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This will bite them in the ass. Wages are rarely a source of satisfaction in a job. Employees consider them simply the fair exchange for their time. The perks
by steve19 17y ago
This will bite them in the ass.
Wages are rarely a source of satisfaction in a job. Employees consider them simply the fair exchange for their time.
The perks on the job and the company culture count for much more. I suspect that is everyone was given a 5% paycut, but the perks kept, they would be happier than they are now.
(I refer in general to all employees - not just the engineers)
- arithmetic 17y agoAgree. "Just be happy that you're getting paid" is not an acceptable culture - petty things like snacks and freebies count.
- axod 17y agoAs long as the perks are done well :) eg "Wear a Hawaiian shirt to work day" != perk
- white_eskimo 17y agoI don't know if you were making a direct reference to Salesforce.com's "Employees have fun in the office, participating in foundation/volunteer activities with their peers and wearing Hawaiian shirts on Aloha Fridays." (http://www.salesforce.com/company/careers/culture/ http://www.salesforce.com/company/careers/culture/) I consider the whole Hawaiian shirt thing to be a "gateway" perk. If the company promotes wearing fun attire, then you can be sure to expect other more exciting perks. I don't know of any Silicon Valley software companies that advertise Hawaiian shirts as their one and only perk... I also think Salesforce.com's volunteering perk is very enjoyable and worthwhile. You essentially get paid to do a workday of community service each month. Didn't sound very exciting or interesting at first, but it turned out to be extremely rewarding. I'd love to see more software companies adopting similar programs and following suit.
- gonzopancho 17y agoI think it was an Office Space reference.
- axod 17y agoIt was. I didn't know anywhere actually did it :/
- netsp 17y agoWear a different shirt day doesn't cost anything and isn't a perk in the sense we are discussing here. It's a conscious attempt at influencing company culture. Nothing wrong with it (unless its a Hawaiian shirt) but it isn't a perk.
- zaidf 17y agoCan't find the link. But I'm pretty sure I saw a survey somewhere that showed the opposite finding: people prefer a pay raise to perks.
- staunch 17y agoI imagine people might say they prefer salary over the equivalent in perks, but that doesn't mean they actually do. Getting paid 50% of market rate, but your boss flies the whole company to Europe for a week? Awesome company!<sarcasm/>
- netsp 17y agoSubtle. People choose higher pay, but are happier with jobs that have more perks. Many of them are not even costly to implement since they cost mostly time and result in higher productivity. Eg RDOs.
- stcredzero 17y agoGreat coworkers are the ultimate perk. Really, that should be the primary factor in choosing a job.
- netsp 17y agoIt is not often a primary factor largely because it is hard to know in advance. Also because of the above. Given a choice between salary and other things, people choose salary. However, the "choice" is made in other ways. People stay in or leave jobs or even industries for non salary factors. Perks, culture, coworkers, pressure, interest in work etc. While it may be hard to find cases that people choose a job because of good co workers, it's probably easy to find cases where people leave for the reverse reason.
- stcredzero 17y agoIf you can arrange to know it in advance, these are the times when your chance for a really good job are the best!
- bdotdub 17y agoRelated article: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=867803 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=867803
- bmj 17y agoMy employer doesn't provide many Google-style perks (we get free coffee and other drinks, quarterly lunches, and snacks, sometimes), but they do offer a very flexible working schedule. They could take away the coffee and the snacks, and I wouldn't mind one bit, but the flex time and the facilities for working remotely? I'd seriously consider a change of scenery.