Are Your Employee Benefits Competitive? 5 Ways to Broaden Your Appeal to Talent Without Overspending

Did you know that your employee benefits scheme could make or break your talent appeal? In 2025, a whopping 65% of job seekers rank employee benefits as a crucial factor when evaluating job offers.

If you’re struggling to compete with industry rivals, investing in flexible working packages, salary sacrifice schemes and employee development programs could be the key to your success.

Don’t believe us? Let’s take a closer look at the advantages:

• Improved Recruitment and Retention: Introducing more competitive benefits drives recruitment. If your company can offer a candidate more attractive perks, it’s likely that you’ll have a much larger pool to choose from. Better still, once hired, 70% of employees are more likely to stay with a company long-term that offers well-structured benefit packages. 
• Enhanced Employee Performance: Employees who are regularly recognised and rewarded for their efforts are significantly more likely to be engaged in their role. In fact, studies show that happy employees are 13% more productive.
• Low Absenteeism: When employees feel well-supported in the workplace and regularly engage in wellness activities, it reduces stress levels and contributes to a happier, healthier work environment. Employees who feel supported within their organisations are twice as likely to talk positively about their company outside of work to potential job seekers in the hiring pool.

Most importantly, broadening your appeal to a demanding talent pool doesn’t have to tank your budget. 

Here are five cost-effective ways to improve your company benefits package to attract more talent in 2025.

Flexible Working

One of the best ways to make your company more attractive in 2025 is to introduce a flexible working scheme.

71% of employees consider flexible working patterns necessary when considering a new role, so offering candidates options such as hybrid work or WFH contracts opens up the talent pool to a diverse range of potential hires.

Better still, reducing your office time is a brilliant way to lower overhead costs (e.g., energy, office space rent) and retain employees for longer periods.

If you’re unable to offer remote working, why not consider flexible hours? These can help employees improve their work-life balance and reduce stress and burnout in the workplace.

Holiday Trading

Salary sacrifice schemes are some of the most attractive benefits available to employees in the UK.

Holiday trading, in particular, continues to be popular among younger generations looking to travel alongside their job.

The Holiday Trading scheme enables employees to sell and buy annual leave from their employer, providing an opportunity to manage their work-life balance more effectively.

It’s a brilliant low-cost scheme to get behind. All you need is a reliable payroll solution that can be adjusted in real-time, as well as an active HR team that can manage and track holiday trading requests.

4-Day Work Week 

Over 200 UK companies have begun trialling a 4-day working week with no reduction in pay, in a bid to support employee work-life balance.

This is one of the most popular employee benefits on the market, with over 70-80% of job seekers searching for a position that offers them reduced hours.

Experts suggest that a 4-day working week not only improves worker mental wellbeing, but studies predict that it could boost productivity and even increase business profits in the long run.

Upskilling Courses

The best candidates are always looking to grow within your company. If you can offer them benefits such as free upskilling courses or training programmes, you’ll likely attract the crème de la crème of the hiring pool.

Upskilling courses allow an employee to flourish within your company. While it’s up to you to foot the initial costs, the relevant training and skill gain amongst your workforce will undoubtedly pay off in the long run.

Better still, investing in employee development increases workplace motivation. Workers who are constantly growing are more engaged in the workplace and fueled with ambition to reach the next level of their careers.

Free Meals

The way to most of our hearts is through our stomachs. While this benefit is slightly more costly, it’s usually a winner amongst UK job seekers.

Offering free meals in the form of a subsidised breakfast or lunch is a brilliant way to encourage workers to come into the office. With the ability to bring colleagues together, free meal stations build team morale and fuel workers, ready for a productive afternoon.

Better still, offering to cater for your employees can contribute to a healthier workplace. Instead of picking up the closest snack in the vending machine, employees are encouraged to make healthy food choices, in turn improving wellness and reducing absenteeism.

A Competitive Future For Recruiters

The competition to recruit top talent is on the rise in the UK. As the job market slows, your strategy to attract best-fit candidates must evolve if you’re to see success.

Including attractive benefits in your job ad, such as flexible working and salary sacrifice schemes, is the key to standing out and giving your business the edge in a tightening UK talent market.