5 ms·

I'm curious - what industry are you in? I've never heard of a company providing perks for car and house purchasing.

walshemj 11y ago
depends for Western companies those sent overseas can have some very nice perks. I remember looking at this in Malaysia and one of the thing that put me off was the "servant" issue - the idea of having a servant was just creepy to me.
- yourapostasy 11y ago
  This is a culture clash. With your sensibilities, if you went along with the servant perquisite, you would likely treat them far, far better than many others, and give them and their family a path out of of their socioeconomic class. Also, nothing prevents you from adding to their pay beyond what your company pays, and including their children with your children's activities, or even education.
- reagency 11y ago
  A servant is a better job than working in a sweatshop to make all the things you have in your "servantless" western home.
- reagency 11y ago
  A servant is a better job than working in a sweatshop to make all the things you have in your "servantless" western home.
- zo1 11y ago
  Then don't phrase it that way if it bothers you. They can be a maid, cleaning-lady, garden-worker, whatever. And the other poster that responded to you is definitely right, it is quite a culture "clash". I had it the other way around when I visited Europe for the first time as a grown-kid, after being in Africa for all of my earliest memories. Just to be clear, they are not your servant, no matter the usage of the word, or how you see other people treating them. You define the relationship, and it is up to you to treat them the way you would treat other individuals. And above all else, they are an employee like any other (either yours, or the company's). Just because they work in your house, and do so in an ad-hoc fashion rather than for a set list of tasks does not mean it's different, i.e. it doesn't change the employer/employee relationship.
  - walshemj 11y ago
    Actually from what I read of the country facilitating apartheid with a brown face is not something I care to do Its the same argument about working in pre Mandela South Africa.
    - yourapostasy 11y ago
      Your principles are admirable, but might only make a change in the very long game. If one takes a job with a household employee(s) perquisite, then someone like you can make an immediate, actionable change in someone's life right now. And you have the opportunity to extend that change into their family. Much of success is embodied in modeled behaviors and attitudes. By dint of employing them, you have the opportunity to model for them success-oriented attributes, and let them pick and choose what is culturally and socioeconomically prudent to adopt into their lives. If you want to go a more activist route, if you and they have children you can intertwine their lives together and sponsor (tuition, fees, clothing and supplies) their children (if they are young enough) to the international school and after-school activities that expatriates usually use, and give your children a cultural exchange education second-to-none in the process. The possibilities to make positive change are endless, and only limited by your resources. Just be careful of fostering dependencies, and be open with those who you partner with in the endeavor about the probability of you getting assigned out of your host nation and abruptly changing their situation. By contrast, advocating against "facilitating apartheid with a brown face", through various political means at your disposal as an individual citizen in the developed world, helps to eventually effect change through policy circles, but usually only at a very long game timeframe. Typically in the years to decades scale. We need BOTH kinds of advocacy to effect humanitarian change. But if you are already in a position to make a personal, first-person, actionable, on-the-ground change, I urge you to grab it with both hands; there are too few people in this world with your principles, perception, and opportunity. Whether you are facilitating apartheid or making positive change depends upon the deep nature of your interaction, not the overall first-blush official description of the relationships. Very rarely is this kind of change a binary switch, and it almost always involves a "getting from Point A to Point B" transition that has the trappings of distasteful practices, but the on-the-ground reality for most individuals (even highly privileged ones like most of us on HN) is resources are limited, and we have to get creative with how we re-purpose (and overload, to borrow OO lingo) normal, everyday interactions with positive change payloads.
comrade1 11y ago
Car perq is common in German companies at director level and above. We're in Switzerland where it's less common but still happens. The housing is rare the.

depends for Western companies those sent overseas can have some very nice perks. I remember looking at this in Malaysia and one of the thing that put me off was the "servant" issue - the idea of having a servant was just creepy to me.

yourapostasy 11y ago
This is a culture clash. With your sensibilities, if you went along with the servant perquisite, you would likely treat them far, far better than many others, and give them and their family a path out of of their socioeconomic class. Also, nothing prevents you from adding to their pay beyond what your company pays, and including their children with your children's activities, or even education.
reagency 11y ago
A servant is a better job than working in a sweatshop to make all the things you have in your "servantless" western home.
reagency 11y ago
A servant is a better job than working in a sweatshop to make all the things you have in your "servantless" western home.
zo1 11y ago
Then don't phrase it that way if it bothers you. They can be a maid, cleaning-lady, garden-worker, whatever. And the other poster that responded to you is definitely right, it is quite a culture "clash". I had it the other way around when I visited Europe for the first time as a grown-kid, after being in Africa for all of my earliest memories. Just to be clear, they are not your servant, no matter the usage of the word, or how you see other people treating them. You define the relationship, and it is up to you to treat them the way you would treat other individuals. And above all else, they are an employee like any other (either yours, or the company's). Just because they work in your house, and do so in an ad-hoc fashion rather than for a set list of tasks does not mean it's different, i.e. it doesn't change the employer/employee relationship.
- walshemj 11y ago
  Actually from what I read of the country facilitating apartheid with a brown face is not something I care to do Its the same argument about working in pre Mandela South Africa.
  - yourapostasy 11y ago
    Your principles are admirable, but might only make a change in the very long game. If one takes a job with a household employee(s) perquisite, then someone like you can make an immediate, actionable change in someone's life right now. And you have the opportunity to extend that change into their family. Much of success is embodied in modeled behaviors and attitudes. By dint of employing them, you have the opportunity to model for them success-oriented attributes, and let them pick and choose what is culturally and socioeconomically prudent to adopt into their lives. If you want to go a more activist route, if you and they have children you can intertwine their lives together and sponsor (tuition, fees, clothing and supplies) their children (if they are young enough) to the international school and after-school activities that expatriates usually use, and give your children a cultural exchange education second-to-none in the process. The possibilities to make positive change are endless, and only limited by your resources. Just be careful of fostering dependencies, and be open with those who you partner with in the endeavor about the probability of you getting assigned out of your host nation and abruptly changing their situation. By contrast, advocating against "facilitating apartheid with a brown face", through various political means at your disposal as an individual citizen in the developed world, helps to eventually effect change through policy circles, but usually only at a very long game timeframe. Typically in the years to decades scale. We need BOTH kinds of advocacy to effect humanitarian change. But if you are already in a position to make a personal, first-person, actionable, on-the-ground change, I urge you to grab it with both hands; there are too few people in this world with your principles, perception, and opportunity. Whether you are facilitating apartheid or making positive change depends upon the deep nature of your interaction, not the overall first-blush official description of the relationships. Very rarely is this kind of change a binary switch, and it almost always involves a "getting from Point A to Point B" transition that has the trappings of distasteful practices, but the on-the-ground reality for most individuals (even highly privileged ones like most of us on HN) is resources are limited, and we have to get creative with how we re-purpose (and overload, to borrow OO lingo) normal, everyday interactions with positive change payloads.

comrade1 11y ago

Car perq is common in German companies at director level and above. We're in Switzerland where it's less common but still happens. The housing is rare the.