When you’re starting out in your career, salary is important, but it’s not the only thing that shapes your experience at work. For many graduates, the perks a company offers can make a real difference to wellbeing, confidence, and long-term career development.
In the early stages of your working life, the right benefits can help you feel more supported, more secure, and more motivated to stay and grow within a company. That’s why it’s worth looking beyond surface-level extras and focusing on the perks that genuinely improve day-to-day life.
So, what company perks actually matter to graduates? This isn’t about free pizza or the occasional office social, it’s about the real benefits that help young professionals build sustainable, rewarding careers.
Let’s take a look.
Flexible Working
This perk has become less of a perk and more of an expectation. While the majority of companies have requested employees to be back in the office almost full-time, if you can offer any type of flexible working, then do so.
Flexible working does not have to mean fully remote, but it does mean that you allow employees a bit of leeway in relation to how, when, and where they work.
It might be compressed hours, later starts to accommodate a school run, or working from home whenever they need to.
This gives employees more control over their home life and gives them more balance. You can ask them to work around certain criteria, i.e., everyone needs to be in the office on set days or at set times, but outside of this, it’s up to them, or you can work with them to be more flexible based on your operations and schedule.
And it doesn’t need to be a one-size-fits-all approach. You tailor the flexible working requirements as per each staff member, so you’re still covered in the office or during your operational hours, but your team works how they need to.
Private Health Insurance
While the UK doesn’t strictly need health insurance thanks to the NHS, supplemental private insurance is a great benefit to offer.
If any of your employees have a health condition or illness they need treatment for, you can check if they’re covered by your health insurance and get them back to full health faster.
In relation to business health insurance, there are multiple levels and choices so you can tailor what you offer as per your budget and needs. There is a wealth of different services, depending on the company you choose. Some offer cover for businesses with just 2 employees, others offer mental health support or even physiotherapy sessions.
Remember to read the small print so you know what is and isn’t included so you can relay that information back to oycucr employees as required.
Extra Annual Leave
Statutory minimum leave is 28 days. Some employers offer more the longer a person has been employed with them, for example, an extra week once you hit 7 years of continuous employment. And this is where you need to lean into this.
Even if it’s a few days, or you offer an extra day off for a birthday, or you reward loyalty, those extra days can be enticing for both existing employees to stay with you and for bringing new team members on board.
You might find that a salary reduction scheme to buy more holiday time is something your employees might be interested in, but if your sector or the roles within your company are known for burnout, then being flexible with time off can be a worthy benefit to add to your package.
Enhanced Parental Leave
Statutory maternity and paternity pay are that legal floor. But there’s nothing to say that’s all you need to offer. Enhancing it even modestly can make a real difference to employees starting a family. Because a new baby is a huge milestone in life, and also an expensive one.
Enhanced paternity leave, in particular, is still rare, especially among smaller businesses, so even offering something for men to take time off to be with their new babies can be beneficial.
It also signals something far more important: that you care about your employees, their families, and their lives outside, and it’s this that people respect and will want to hang around for.
Financial Wellbeing Support
Not everyone is financially literate, especially younger generations just starting out in their first-ever job after school or university.
And with people’s finances being put under pressure, more people are finding themselves struggling when they have never struggled before.
With this in mind, it might be that you offer practical money management, debt help, and support.
You might find offering a pension scheme is more beneficial, or you might have funds for people to lean on for emergencies. A cycle to work scheme where you provide the bicycle is a good idea or salary advance access can help too.
It’s the culmination of small actions and support that can help people find their way and make more informed financial choices when working for you.
Learning and Developmental Budget
People will stick with you if they think there is room for them to grow.
While you might not necessarily have roles for them to step into, that doesn’t mean you need to stifle their potential. And if employees feel they can grow and aren’t stuck, they’ll remain with you.
Giving each employee a small annual budget for training courses, books, or conferences can go a long way. Even a few hundred pounds or helping them learn more inside their role, by personally teaching them new skills, is beneficial here. Because this sends a clear message. It tells them that you are invested in their growth and development and that they are free to pursue whatever type of learning they want. And it doesn’t even need to be work-related either, it can be for anything that they want to learn, find interesting, or serve them in other ways outside of a career, too.
Featured image: RDNE Stock project
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