In the last few decades, we’ve seen an explosion of creative perks and benefits designed to attract each new generation of job seekers. And as much as these perks play a role in swaying a candidate’s final decision, it’s hard to ignore the number one reason that just about everyone shows up to work every day: the money.
Research from Gallup highlights a significant increase in income as a top factor for job seekers, with 64% considering it “very important.” Whether a position is salaried, hourly, or even commissioned, potential applicants want to be compensated for their education, skills, experience, expertise and hard work.
In a perfect world, your company would have unlimited funds to pour into recruiting and retaining the best employees available. That, of course, would entail paying salaries that give your business a competitive edge over other businesses in your area.
But, naturally, not every company can pay top dollar. Most businesses pay average, fair salaries, and that’s okay, too… but these employers will sometimes lose a top candidate to a higher-paying competitor.
Fortunately, there are other benefits you can offer to help you win over potential hires. While salaries took the top spot of importance, Gallup found that work-life balance and better personal wellbeing weren’t far behind a salary increase, with 61% of job seekers listing them as a top deciding factor. From unlimited vacation to flexible work arrangements, here are four impactful, non-salary incentives to encourage applicants to accept your job offers:
1. Offer Meaningful Wellness Benefits
Wellness isn’t just a millennial buzzword! It’s a meaningful way of life in which health, fitness and peace of mind are valued… and what employee (and employer!) wouldn’t want that? After all, happy and healthy employees are more productive, take fewer sick days, and help create a more desirable company culture.
Corporate wellness looks different for every company. At Patagonia, employees are encouraged to spend time outdoors, on top of generous wellness programs that offer free on-site childcare and 100% college tuition reimbursement. Some companies offer unlimited sick days to make sure their employees (and their families) are feeling their best.
Of course, smaller businesses wanting to offer wellness perks will need to do so on a smaller budget. Just because your company cannot house a yoga studio on-site doesn’t mean you can’t hire an instructor to teach a private class to your employees once a month. Maybe you can’t give every employee a Fitbit, but perhaps you could do a raffle for one at the end of a productive quarter.
From subsidized gym memberships to no-questions-asked mental health days, showing your potential hires (and current employees) that you care about them can be enormously powerful. Create a corporate wellness program that fits your company’s culture and budget, and don’t be shy about sharing it with applicants throughout the hiring process.
While a wellness program is rarely incentive enough to secure a top hire, when combined with other benefits, it makes an attractive package that could help your company sign its preferred candidate.
Wellness can extend beyond simple programs and into giving your employees plenty of time to recharge. Modern companies like Netflix have popularized benefits such as unlimited vacation, which isn’t as scary as it sounds. How does unlimited vacation work? Well, mostly, it’s about trust. When a company offers uncapped days off to its employees, what it’s really signaling is that it trusts employees to make mature decisions about work-life balance. The best part about unlimited vacation is that it’s a flashy perk that doesn’t really cost all that much.
2. Prioritize Growth Opportunities
Over the last couple of years, candidates have repeatedly ranked having more opportunities for advancement as their top job priority when looking for work. Job seekers across demographics are making career growth a deciding factor, even above better compensation, work-life balance, and work culture.
While they can take some effort to organize, creating growth opportunities is a low-cost way to improve your chances of winning over candidates – and keeping the around for the long haul. Mentoring relationships, dedicated upskilling programs, and clear paths to climb the ladder at your organization are solid ways to attract and engage talent.
On top of helping you to stand out from competitors, investing in employee development has benefits for retention, employee engagement, and helps to close the skills gap.
3. Offer Excellent Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
One study discussed in the Harvard Business Review reveals that candidates choosing between a higher-paying and lower-paying job can be swayed to select the latter if the right benefits are offered. Looking at data from the 2025 Candidate Experience Report, when job seekers were asked to rank common benefits, good health insurance coverage topped the list.
Of course, offering blue-chip health insurance is a considerably more expensive than subsidizing a membership to a local gym. Employee-sponsored health care can cost almost $16,000 per employee - that’s a lot! For premier coverage, you’ll likely spend even more. Still, talk to your insurance provider about how much it would cost to improve benefits or add specialty coverage (like fertility treatments) for your business.
4. Get Flexible About Where and When Employees Work
Providing top-notch insurance to your employees might not be in your company’s budget at the moment. However, there’s something job seekers crave that you can give them for free.
We’re talking about flexibility. In today’s modern landscape, work hours are not always so black and white, so nine-to-five. Employees might want to work from home a few days a week, or help out at their children’s school on Friday afternoons and work Saturday mornings instead.
Data from the 2025 Candidate Experience report shows that a hybrid work schedule is what most job seekers (45% of them) are looking for when it comes to work arrangements.
True flexibility is about trust. Do you believe your employees are capable of getting their work done even if they are not always in the office? The reality is that most people find they are able to be more productive when working remotely compared to in-person work: the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that productivity increases as remote work increases.
Even if you’re a little reluctant to implement full flexibility, you could dip your toes in such a program by offering employees one flexible workday per month until you feel confident a larger-scale program would work for your organization.
Job Seekers are Looking for Trust and Respect
Curious about what else matters to potential hires choosing between your job offer and one that pays a bit better? After better insurance, flexible hours, more vacation time, work-from-home options and unlimited vacation, job seekers value student loan and tuition assistance, paid parental leave, gym memberships, and daycare.
Lower on the list: free snacks and coffee, company retreats, swanky office spaces, and team bonding events. While these perks are nice to have, the trend is clear: job seekers want independence, respect, and flexibility—and they’re often willing to take a lower salary to secure them.
