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In the US: - allowing employees to buy their transit or parking passes with pre-tax wages. In some car-centric areas, some employers that don’t have their own
by cimmanom 8y ago
In the US:
- allowing employees to buy their transit or parking passes with pre-tax wages. In some car-centric areas, some employers that don’t have their own parking lots will pay for their employees’ parking in commercial lots.
- tax-advantaged retirement accounts, often with partial employer matching of deposits
- community service days when everyone in the company volunteers together for a nonprofit organization (should be on what would otherwise be a workday, and paid)
- certain types of businesses (financial firms, high end law firms, etc) will offer their highest-paid employees concierge-type services to make it more practical to spend extended hours in the office. Examples might be handling the employee’s dry cleaning for them.
- free snacks and beverages are very common at tech companies/startups. Some also make alcoholic beverages available, with varying degrees of quantity and freedom as to when to consume.
- free coffee and tea in the office are very common but not universal
- I’ve seen some places where discounted gym memberships were available either through the health insurance provider or as a corporate perk.
- covering continuing education costs - whether that’s mandatory ongoing courses for licensing purposes or simply one course per year that the employee wants to take to advance their career
- perks that are arguably not perks (aka mandatory fun time): happy hours; company outings and office parties; catered lunch with “bonding time” strings attached once a week; etc
- shorter hours in the summer, still paid for full hours. This typically but not always takes the form of early closing on Fridays. It’s relatively rare but seems to be more common among companies that existed before about 1980.
- at companies with stricter dress codes, “casual fridays” allow employees to wear less formal outfits (at a suit and tie business, casual Friday dress code might be “business casual”; at a normally business casual office, casual Friday probably permits jeans and t-shirts, etc.)
- in the US, vacation time is considered a perk. Even in white collar jobs, as little as 10 days of paid leave per year (plus a handful of holidays) combined vacation and sick leave is common.
- parental or family leave (paid or unpaid) beyond the government-mandated minimum seems anecdotally to be becoming increasingly common.
- theelous3 8y agoNothing is more depressing than hearing about paid leave in the US. With 0 experience here going in to my first job, I have 24 days leave and 7 paid sick days on top. Another random benefit: I work in what is technically a telco company. Free unlimited data and calls throughout the EU is nice.
- nik736 8y agoI don't even get the "paid sick days" thing. In Germany you have a minimum of 20 days off by law, most of the time it is > 30 though. If you are sick you are sick, you go to a doctor who will give a paper that states how long you won't be able to work, you will get paid for that period. If you are sick for more than 6 weeks the insurance covers it and your employer doesn't have to pay anything while you get I think around 80% of your regular salary.
- code_beers 8y agoIt’s unsurprising job-hopping is so common these days. Sometimes it’s the most practical way to get a long (granted, unpaid) vacation and come back to a raise and a new environment.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoAll of the things you listed are pretty normal at any company large enough to have enough HR/administrative staff to spend the man hours setting them up and managing them. I'd say most BigCos have 75% of the stuff on that list. Officially sanctioned, company provided, perks are generally pretty good in tech because there's not many other perks to the job. In the blue collar world often are able to take advantage of your employer's capital investments and/or waste so long as you don't abuse it (daily drive your company truck, stay late to use the machine shop for personal projects, heat your home with discarded pallets etc.).
- tenebrisalietum 8y ago> perks are generally pretty good in tech because there's not many other perks to the jo I have so many old laptops, hard drives, and other decomissioned IT stuff.
- cco 8y ago> - certain types of businesses (financial firms, high end law firms, etc) will offer their highest-paid employees concierge-type services to make it more practical to spend extended hours in the office. Examples might be handling the employee’s dry cleaning for them. Isn't this just a traditional assistant/secretary?
- cimmanom 8y agoTraditionally, a secretary or administrative assistant does clerical work, not errands. A personal assistant might run personal errands, but that position is usually hired and paid by the individual being assisted, not by their employer.