The world of work is changing at a rapid pace and the smartest companies are continually improving working conditions for their employees. As a developer or other IT professional, you can afford to be selective in the type of organization you choose to work for, and this decision may well be influenced by the array of company benefits on offer.
We were curious to know which benefits developers expect when they start a new job in 2018, so we asked our in-house development team and these were the top 7 benefits they came up with:
The Opportunity to Work From Home
Probably the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about company benefits, but this is even more important for developers who value the opportunity to work in the calm and controlled surroundings of their own home.
Many people overlook the creativity and problem-solving nature of development and both of those things are hard to come by in a busy office environment with frequent interruptions.
Flexible Working Hours
Similar to working from home, the ability to choose when you work is a big plus point for many developers, and employers are beginning to understand this too. These days, more emphasis is being put on the quality and amount of work produced, not the sheer number of hours spent doing it.
By being able to choose their own schedules, developers feel valued and trusted and are able to do the bulk of their work during the hours they know they are most productive.
Company Laptop
If you hire a talented developer, you need to give them the right tools to do their work. As you might expect, developers are discerning when it comes to their equipment and each one will have their own preferences.
Being provided with the suitable tech to do their job properly will help a developer to feel like the company has invested in them.
Subsidized Fitness Pass
Here in the Czech Republic, we have the Multisport card and various other employee-subsidized fitness passes exist in other countries too. Contrary to stereotypes, developers don’t just sit in their rooms all day, they swim, run, cycle, lift and do sports.
Fit and healthy employees are happier and more productive than unhealthy ones and companies will reap the rewards if they invest a small amount into the fitness of their employees.
Private Office Space
Similarly to working from home, the environment in which they work in is of the utmost importance to developers. To that end, our developers said that they greatly value having a dedicated development room where they can work closely with their immediate colleagues.
In a business where you have people from other teams making calls, having meetings, and generally moving around the office, providing your development team with a calm sanctuary where they can get on with their work is a must.
External Display
The little things make all the difference… It may seem like a small thing, but an extra monitor goes long way. Anyone who has switched to two monitors and then back to one knows the pain of trying to flick between tabs to see two things are once.
Developers need at least two monitors, if not three, to be productive and work efficiently.
Dog-Friendly Office
Not everyone is a dog lover, but at Techloop we are. Our resident development dog is the aptly named ‘Spock’, and so logically the ability to bring Spock to work is a huge benefit for his owner and many developers feel the same!
Having a dog-friendly office is more than simply allowing people to bring their dog to work, it’s an understanding that employees have their own responsibilities and things they care about and adapting the workplace to best fit them.
So there we are, according to the Techloop Dev team, these are the top 7 company benefits developers expect in 2018. Of course, this list is not exhaustive so we’d love to hear which benefits you guys out there look for when you start a new job.
