5 Benefits the World’s Biggest Tech Companies Offer to Attract Top Talent

Employee retention is a major challenge for the world’s biggest businesses. The brightest minds in the tech world have been known to float from one job to the next, vying for new positions and listening to new offers.

Benefits are now playing a major role in the hiring process, and unique offerings can boost employee retention.

All businesses must start with the basics before moving on to the “fun” and added benefits. But the world’s biggest businesses are offering their own set of unique benefits to keep employees happy.

1. Healthcare, Dental, Vision, Workers’ Comp

Standard benefits are expected at top companies. It’s important to know that businesses offer these benefits to employees and not contractors.

“Businesses with employees are required by law to provide workers’ compensation insurance for employees who become injured or ill on the job. However, state laws do not require employers to purchase worker’s compensation insurance to cover independent contractors,” states workers’ compensation attorney Neal Strom.

Standard employee benefits include:

• Healthcare
• Dental
• Vision
• Workers’ compensation
• Retirement plans

Companies that want to attract and keep employees must work on these basic benefits first. Once these benefits are in place, businesses can compete for top-tier talent by offering the perks that top companies are offering.

2. Airbnb: Free $2,000 a Year Travel Expenses

Airbnb is all about travel, so they offer $2,000 annually to employees to travel anywhere in the world. Focusing on well-being, the company also allows employees to bring their pets to work, provides organic lunches daily, and offers weekly Yoga classes.

Small businesses with tighter budgets can offer just $100 or $200 to employees for travel time.

Travel is a nice perk, but it won’t necessarily be the sole reason your top talent stays on board (basic benefits are crucial). Airbnb’s retention rate is a mere 1.64 years. But considering that the top retention rate in the tech world is just 2.02 years, Airbnb isn’t doing too bad.

3. Dropbox Feeds Their Employees

Dropbox feeds their employees – a lot. The company’s perks are extensive, but one of the best ones is that all employees get free breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snacks are also free. The company also offers:

• Gaming tournaments
• DDR
• Ping-Pong

Dropbox’s retention rate isn’t in the top 10, but the company’s employees are still highly sought. Uber has been known to hire Dropbox talent and Lyft has recently made their own push to hire the company’s employees.

The perk of free food may not be enough for Dropbox to compete with fast-moving, high-paying positions at other companies.

4. Facebook Offers Extensive Benefits for New Parents

Anyone wanting to start a family will be attracted to Facebook. The social media giant is all about family, and this is reflected in their benefits to expecting parents. Parents will receive:

• 4 months paid leave
• Daycare reimbursement
• Adoption fee reimbursement
• $4,000 cash to help pay for new arrivals

It pays to offer such high benefits to employees that want to start a family. Of course, all meals are also free, cooks are on the premises and specific dishes can even be requested.

Facebook also has the highest retention rate of employees in the tech world – 2.02 years.

5. Google’s Googleplex is Filled with Benefits

Google has so many benefits that it’s almost a dream to work at the 500,000 square foot Googleplex. The company’s benefits include:

• Bikes
• Volleyball courts
• Fitness classes
• Massage therapy
• A gym
• Hair stylist
• Swimming pools
• Car washes
• Oil changes

Meals are free, too. It’s almost as if Google wants to offer employees so much that they never want to leave work.

Google has a retention rate of just 1.9 years – the second-highest in the tech world.

Small businesses that can’t afford to offer their employees these extensive benefits can start offering added perks (even a free meal once a month) to help keep employees satisfied and wanting to work for their business.

Flexible work practices, as offered by the likes of Cisco, are also in high demand. Offering employees one or two days a week where they can work from home, for example, is often enough to pique a potential employee’s interest.