Most employers open to negotiating salaries

But less than half willing to discuss bonuses, benefits with job offers: survey

Most employers open to negotiating salaries
Only 50 per cent of U.S. employers are doing in-person interviews, down from 69 per cent pre-pandemic, finds a survey.

Nearly nine in 10 (89 per cent) of employers in the U.S. are open to negotiating salary once a job offer has been made, according to a survey from XpertHR.

However, things are different when it comes to negotiating bonuses and benefits. Fewer than half (42 per cent) of organizations are open to negotiating bonuses for open positions and only 32 per cent are willing to negotiate benefits (excluding bonuses), finds the survey of 324 employers.

"Employers are much more likely to negotiate pay with a prospective hire than benefits, something jobseekers may want to keep top of mind when presented with a fresh offer of employment,” says Andrew Hellwege, surveys editor at XpertHR.

A previous survey by Robert Half found that 32 per cent of workers in Canada lose interest in a position when the company isn't willing to negotiate elements beyond salary — such as job title or benefits.

Hiring changes

Recruitment methods have changed amid the pandemic, according to the XpertHR report.

Nearly nine in 10 (84 per cent) employers say they use phone interviews compared to 36 per cent before the pandemic. Also, 72 per cent of employers now use video interviews, up from 19 per cent pre-pandemic.

Online skills assessments (38 per cent) and online behavioural assessments (28 per cent) have also become more popular compared to before the virus (19 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively).

Meanwhile, only 50 per cent of employers currently use in-person interviews, down from 69 per cent pre-pandemic, finds the survey.

More than one-third of HR professionals say that remote recruiting is harder than in-person recruiting and 25 per cent say that remote interviews are less productive, according to a separate report.

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