Employers Offer Traditional Benefits to Win New College Graduates

February 5, 2008 12:00 AM

Employers will use traditional employment benefits to help them attract new college graduates to their organizations, according to results of a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Nearly all the employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2008 survey reported plans to offer medical, life, and dental insurance, plus a 401(k) retirement plan. Nearly all also expect to provide for annual salary increases.

Fortunately for company hiring efforts, traditional benefits are just what students say they want.

“Forget generational differences: When it comes to employment benefits, new college graduates follow in their parents’—and grandparents’—footsteps in wanting ‘traditional’ benefits,’” says Edwin Koc, NACE’s director of strategic research. “We’ve found that the benefits employers plan to offer match up well with the benefits students say they want. In fact, employers and new graduates are in agreement about the top five benefits.”

For more than five years, there has been little movement in the benefits employers expect to offer and the benefits students say they are seeking, according to Koc. “Medical insurance is consistently top of the list for both.”

Figure 1: Top 5 Benefits/Policies Offered

Benefit/Policy	% Employers offering	Student rank*
Medical insurance	99.6%	1
Life insurance	98.9.	5
401(k) retirement plan	98.6.	3
Dental insurance	98.2.	4
Annual salary increases	96.7	2