25 Valuable Employee Benefits to Negotiate Besides Salary -

A competitive salary is only the beginning of employee benefits.

As we all frantically search how to earn six figures or what dollar amount translates into a “good salary”, we are likely missing the point. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, employee benefits make up 31% of total compensation costs.

The salary is the foundation of employee compensation, but employee benefits can be where the real value lies.

Before you launch a job search or salary negotiation process with an unwavering salary figure, make sure to keep the potential of a well-rounded benefits package in mind.

What Are Employee Benefits?

Simply put, employee benefits are the perks or “fringe Benefits” that are offered to employees alongside their agreed-upon wages or salaries.

When we think of employee benefits, we think of health insurance, dental coverage, paid time off, and retirement benefits. These are all the basic benefits that larger companies are legally obligated to offer. Smaller companies offer these basic benefits to compete, but are they enough to retain real talent? Do they show employees that they are valued?

Required Benefits All Employers Must Offer

While each state in the United States has different required benefits, these are employee benefits that all employers must follow.

Time off to vote, participate in jury duty, or perform military service
Adherence to workers’ compensation requirements
Pay state and federal unemployment taxes
Compliance with the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

There is so much more than an employee can (and should!) negotiate, especially if the base salary or wages are…less than stellar.

Why Employee Benefits Are So Important

More than ever, it’s crucial for an organization to stand out to top talent. Beyond that, employees are increasingly incentivized by companies that actually value their employees.

While many of us were excited by the endless arrays of snacks, ping pong tables, and nap pods of the early 2000s, we learned what they really were. Nowadays, employees see the unlimited kombucha tap as little more than a vanity perk, designed to keep employees at work around the clock.

Employees want to be valued. Studies have shown that workers are increasingly screening for organizations that care for their employees’ well-being and work-life balance.

Why Employee Benefits Are 100% Worth Negotiating

If you’re an employee looking to negotiate your salary and compensation package, consider these creative additions and amplifications to basic benefits.

If you’re a current employee looking to ask for a raise, consider readying a list of benefits to negotiate in lieu of your target raise.

Finally, if you’re an employer, pay attention to the following creative benefits you can offer to your employees, atop their base salaries. Consider the ways the following benefits value an employee’s time, efforts, skills, and health.

Beyond the benefits to the employee’s health and well-being, any organization that offers great benefits is also improving morale and longevity in the process. Research by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicates that 92% of employees consider employment benefits as important for their overall job satisfaction

Basic Employee Benefits

This first group of employee benefits includes the basic benefits that we touched upon above. However, there are ways to negotiate these basic benefits to make them more valuable.

1. Severance

It may seem counterintuitive to negotiate your severance package before landing the job. However, that’s precisely why it’s so important!

You can negotiate the terms of your severance package to show that you’re serious about the role and that you are interested in protecting your own interests.

Severance Package Negotiations:

Length of continued salary
Your single lump-sum payment
Payment for outstanding vacation or PTO
Stock options
Re-employment assistance

For more on negotiating every element of your severance package (which we hope you’ll never use!) check out this article on severance negotiation.

2. Health Benefits

Depending on your existing health or your dependants, great health insurance benefits can be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars every year. Even your most basic health insurance plan will cost a pretty penny.

If your employer’s compensation package cannot budge on salary, this is the first place to look for some seriously important benefits. Elements of health insurance you can negotiate include:

Coverage start date
Percentage of coverage
Access to a preferred health plan
Extended coverage or COBRA in the event of a layoff

3. Dental Benefits

Dental benefits often sound more impressive than they are in reality. Dental coverage offers great value for employees looking to continue preventive dental care. However, if you’ve had a history of root canals, dental coverage is often not as great.

This is why it’s important to negotiate your dental coverage, especially if you know you might need a very expensive crown in the future.

Elements of Dental Benefits to Negotiate:

Enhanced coverage
Coverage accepted by your dentist
In-house dental plan coverage
A lump sum of dental reimbursement (in lieu of coverage)

For more on dental coverage, check out this article by Delta Dental.

4. Retirement Plans + 401(k) Matching

It’s no secret that Millennials and Gen X-ers are behind previous generations when it comes to retirement savings. Thanks, multiple recessions!

That’s why offering retirement plans as part of a great benefits package can help to attract and retain young talent looking to build a stable future.

If you’re looking to negotiate your future, here are elements to negotiate when it comes to retirement savings:

Informational sessions to explain how traditional retirement plans work.
Payroll providers that create an easy way to contribute to new or existing retirement plans
Employer-matched contributions to retirement plans

5. Life Insurance Plans

Life insurance plans allow employees to protect their loved ones in the event of death. While individual employees can opt to take out their own personal life insurance plans, it can be helpful to get it through your place of work.

To negotiate a better life insurance policy, do some research. Find a personal plan that might offer a bigger payout with a lower monthly payment. If you have suffered from health issues, you might also negotiate your life insurance policy to better protect your loved ones. We know this is a morbid benefit, but it can be crucially important.

6. Disability Insurance

Like life insurance, disability insurance exists to protect employees from loss of income. These types of insurance policies are becoming more commonplace, especially in the wake of 2020.

Sometimes called “life insurance,” these policies protect groups or individuals from both short-term and long-term income loss due to illness or injury.

If this is something that interests you, bring up life insurance or disability insurance when negotiating your benefits package.

7. Parental Leave + Caretaker Leave Packages

As long as parents have been participating in the workforce, child care has been a huge barrier to work. This is especially true for mothers, who disproportionately take on unpaid childcare responsibilities.

Since the subject of negotiating child care is its own slew of articles, here are some elements to negotiate along with resources to help do so.

Childcare Benefits to Negotiate:

Besides parental leave, some employees might require caretaker leave when a loved one is navigating a critical illness. If you are an employee who cares for an ill loved one, this will be a crucial element of your benefits negotiation.

8. Profit Sharing

Profit-sharing plans are retirement plans that give employees a share in their company’s annual earnings. Unlike bonuses, these funds will be invested in a retirement account without easy access.

Companies of all sizes can establish these types of retirement plans. Learn more about how profit-sharing plans work, and how to negotiate your profit share.

9. Vacation Leave, Sick Leave, and Personal Days

We probably don’t need to explain this one. We all love some days off. We all really love paid days off. If you’re looking for more free time over a heftier salary, definitely consider negotiating more paid time off.

While some companies offer “unlimited vacation” as a benefit, this has proven to be a bit of a false perk.

PTO Elements to Negotiate:

A certain time off every year (ie. the month of August, the second half of December)
Increased number of differentiated paid time off (ie. vacation days, sick days, personal days)
Opportunity to be paid for unused vacation days in the event of a layoff

10. Stock Options and/or Equity

Stock option or equity is an ownership share in a company. In large, public companies, stock options are usually at a set rate that could grow.

In private companies, stock options are a percentage of ownership in a company in the event that they go public or that they are acquired.

Stock Option Negotiation:

Ask for a larger scale
Ask for early exercise (when on a vesting schedule)
Ask for future opportunities to acquire more options

For more tips on understanding and negotiating stock options, check out this article from Melmed Law Group.

Enhanced Employee Benefits

The following benefits should really be integral parts of every employee benefits plan. However, for whatever reason, they aren’t always included. These are some benefits to negotiate in your package to bring a personalized value to your compensation.

11. Bereavement Leave

This is an element that is ignored by many employee benefits packages, which goes along with our cultural avoidance of the subject of illness and death.

We get it! It’s uncomfortable to negotiate paid time off work for a death. Most employers do enact a human-first approach, wherein they allow their employees time off to grieve. However, as grief has no definitive time limit, things can get uncomfortable.

12. Flexible Hours or Work From Home Options

Flexible work, work-from-home options, or remote work options are becoming the top “must” in many employees’ employment searches. If you’d like to start working within a hybrid model, be prepared to negotiate.

13. Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

Flexible Spending Accounts can be used to help with a variety of work-related expenses. Consider negotiating FSAs to help with common workplace expenses.

Child care
Health and wellness (ie. gym membership, meditation app subscriptions)
Internet and cellular costs

14. Bonus Structures + Performance Incentives

Bonus structures and performance incentives are a great way to amplify your earning potential. Consider negotiating bonus incentives into your employee benefits package to prove that you’re ready to work hard and take ownership of your own success. For more information on common bonus structures, check out our article on bonuses.

15. Tuition Assistance

If you’re looking to return to school to earn a degree, especially one related to your field, negotiate tuition assistance.

16. Employee Development Funds

The quickest way to advance to the next level of success is to learn how to do your job above and beyond. Communicate your desire to learn and grow in your role by negotiating employee development funds.

Employee Development Funds to Negotiate:

Access to industry conferences and networking opportunities
Flexible spending to acquire new clients
Stipends to invest in cutting-edge software
Stipends to invest in online courses

17. Transportation Allowance

Regardless of your means of transportation, getting to work five or more days a week gets pricey. Negotiate elements of your travel to work, including:

Gas reimbursements
Public transportation reimbursements
WFH Fridays
Rideshare stipends

Creative Employee Benefits

Finally, here are the benefits to negotiate to ensure that your benefits package is sweeter than a big bucket of Halloween candy.

18. In-House Mentorship

Aside from being a great way to connect upper management with newly-onboarded team members, mentorship has a slew of benefits for everyone.

While “time is money,” this is an example of a benefits negotiation item that costs zero dollars. Consider negotiating the opportunity to gain mentorship from an admired leader in the organization or someone whose career trajectory you admire.

Aside from being free knowledge, this shows your employer that you are serious about your career advancement.

19. Feedback Resources

The opportunity to give feedback without fear of repercussion (even though repercussion is technically illegal) is huge for retention, belonging, and employee happiness.

Depending on the size and the type of organization, employees can even fill out an anonymous online survey to address improvements, leadership development, and other organizational changes.

Consider negotiating feedback points when onboarding. This can include giving and receiving feedback on what it’s like to work at an organization and how you could enhance your performance, respectively.

20. Sabbatical

Can you get paid to take a beautiful, sun-soaked month off of work? You can try! Sabbatical leave is becoming increasingly common among tenured team members in organizations.

Typically, sabbatical leave is offered to employees who have demonstrated loyalty to their organization. For example, some companies offer one week’s worth of sabbatical leave for each year they spend at the company. After five years, they can use five weeks of paid sabbatical leave to refresh, reset, and avoid burnout.

21. Help With Chores

If your employer is inflexible about flexible work, perhaps they can help with some of the common chores that life brings. This way, you don’t have to spend your two days off work barely catching up with your at-home to-dos.

Chores to Negotiate:

On-site car wash services
Laundry delivery service
Rideshare services after late nights at the office or client meetings
Flexible spending for housekeeping services

22. Employee Recognition

The benefits of employee recognition speak for themselves. The simple act of acknowledging a job well done reduces frustration, lowers turnover, and increases engagement across the board.

While this is another “free park,” the art will be in how you present this perk.

Ask for weekly, monthly, or quarterly 1:1s with your manager to examine your work progress.
Set up KPIs for success and “rewards” for achieving or surpassing them

23. Health + Wellness Benefits

Well-being programs help everyone. For employees, wellness benefits help improve happiness, reduce burnout, and alleviate stress and anxieties. Consider negotiating perks like a gym membership, mental health resources, and subscriptions to apps like Headspace or Calm.

24. Summer Fridays

Is an explanation necessary? Especially for employees working in regions with cold winter climates, summer Fridays are a huge perk to lengthen your weekend and soak up the sun!

25. Home Office Budget

If you’re working from home, then your home office can use a spruce-up every now and then.

Negotiate ways to create a comfortable workspace in your home or in your designated workspace by negotiating a home or work from anywhere office budget.

Monthly stipend to offset internet/electricity costs
Stipend to upgrade desk, chair, monitor, or other office products