In life, there are necessities, there are comforts and then there are extravagances. The world of startup benefits is no different. As a member of the talent acquisition community, I'm flooded with information on new trends in benefits and offerings—and sometimes—the revolving information is enough to make my head spin.
It's time to set the record straight on what all startups must, should and are starting to offer their employees. I've partnered with purpose.jobs to bring you an in-depth look at benefits, breaking down everything you need to know about what to offer your startup employees.
Let's dive in.
The necessities
Stripping away what's common, there are a handful of benefits required by law, that companies of certain sizes offer employees. They are:
- Time off to vote, serve on a jury or perform military service
- Comply with all worker's compensation requirements
- Withhold FICA taxes from employee's paychecks and pay their own portion of FICA taxes, providing employees with retirement and disability benefits
- Pay state and federal unemployment taxes, thus providing benefits for unemployed workers
- Contribute to state short-term disability programs in states where programs exist
- Comply with the Federal Family and Medical Leave
The comforts
Now that we have the basics covered, it's important to understand the creatures of comfort most startups offer. Benefits like health for companies under 50 full-time employees (outside of Hawaii), dental and vision plans are not required by law but have become staples in compensation packages. Paid vacations, retirement and life insurance plans are also not mandatory but have become common amongst competitive employers.
The extravagances
Often called fringe benefits, extravagant benefits are what startup dreams are made of. I'm talking pet-friendly offices and stocked kitchens, or travel stipends and student debt payment. At Integral, we're proud to offer some pretty great benefits, like gym reimbursements, $500 bonus for speaking engagements and $1,000 plus an extra 2 days paid time off for professional development opportunities. While the list goes on from there, we, like other leading startups, know the secret to getting the best out of our teams is making sure they're comfortable in their environment.
At Integral, we're proud to offer benefits that support our team member's lives and work experiences, and we'd love to hear about other benefits and perks startups are offering their teams across Detroit and Ann Arbor. Let me know by shooting us an email at hello@integral.io.
Have more questions on benefits, recruiting or building strong teams? Follow me on LinkedIn.
__________
Belal Tiba is a Detroit-based talent acquisition professional and recruiter at Integral, with a focus in recruiting active and passive candidates. He enjoys finding ways to improve the recruiting process through structured behavior and situation-based questions, implementing sourcing and recruiting strategies, removing unconscious bias, recruiting research, improving candidate experience and coaching.
