Designer for Hire

Company perks to attract the best designers

Published in

Beamery Hacking Talent

5 min readMay 11, 2018

With design proving to be one of the fastest-growing creative industries in the UK, the race is on for companies to attract and recruit the best design talent.

We’re also seeing a rapid growth in the freelance economy, with half of the US workforce predicted to be freelancing in a decade’s time. Freelancing promises independence, flexibility, and a higher average income; and designers are being drawn away from traditional employment in droves.

It’s more important than ever for employers to assess what incentives they can offer; not only to attract and hire designers, but also to retain them, allow them to produce their best work, and support their professional development.

1. Mimicking the freelance lifestyle through flexible working

One benefit of freelancing is being able to set your own schedule, allowing you to work at your peak hours of productivity and creativity (which may not fall between 9am and 5pm). Flexibility in the workplace is a precursor to maintaining a healthy work-life balance: some of my colleagues start and leave work early to spent time with their kids, while others start the day later after a visit to the gym.

Design work is often project-based, making it compatible with remote working as well. With an increasingly globalised workforce, it’s important to offer a range of options for working from home and abroad. Flexible working will benefit you by boosting employee morale, while also giving your company an edge in attracting and retaining millennial talent.

2. The tools of the trade

When a designer joins your team, they’re likely to have spent years developing an ingrained workflow using tools of their choice. We all have different preferences: mouse, touchpad, pen and tablet, one screen or two screens, laptop, desktop, Adobe, Sketch, Corel, Framer…Giving a designer access to their preferred equipment can ease the learning curve when they first join your company, while also maximising their efficiency and productivity in the future.

3. Never stop learning

This was my most important ask when deciding to join Beamery. The design industry is constantly evolving — propelled by new trends, methods, and technology. We need to stay ahead of the curve, not only to keep our professional prospects healthily competitive, but also to be feel challenged and intellectually stimulated.

There’s a heavy emphasis on learning and development at Beamery. Some initiatives we have include: Learning Fridays — where the designers devote a working day to exploring a new skill, Teach-In sessions with the Engineering team, attending and hosting local design events together, and receiving funding to enrol in creative and technical courses.

4. Collaborative, horizontal team structures

I’ve found that the most rewarding and stimulating projects have designer input early in the process. Working collaboratively helps designers learn from other team members, while giving us a sense of investment and ownership in our work.

The team structures that work best for me tend to be horizontal in nature, with ‘higher-ups’ being approachable, communicative, and open to both criticism and new ideas. Managers play a crucial, dynamic role in creating this environment: offering constructive feedback on a regular basis, serving as professional mentors, and representing our needs in the workplace.

5. Variation is key

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from in-house designers is dissatisfaction with the lack of variety in their work. Being limited to strict brand guidelines and working on uniform projects will certainly lead to boredom and creative stagnation, hampered by the fact that designers constantly need to be wary of adding interesting projects to our portfolio.

We have the difficult task of striking a balance between skill specialisation and maintaining a wide skill-set. It’s easier for designers at smaller companies to wear many hats, but even at larger companies, it’s worth considering how you can encourage designers to engage in different practises. User research, wireframing, prototyping, information architecture, illustration, interaction design, print design, publishing, typography, and branding could all be incorporated into your next project.

6. Give co-workers plenty of opportunities to connect…

Regardless of where you sit on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, all humans are social creatures. Giving co-workers opportunities to socialise encourages transparency, facilitates the exchange of ideas, relieves stress, and helps us maintain our sanity. The idea that these social events have to take place outside of work hours — and involve copious amounts of booze — is becoming outdated. Group lunches and coffee walks are everyday at Beamery, while football games, climbing trips, and shows are just as commonplace as outings to the pub.

7. …and disconnect.

Every trendy office seems to be open plan nowadays. However, solitary and quiet work spaces are just as conducive to a designer’s work as open and collaborative ones. Noisy, animated offices can be distracting, especially when working on a challenging project. Set up spaces where team members can disconnect, turn off Slack notifications, and fully get stuck into their work.