dabble in stocks and shares. However, the fact remains that for beginners, sure bets for a return on investment can be expensive. Which is why staff purchase plans which enable employees to purchase stock at a discounted rate or pro rata stock options in lieu of salary is an easy way to dip your toe into the market.
Stock options in part payment for services rendered comes with the added benefit of tax breaks, but can be hard to come across when job hunting as it tends to be offered only with startups and those who get in early. However, discount staff purchase plans are more common, especially in the tech sector among companies that were previously considered Unicorns but are now a little more established.
PayPal for example, offers all staff the opportunity to purchase stock at a 15 per cent discount. If you are planning on investing anyway, this is an additional bump to your investment pot.
The company is currently hiring for a number of roles in London, including Salesforce Developer and Manager, Internal Audit, or you can discover all available opportunities with PayPal.
Turning down an employer pension contribution is tantamount to turning down a pay rise. Not convinced? Think of it this way – if an employer offers to match a pension contribution or offers an independent pension, they are essentially giving you additional financial compensation. While pension contributions are not as common among employers as they once were, there are some companies who offer generous pension packages, and not just in public service.
Fintech disruptor Monzo offers all employees up to a 4 per cent pension contribution. Meaning they will pay you 100 per cent of your salary, but will match your pension contribution up to 4 per cent of said salary – on a £100,000 yearly wage, this amounts to an additional £4,000 per year. It is essentially money for nothing, which you will be thankful for come retirement.
It is currently hiring for a number of roles, including roles across Anti-Money Laundering, Software Engineering Manager, Customer Operations, and Senior Data Scientist.
