Your HR & People Operations Questions, Answered › What types of perks do you think will attract Gen Zers the most?
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What types of perks do you think will attract Gen Zers the most?

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Jean asked 4 years ago
In a tight labor market, considering new grads for seasonal hiring and hiring outright is a part of the plan. Curious what advice this community has on attracting the younger generation, if at all, and how that impacts their benefits strategy in regards to recruiting?
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Shaun replied 4 years ago
Most companies can offer cold brew on tap and the occasional organic meal. These are the easy solutions. What I’ve noticed is that if you want to make a bigger impression on Gen Z’er candidates and current employees, you need to provide a sense of purpose and belonging. They need to feel that they are working for a higher purpose and a belief that what they are spending their time doing makes a positive difference is much more important than Cold Brew.

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Riia O’Donnell replied 4 years ago
Top of mind for many of these workers is student loan repayment help. Whether it’s with financial wellness programs or set aside funds to help subsidize their payments, this could be a huge factor in attracting GenZ talent. Another aspect they look for is CSR – corporate social responsibility. When looking to promote your company, look to promote the good work you do as well. Brand identity and legitimacy goes hand-in-hand with CSR. If your online person is sub-par, work to fix it. If it’s neutral, work to promote it.
Steven replied 4 years ago

Completely agree with you on Student Loan Repayment assistance. Workers that are new to their careers are primarily focused on two things; salary and debt elimination. If you offer a program that helps in both areas, it can easily be the deciding factor when faced with multiple job offers.

Jean replied 4 years ago

Thanks to you both….exposing some ignorance here…but because I know little about how companies are actually providing debt assistance I googled: "providing debt assitance to employees"

What I found was very interesting.

A June 2019 WSJ article covers the topic (<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/student-debt-relief-for-employees-11560218881">https://www.wsj.com/articles/student-debt-relief-for-employees-11560218881</a&gt;):

"What is keeping more employers from offering [debt assistance to employees]? Many HR managers say the biggest obstacle is the tax treatment that student-loan-repayment assistance currently gets. Employers have to pay a payroll tax on the contributions, while employees who receive such assistance have to report it as taxable income.

To remove that snag, lawmakers in both houses of Congress earlier this year reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would permit employers to contribute up to $5,250 annually tax-free toward an employee’s student loans. The bills would accomplish this by expanding the section of the tax code that currently allows companies to provide tax-free tuition-reimbursement assistance in that amount to workers seeking to further their education."

^^ looks like it could be a HUGE differentiator. Thank you.

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