Exceed Your New Hires’ Compensation and Benefits Expectations in Business and at Work

As I was the junior HR team member in a dying business division about to be sold off, I was the first to be laid off. The upside was that I was a strong performer, and my then-HR manager worked hard to get me placed in another division before my layoff notice period ended.  Our joint efforts paid off literally and figuratively – I was hired by a financially healthier business division 5 days before I was slated to hit the street.

My new boss wanted to present my offer letter in person (a best practice that I love to this day), so I traveled to my new boss’s office for that final pre-hire meeting. Bill, my new boss, presented my offer letter with a flourish, and I was appreciatively astonished: it was a 14% increase over my then-current salary; and because my  business division was in trouble, I had been slated for a 2% increase, which was considered to be a good increase for strong performers. “Bill, this is too much, thank you,” I remarked. Bill smiled. “First of all, don’t ever say that again when you get a good offer, please,” Bill advised. “Second of all: one of the best things a hiring manager can do is to exceed the expectations of a new hire, to allow them to hit the ground running on a high note.” Amen, Bill.

Yet, later in my career and occasionally to this day, I see hiring authorities try to make job offers below the new hire’s salary and benefits requirement. When that happens, it produces the opposite effect: the new hire starts their job with the impact that their new employer doesn’t value them enough. Or worse (and more frequently, especially in this tight candidate market), they turn you down for a better job offer.

If your budget and internal employee compensation compression can handle it, be as generous as possible with your new hire compensation and benefits offer. Try to make the offer even modestly above the new hire’s requirement. There are also other options to exceed the new hire’s expectation:

• One-time hiring bonus
• Compensation consideration after 3, 6, and/or 9 months
• Remote work opportunities
• Flexible work schedules, including but not limited to the occasional or periodic Friday off.

You get the the drift of what exceeding a new hire’s expectations can look like.

How do you exceed your new hires’ compensation and benefits expectations, in business and at work?