A new survey finds that job seekers still value compensation most when sizing up a would-be employer, but also rank better benefits as a key driver in their search for new career opportunities.
Indeed Hiring Lab recently polled more than 80,000 adults from a number of countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Japan and Ireland. Employed job seekers were asked to select five-to-10 factors (out of a list of 24) that were motivating their search for new work.
Overall, “higher pay” ranked first among respondents asked to identify the attributes they sought in a new job. In the U.S., nearly half of respondents (49%) selected “better benefits,” making it the second-most common response behind a bigger salary.
Health insurance, paid vacation and paid sick days were the most popular benefits among U.S. job seekers, according to Indeed Hiring Lab, which also found schedule and location flexibility, and forms of supplemental pay such as retirement and retirement programs ranking highly.
Different age groups value different benefits, the survey found. For instance, workers between the ages of 45 and 64 were primarily focused on the aforementioned benefits.
Those under 35 ranked those popular benefits fairly highly, though retirement savings programs weren’t as attractive to job seekers in this age bracket. According to Indeed, younger workers were interested in a wider variety of benefits offerings—free or discounted food, education and childcare assistance, and parental leave, for example.
These findings underscore the need for employers to consider more than just compensation in their approach to recruiting, according to Indeed Hiring Lab.
“Benefits are also an essential part of the compensation package for many workers,” Indeed’s Brendon Bernard wrote, “and job seekers … are often looking for better offerings than what they’re currently receiving.”
05 January 2026
Category
HR News Article
