What benefits can you offer that help recruit good talent? (opens in new tab)

One of the perks that more companies should start providing are incentives to workout. Providing a gym or subsidizing a gym membership for an employee will not only benefit the employee's health, but with a healthier employee there is less of a need for sick days. The employee can concentrate their paid time off on vacation. When the employee is feeling good about themselves, the quality of work and their attitude might improve as well.

First, great pay, and a good amount of stock options, interesting work, and good work enviroment.

After that.

4 weeks of vacation --- minimum.

Good health care

Real dental coverage

Gym subsidy

Comuting help (shuttles, or public transport subsidies)

nearby, quality childcare

Free Lunch? It can be productivity booster too, since your staff don't have to spend an ~hour walking, hunting for a good restaurant, waiting for food, eating said food, and walking back when the food is just right there.

This can be more of a personal preference type of thing.

After you've met a salary/benefit baseline, the most important thing to recruiting good talent is the work. Often, a good employee will take a fair salary for really interesting work over a great salary for boring work. I've talked with people willing to even take a pay cut to get out of a boring job.

IMO an employer should (a) pay employees fairly and (b) treat them well, give them enjoyable work, etc. And then (c) share the company's profits, if there are any (or when they come). I think this is more important than having an impressive slate of benefits.

Ability to work from home - telecommute.

Judge work by result and not by time spent.

In priority order for me:

1. interesting work (not sure if this is considered a perq by most, but it is for me.)

2. time off, both via flexible work schedules and generous vacation

3. located within a short commute of desirable and reasonably affordable housing. alternatively offering telecommuting

Other benefits like health/life/disability insurance are nice, but they won't make or break a deal for me any longer.

As I posted on the blog:

I often cook the troops quality, gourmet food, give them cool trips and the chance to put up crazy installation art, and throw many person dinner parties (with outsiders, too).

I also am getting graph paper placemats:

http://einfall.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/engineers-a-paper-ta...

A four day work week.

You also need friendly atmosphere, make people want to come to work, instead of having it be a chore