Psychology Jobs Analysis: What do the best psychology employers have in common?

A career in psychology is highly revered, rewarding, and can be highly paid. Psychologists, however, are often named as having one of the most stressful jobs around, so when deciding where to invest their skills and experience, it’s never been more important to find a supportive employer with the right overall package – not just a financial offering.

When it comes to benefits in the US today, it can be a tricky task for talented psychologists to find an employer that ticks all the right boxes; it’s widely known that many companies don’t offer any annual or paternal leave. So, how does an employer attract and retain a valuable psychologist, supporting them to thrive in their position?

We decided to research and analyze over 1,400* job listings to see exactly who is offering complete transparency to psychologists about salary and benefits. Our data has revealed that only 26% of job posts analyzed offered complete transparency when advertising psychologist roles they are recruiting for.

What really matters to psychologists?

Helping people and supporting them to make positive changes in their lives is one of the many reasons to choose a career in psychology. It can also offer a great sense of autonomy should practitioners decide to set up their own practice and organize their schedules.

However, being in an emotionally volatile workplace, over-extending, and lacking time to research or further educate are just some of the reasons psychologists attribute to burnout. That’s not to mention the day-to-day complexity of tasks.

Due to the irregular nature of the workload and often unsociable hours to accommodate their patients, factors such as flexible working are a key benefit. As is psychologists prioritizing their own mental health and having a good work-life balance, to decompress from any emotional traumas their patients may carry.

What makes a great employer for a psychologist?

When it comes to defining a great company to work for, there is a mix of key components that potential employees are looking for – along with a good reputation in their industry and beyond.

A competitive compensation package leads the way, with strong leadership and team dynamics, and opportunities for growth and progression, are all central to candidates’ decision to move forward. Not only that, the benefits package is often quoted as one of the key factors employees consider when applying for the roles.

Our data analysis revealed that the top three advertised benefits for psychologists are Health Insurance, a Retirement Plan and Flexible working.

According to the job posts advertised, education employers offered the highest percentage of health insurance as a benefit (60%), with Healthcare employers just behind at 56%. When it comes to transparency around salary and benefit packages, Education, Healthcare and Social Services came out as the top three sectors to supply these details to attract the best talent.

Over half of the analyzed job listings looking for psychologists (55%) offered salaries of $100k +. Flexible working was a neutral find, with 40% of companies – that’s 2 out of 5, offering this key benefit. Nearly half of the companies advertising also offered annual leave as part of their benefit package.

A total of 13% of employers analyzed, offer all four benefits: health insurance, a retirement plan, annual leave, and flexible working – equating to one in every eight listings.

Interestingly, the most popular benefits according to Google searches in the US are FSA 1st, Life Insurance 2nd, and Health Insurance 3rd. And, while Sick Leave is further down the rankings, it has jumped up with an 83% search increase compared to the previous year. Due to post-pandemic times, job searchers are keen to know how they will be compensated if taken unwell, however, nearly all companies surveyed (96%) do not offer sick leave as a benefit.

Our research also uncovered that there were no advertised jobs offering all key benefits. Another staggering stat showed only 3% of hiring companies offer parental leave – meaning a huge 97% do not. Similarly, 61% of companies analyzed through listings do not offer annual leave allowance.

Back to the pivotal benefit of flexible working, both the healthcare and education sectors are less likely to offer this as a benefit with 69% and 82% respectively saying they do not offer this. And when it comes to a retirement plan, we found 53% of companies recruiting for psychologists do not include this in their package, while dental insurance was provided for 38% of job listings.

The three largest psychologist disciplines employers are looking to hire are a licensed psychologist (30%), clinical psychologist (29%) and school psychologist (14%)

The importance of transparency

Transparency clearly plays a huge role in giving the right impression to potential employees. Recently, there has been much debate and a particular focus on companies not listing salary details in job postings and the pros and cons of not doing this – often resulting in talented grads and seasoned professionals across sectors deciding not to apply.

A job advert really is the first chance for companies to showcase their offering and positive work culture to the talent they need, so the importance of detailing those key benefits is essential to exciting and attracting the right candidates.

Methodology

This study analyzed 1,458 jobs across PsychologyJobs.com, Indeed & Glassdoor, narrowing it down to only 374, which  had complete transparency on salary and benefits. These job listings were used in the further analysis to identify wider industry trends.