In an increasingly competitive market for labor, tech companies are getting more and more creative to attract talent, with companies large and small offering benefits such as unlimited paid time off or a 4-day workweek.
San Antonio-based Searchspring is seeking to stand out with a new perk: Two weeks paid vacation for new hires before starting.
Searchspring, which has about 30 Colorado-based employees across two offices in Denver and Colorado Springs, is calling the program “Start Fresh.”
CEO Peter Messana said he got the idea from a blog.
“If you can take that mental break in between [jobs], you’re going to be far more engaged and ready to do the job,” he told Denver Business Journal.
The only concern internally about the new program, which officially launched last month, was with delaying the start time for new employees after what can often be a lengthy hiring process.
“My counter to that was, there’s somewhere between six and eight other weeks in the process and you’re now worried about the last two?” Messana said. “Well if you’re worried about the two weeks on the end, then shorten up all the other time and your total time would be the same.”
Messana said the perk is essentially a signing bonus for new employees but represents more than “just giving somebody money.”
"The first 90 days somebody starts a job is very stressful. Changing jobs is not necessarily easy,” he noted. “If you can remove some of the stress out of that and make that first 90 enjoyable, then you should be set up for long-term success, both in employee engagement [and] productivity [as well as] lack of turnover.”
He said Searchspring needed the extra benefit to be more attractive in a challenging hiring environment.
“Anything we can offer that is attractive, that stands out, that is different [helps],” Messana said. “We continuously look at the environment and know it’s a truly competitive environment so we want to be an employer of choice. How do I get [to be] a place that people want to work?”
With tech companies increasingly offering bigger salaries, remote work and benefits that Searchspring also offers — such as unlimited PTO and sabbaticals — Messana knew he needed to do something unusual to stay competitive.
"I can't [double pay],” Messana noted. “But that’s not really that appealing to most people. That’s not really what somebody actually wants, what they want is just real [tangible] things. ... We're trying to provide employees what they need to be successful."
