Maintaining some professional profiles is becoming more and more complex, particularly in the technology sector. Companies are struggling to attract the best workers and prevent their employees from leaving, and the situation has reached the point where some small and medium-sized companies see their business continuity at risk because they are unable to hire experienced employees. Faced with this perspective, some companies that cannot afford to pay higher salaries have chosen an alternative that is also in the best interests of workers and usually cheaper: offering more and more diverse employment benefits.

Table tennis in the office is no longer interesting. Being able to play a game of foosball with colleagues in the office was nice, but the workers became more pragmatic. The insane job benefits that came out of Silicon Valley a few years ago are no longer so interesting, and employees are now striving to improve their social and health coverage and the ability to get along better.

According to the company that specializes in this type of employment benefits CubanToday, the benefits most sought after by Spanish workers are private health insurance, retirement plans, and retirement insurance. This, in addition, is what most companies offer in our country. Training, food and transportation tickets are also very popular.

“Although these types of disruptive actions are not yet widespread among Spanish companies, we are aware of a growing interest in getting closer to their employees and better meeting their expectations with them. Benefit plans allow this, in addition to improving the worker’s annual gross salary thanks to savings in tax Personal Income (IRPF). 83% of Spaniards view this compensation as a sign that their company cares about them,” explains a Cobbe representative to Xataka. Percentage obtained from the report Employee Benefits Trends for 2022 They made themselves.

Reduced working hours and unlimited vacations. Although the benefits most Spanish companies offer, and which workers are most in demand at the moment, relate to health, training and private pension plans, there is a small group of companies betting on other companies that allow employees to organize their time as they like, and some are innovative Like unlimited vacations.

Thus, for example, the main advantage that Andalusian Software Delsol offers is the four-day working week. An increasingly common feature, and as Xataka knows, many tech SMEs are considering adopting it to retain their workers due to the impossibility of offering higher salaries.

Another amazing feature is the unlimited vacations offered by Spanish companies such as Good Rebels and Xceed or Cyberclick and multinational companies that have a presence in our country such as Netflix. Although, as we have already explained in Xataka, this option can harm employees by creating inequality among them and, paradoxically, make them less comfortable.

Remote work is also a benefit. Other companies have incorporated remote work into their set of benefits, either through a “complete remote” model (Sngular or Liberty Seguros) or a hybrid model (Telefónica, Orange or Rastreator, among many others), since this is the option A favorite of our country’s entrepreneurs).

Psychological health. Another new benefit, which employees are increasingly requesting, is a type of mental health coverage. According to the Cobee report, this is one of the trends of the future, and it is in demand above all by workers of generations Z (under 25 years old) and millennials (between 25 and 34 years old). In Spain, companies such as Glovo, Typeform or Sanitas already deliver to their workers.

Benefits based on age. The Cobee study also shows that, depending on the age of the worker, he has a preference for some advantage or another. Among those under the age of 34, for example, private healthcare, training, food, transportation tickets, or mental health predominate.

For people aged 35-54, private health care and training are still important, but retirement, retirement, and life insurance plans are already making a strong comeback. And starting at the age of 55, Spaniards demand from their companies, above all, retirement plans, health insurance and retirement.

picture | Conner Baker