How do you reward people?

You might think that when prospective candidates look at your job advert they’ll go straight to the bit that says salary and location. While these will always be key, it’s also important to look at the whole package of benefits when considering the pay and rewards you are offering.

Core benefits

Think carefully about the pay scales you are offering. Does it make your offer attractive? Will it mean you are competitive with other mortgage brokerages? It’s a good idea to offer a salary range depending on experience. It gives you a degree of flexibility depending on the candidates who apply.

As well as salary, be clear about any bonuses you offer or how your commission structure works. What pension contributions do you offer? How much holiday do you give? Do you offer private health insurance?

Once you’ve agreed the main benefits, think about the wider context. Nowadays, flexibility is often a crucial factor for many people. If you offer flexible working hours, that may be worth more than the actual salary for some people, especially if it helps with their childcare arrangements, for example. How many weekends will you expect them to work? Can they ‘buy’ extra holiday?

Alternative benefits

What other ‘perks’ can you offer to attract the best candidates? Obviously, it’s got to be something that the business can afford on an ongoing basis. Your benefits package needs to be something that will promote the health and wellbeing of your team, while at the same time fit within your budget over the long term.

So try and think creatively about what will appeal to your team and meet their needs. What will make a real difference to them? You may be surprised - something that’s relatively cheap or easy for you to offer can be of huge value to a team member.

You might be able to offer a discount card or shopping vouchers in partnership with a local business. Health club membership for everyone might be out of the question but maybe you could investigate the possibility of a number of cards for the business to share.

Some companies give everyone their birthday off which is a nice touch and usually greatly appreciated.

Google are renowned for offering amazing perks; gourmet cafes on site, free meals, massage rooms, nap pods and free workout classes. They’re also committed to supporting their employees ‘in doing what they love’— whether that's through on-site coding classes, degree programmes, guitar lessons or something entirely different. Now, you might not be able to offer what Google offer but there will be things you can do to increase employee engagement and make your brokerage a place where people want to come to work.

A pleasant working environment can go a long way. Again you might not go as far as bean bags, slides and ice cream parlours but a pool table or darts board in the team area might be feasible. Think about the sort of team nights you organise? Would bowling, a brewery tour or a trip to a comedy store go down well?

The pay and rewards package you offer needs to show you’re thinking of the whole person. It comes down to the fact that if you create a culture where people work hard but feel they are being well treated, they will also treat your customers well.

By offering a range of ‘perks’ as well as the traditional benefits, you’ll find you’re setting yourself apart from other brokerages. This could make all the difference if a candidate is in the fortunate position of being able to pick and choose between offers.