Electronic road user charges and transport services company EROAD, is offering $10,000 signing bonuses for software engineers.
The company says the bonuses will be on offer until May 1 to fill 40 roles it has open currently reports BusinessDesk.
“We were very successful with recruitment last year, through using new channels such as sourcing talent from overseas and our employee referral bonus scheme,” says EROAD engineering manager Jarred Clayton.
But this year Clayton says it was having to up the ante as it scaled up internationally because many of the roles it needs to fill are highly specialised and were in global demand.
“To find the right talent we’re offering a range of incentives including subsidised gym membership, staff bonus schemes, unlimited coffee and free parking,” he says.
BusinessDesk says the only other software company that has gone public on offering signing bonuses has been accounting software provider Xero which offered $10,000 bonuses in 2013 and $15,000 last year.
Founder Rod Drury told BusinessDesk the campaigns had been successful, particularly in attracting people who were considering a career change but it was not something that was effective long-term.
He says what was paid here also pales into comparison to what is on offer in Silicon Valley where signing bonuses are in the $50,000 to $100,000 range and up to $250,000 for key management roles.
Drury says there had been a lot of industry effort in the past few years to addressing the talent shortages and there had been successful recruitment drives offshore, particularly with staff from the UK and Australia.
