Like many sectors, recruiting and retaining talented employees is a vital for PR businesses.

Replacing a talented team member can be an expensive task and significantly impact the wider team, removing valuable time and focus from essential day-to-day activities.

Given the above, it’s pretty alarming that new research shows up to 70% of UK workers will be on the hunt for a new role in 2024.

A key part of how successful businesses will be to attract and keep hold of the best PR talent will be the benefits package they are able to offer to prospective and current employees.

To explore this further, equity management platform Vestd conducted research to see which sectors offer the best benefits package to current and prospective staff. The Employee Benefits Index, which analysed benefits offered in job descriptions listed on Indeed, gave each industry a score between one and 2,000.

PR comes in 10^th place

The media and communications sector, including the PR sector, was found to rank in 10^th place overall, with a score of 480. It scored particularly highly for benefits such as hybrid and flexible working, cycle-to-work schemes, and private medical insurance.

Top of the pile was the aerospace and defence industry, closely followed by government and public administration and telecoms.

We’ve seen a sea change in employee expectations around work perks over recent years, driven by a multitude of factors ranging from a variety of generational expectations from a workplace to the long-term impact of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of the cost of living crisis.

Tangible benefits

Whilst many businesses might have attracted staff with an office pool table or mini bar, we’re seeing people veer away from this type of perk towards benefits which offer a more tangible reward for their hard work.

Whilst retention is just one consideration in the recruitment and retention puzzle - there’s no doubt that a benefits package which stands out from the crowd can play a pivotal role in making your business an attractive proposition, as well as helping to keep your best people on the journey.

Whether it’s an employee share scheme or a different benefit offering, there’s clearly more for the PR sector to do to rise to the top of the pile for employee benefits.