Slashdot Mirror
Are Job Perks Coming into Vogue Again?
Pharmboy asks: "The Register is reporting on a company that was awarded 'Best Small Company to Work for in America' by the Detroit Free Press, in part, for providing Free beer to their employees. They offer free breakfast, lunch AND dinner, gym and snacks. This sounds similar to the late 90s, where companies were offering extreme benefits to attract extreme talent, before the bubble burst and most workers were just glad to have a job. As the job market gains strength, what are companies willing to do in order to attract the best talent? Are we about to enter another era where employers are willing to make work fun again, in order to attract and keep talent? Will this have any effect on other employers, forcing them to again offer benefits to keep pace and talent? How important are these kinds of perks to the average employee anyway? What kind of perks would you have to have to switch to a job that pay the same?"
Seriously, it seems the job market is only marginally better these days.
The only perks I get... are free soft drinks & training. Oooh, and a fast computer. I want a notebook damit!
Would you really want to hire employees who would be motivated by "free beer?"
I can understand how it could be to a company's advantage to offer free perks, but I can think of dozens (okay, thousands) that would be better for the company than free beer but still motivate employees.
My only job perk is Vogue!
Job market getting stronger? I think you'd better go back and check the monthly jobless claims against the (revised downwards, sometimes repeatedly) new jobs reports. The past four years may see a zero gain in jobs, possibly even a net loss in jobs in the US.
People are still getting laid off. The example you cite is an exception; it's nowhere near the norm these days, nor will it be anytime in the near future.
.@.
How about providing healthcare and retirement, seeing these two have been disappearing for quite some time now.
$cat
I'll change the place with free snacks to the place with good psychological cimate and interesting projects in a blink of an eye.
- Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
- Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
See the news today? 32,000 new jobs for July?
I still know too many people who consider a perk actually being paid more then a burger flipper. This is probably one of those exceptional places, where the owner doesn't feel the need to line his pocket and gives something back. See how long it lasts.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
at some danish company
Cafeteria and feeding the employees is nice and all.
What do I consider perks? HOw about a boss that lets me DO MY FSCKING JOB.
This sig no verb.
Free beer... They offer free breakfast, lunch AND dinner... and snacks.
Once you say "free beer", saying "breakfast", "lunch", etc. are redundant.
"Beer" pretty well covers everything.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
I work for an EXTREMELY large company. For the last four years, our perks have been cut and cut and cut again. Our salary increases have been typically half of cost of living in the years we actually get them. Annual bonuses are gone for good. Training has been cut back to less than acceptable.
Hearing that some companies are starting to give perks again means that the cycle is turning back. I will be so glad to see employers like mine losing all of their best employees next year, because they'll be playing catch-up -- and it will be 'too little, too late' for most of us.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
screw that, I perfer a big company that doesn't panic every time there is a stock blip.
Of course, the last company I was with made no sales for 2 quarters. their solution? fire the half the develepors, and treat the sales staff to two weeks in Jamaica.
Morons.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
that to MS as they are going in the opposite direction.
free beer all day, personal hammock, and massages every hour....cant beat bein' a kobe cow....
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its July 30 report:
"There was no recession in the second quarter of this year, but BLS data show 131,000 fewer American computer software engineers employed in the second quarter than in the first quarter of 2004--a decline of 15% in three months."
So, I seriously doubt that we are going to get anything at all like the late 90s going on for technical workers.
eat shiat and bark at the moon
HR dude(tte) #1 "Want kind of employess do we want to attract?"
HR dude(tte) #2 "How about the kind who want free beer?"
HR dude(tte) #1 "Yeah! Let's offer a perk that would only attract people who drink a lot!"
by asking for them to arrange for Halle Berry to drop by my place on a regular basis. Obviously in the spirit of negotiation I bring along a list of 200 fit actresses and models I will accept as a substitute if Halle is not available.
It must be said I am not having the greatest of success with this approach at the moment. I guess I have to hope either Catwoman bombs or the market picks up a tad more and in the meantime be happy if they offer me free parking.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
I guess a good perk would be for the company to buy my plane ticket to India when they outsource my job there.
Language classes would be good too.
There's only one thing I'm allergic to... Sudden Death. (Danger Mouse)
Flextime is considered a perk at my company.
Then (during the "bubble", yes perks were particularly in vogue). Some of the 90s perks were ridiculous. Netscape was famous for many things, and infamous for some of their perks - onsite free sushi bar, roving free masseuse, etc.
DotComs were offering Ferraris to those who could recruit the most talent. Everyone who was anyone offered stock options.
When the bubble burst, much of the madness was finally seen as madness, and it all went away. That gave many existing companies leverage to take away benefits - "You're lucky to have a job!". Yes and no.
I had a friend who was an attorney for Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack). Tandy paid their attorneys ridiculously low salaries (as in $30k/yr for a real estate attorney). When I asked him what the hell was wrong with them, and why they thought that was appropriate, he told me their response: "These guys are just going to come here for a couple of years and leave anyway, so why should we pay them reasonably?" Duh! Naturally, anyone with talent will move along. That's true in IT as well, and options do still exist. Maybe they involve moving to a new city, but they exist.
Some companies have been doing right all along, and they are rewarded with fierce loyalty and very good productivity. SAS Institute, in Cary, North Carolina, has been providing stellar perks for years. They've remained private, and thus avoided the Quarterly Earnings per Share death-cycle. Imagine if your company had benefits like theirs.
Other companies could be like SAS if they weren't public, and if their leaders understood what some perks could do for their productivity and employee loyalty.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
I kinda figured that they were referring to a "free microbrews on a Friday afternoon policy" (a la Microsoft) not a "lets keep the fridge stocked with schlitz policy" (a la IBM).
;-)
Just kidding about IBM...
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Ah, well, perks are cool.
One of my last jobs catered us lunch on Fridays, did the free liquor thing, paid for our healthcare and did a 150% 401k match (Every dollar I put in, they put in 1.50).
This current job is a hell of a lot better though. Sure, they don't have all the real cool perks. Catered lunch was replaced by Donut/Bagel Fridays, there's no company match for the 401k (Until next year), the healthcare isn't free but they do chip in. But I do get some nice perks, mainly the free college education. I can work my way up to a PhD and it's on the company dime. And they take care of me better then the employer with a lot of perks. There's no pay cap. Well, there is, but if you hit the cap for your position, instead of a raise the company will cut you a bonus check for a few thousand. And they give everyone a certain percentage in stock each year. Overall, even though I have less visable perks, the perks I do get, in the end, equals more money. Bonuses, stocks, and a free education hehe.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
Several employees have corporate gas cards, car allowances (even for non-sales/travelling personnel), corporately paid cell phone bills, corporate laptops, corporate paid internet access, etc.
We do this because we would rather people get something useful than giving half a pay raise to the government. Plus we try and be flexible on work hours (although on the flip-side we are INSANELY timeline sensitive, e.g. work when you want but get it done by Wednesday 9:00am).
I'm noticing a trend with friends at other places as well. It's a win-win in my books.
Sometimes I think employers try to offer "perks" because they are cheaper than offering real incentives, like group insurance plans and retirement help.
I worked for a webhosting company recently called WestHost in their support department, and one of the things that they would do is advertise to potential hires "we offer free pop, and LAN parties!" Then, they would hold this over our heads, and if we didn't perform perfectly and clean up management's messes and smile all the while, we got no LAN parties and they acted like we were not deserving of the free pop.
Oh, and did I mention that they paid us jack crap?
I really would rather be paid more and have no extra 'perks' as long as they treated me right. I will always be willing to work my tail off for an employer who does that.
Economists think that in general, Employees are paid based on their productivity.
If you create lots of value, you get lots of money, if you create less, you get less. On average that must be pretty close to reality, because if you get paid more than what you create, your average company would go bust right away.
Now, if you get "Perks" like Gym, free food etc, that's still coming from your total compensation, and on average just makes your paycheck smaller. That's true for Perks as well as "Free" insurance, Social Security and all the other things that "the employer pays for". If the Employer does not pay for it, you would get that money.
IANAE (I am not an economist)
get 7 free Japanese lessons.
but the market is back. I've had 3 job offers in the past month, all of which pay 10 to 20% more than I make now. Today I went to my current employer and told them my situation--- they are going to counter offer.
I think the big perk right now is working from home or at various sites. My current job allows me to work from home 2 days a week. Oh- and I get every other Friday off. One of my job offers has 1/2 days ever Friday. Hopefully I see two trends:
1. Employers are realizing that we have lives and not forcing us to work ridiculous hours. I make more than I have ever made right now and I never work more than 40 hours a week.
2. Employers see the benefit of allowing employees to work off site and/or at home. 2 of the 3 offers I have had offer work at home benefits. My current job allows me to work from home. Nice. Why does a software engineer need to be in the office every day anyway?
Markets go in cycles. We are in a recovery now. Employers are ready to produce again, and in the case of software, that means its time to hire. They realize that outsourcing didn't save them any money, so they are hiring workers right here in the U.S. Good news!
[FromTheMorning]
Being self employeed I give my self my own perks. So for the long hours, sleepless night I get a meal out at the local pub on a Friday. God I'm a cheapskate
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
The IRS just laid off 219 of it's IT staff. ;->
No, I wouldn't want employees to be motivated by beer. But I would want employees who appreciate a sense of community and who feel they are truly valued. By providing perks at work you get employees will want to reciprocate the treatment they received back to their employer and will feel a pride of accomplishment and a loyalty to their employer. This will translate into increased productivity and profits.
My dog is in my cubicle with me today.
Unfortunately, it comes with a cost: She has to watch "Animal Planet," as output by one of the digital set top boxes we are testing, and has been trained to whine whenever she sees macroblocking or other artifacts.
Stefan
Not to mention that, while the number of new jobs created was pretty small, at least it was positive. Or that unemployment fell from 5.6% to 5.5. That's pretty low to be called 'bad.'
I just finished off 8 months of unemployment by landing a new gig at a much better salary than my old job, and in the past month have received an increasing number of calls from recruiters. I'm not saying we've warped back to 1998 (oh, the glory), but it is getting better.
The sky is not, in fact, falling.
I'll tell you what the 'effect' is! It's pissing me off!
I'd want a job with 401k, pension, 2+ weeks vacation time when you start, and bonus...or are those now completely dead in the US except for executives?
He punched me in the back of the head and told me to get back to work.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
But you know what? I'm not going to particularly care about free beer (though I do like beer), or a foosball table, or free dinner. The kind of "perk" I want is not having to have my dinner there. Good maternity (and paternity) leave. Flexible hours. Maybe day care. I want to work at the kind of place where it's OK for me to bring well-behaved kids into the office if I need to. Where it's OK for me to be part-time for a year. I don't want my career to suffer unduly if I think my family is important. I don't want to work long hours until I burn out.
And as I'm writing this, I wonder what the hell is wrong that I regard this sort of basic sanity and moderation as a "perk". The perks of the dot-com boom were great fun for self-absorbed twenty-somethings... which is what I am now, but I won't be forever.
blah blah blah
Since so many people are going to mention the unemployment number, you should look at what that number actually means.
This site spells it out in detail. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm
I would like to point out that the government does not simply make use of those people applying for unemployment insurance to arrive at the unemployment figures. This is a survey.
Is it "free as in beer" or "free as in speech"? :)
Go hug some trees.
intywinty *hick* maaineee(intagar noOfArgyWargggies, Char $#@% argyWargies) [{
printFFFFFFFFFF("Hello there buddy, I loveee you *hick* *snore*\n");
}))) hehe
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I didn't say post your resume there. I said look for jobs there. People that post resumes there are looking for trouble.
If you do what I said, and look for the jobs there, companies do post them. If you see a company you want to apply to, contact them directly.
This DOES work.
How else do you get a job at a company that you have no inside contacts with?
Right on - I work for a multinational as well and my even after my group was 'downsized' by about 70% to India while the work load went up by 100%, they are now getting us 'help' from India. Three Indian programmers; who will then be rotated into 'other' groups but they won't hire one local person. The joy of work is gone - most people now work to keep their jobs rather than work to do anything meaningful.
Economy improving? Ask those who are in the unemployment line.
Oh yeah, perks are coming back into fashion alright! Look at the stunning package I get:
Free ADSL!(I work at an ISP)
Computer upgrades every 5 years! (for my workstation, not at home)
Air conditioning! (We just replaced the old clunker at work)
And, um, an occasional day where the tech support calls aren't so frequent and I can actually get real work done! W00t!
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I don't know about you guys, but I could care less about about company "perks." All I care about is that after my 8 hours + 1 for lunch are over, I'm out the door. The current IT shop that I work for is like that since we are a satellite office a thousand miles away from the main corporate office.
Besides, what's the point of a gym membership "perk" if you are too tired to go after a 10+ hour day coding, +2 hours commuting?
So, I seriously doubt that we are going to get anything at all like the late 90s going on for technical workers.
Stop It! You're scaring DeVry.
"How about, instead of all the free donuts and beer, you just give me a raise?"
With a raise I can choose to buy my own donuts and beer and consume them at a time of my choice, rather then my employer's.
Well I currently have: a company car (they pay the insurance and maintenance), a guaranteed 10% of salary additional bonus for each full year I stay, full health care for me and the wife, 24 days holiday. Oh and pension scheme that the employer contributes 5% of my salary to.
I think that's pretty much standard in the UK- the only thing that's changed for me after 3 months on the dole about 2 years ago was I lost my long service leave entitlement (it used to be 27 days).
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
I know of a place local to me where the company offers 50% 401k matching (up to 3% company contribution), there is a pension-plan that is contributed to at about that same rate, (contingent on the company making a profit, and it hasn't failed to make a profit for over 20 years), there is a monthly bonus consisting of 5% of the company's after-payroll revenues distributed among the employees, and at the end of the first year, you'll have acrued 2 weeks of vacation time, usable in hourly increments, with the amount of vacation that you acrue going up each year. Also, there is a flex-time program that allow employees to take time off on one day and make it up on other days.The company health and dental plans are, I believe, ~50% funded.
Sound good?
Well, it's a maufacturing job, and I'm pretty sure that they are only hiring for production positions. Starting wage is $7/hr.
Still sound good? Didn't think so.
Benefits aren't everything.
What is the difference between a small revolutionary change and a large evolutionary change?
But what kind of perks? You can separate several distinct types:
As an employee, things like flexitime and "pillow days" are great for me. Options are nice as-well-as but not instead-of your regular package -- I'd be very unlikely to accept a below-par salary/bonus package in exchange for options. I have no interest in the third kind of perk, and would much rather have the money to spend on my first home, since houses are ludicrously expensive around here.
I'm not sure this discussion makes much sense until you've identified what sort of thing you're going to call a "perk".
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.