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.
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!
Different strokes for different folks. I can't think of a better perk than beer for two reasons.
1. Its beer...
2. If my employer is handing me a beer it means that the work day is complete and there is no expectation that I'm going to go back to work and do anything more productive than surf the web. Recognition that the day is complete is one of the best perks there is.
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
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.
After nearly 23 years with one organization .... to whom I was loyal and faithful ...
My UI benefits were exhausted last month ...
I now own a business: but it is a start up, and we are frantically trying to reach the breakeven point; we arent there yet .... we wont be there for a few months, and even then: we wont be able to pull a salary there for a few months after that ...
Im down to my last $150 in my bank account ...
My rent is due in 24 days ... and I dont have it ...
I have three kids: the oldest could not start college, because we cannot afford her modest tuition ...
We are starting to buy basic staples: rice and bean, pasta and flour ... in anticipation of running out of other 'easier' foods ...
My credit cards are saving my life, for the moment, but they will require another payment in 28 days ...
The job search, which should have already ended with a good job, has stalled, and gone stale: I have four outstanding cover letter/resume packages with prospects for decent work, but they are sitting on them, while I start to sweat it ... badly ....
I have sent each of those four a kindly email to find out my current status, and all four say I am in the running .... but: the clock is ticking ....
I have been thinking about looking up the local food bank ... my thoughts are now floating towards memories of obtaining food stamps, and the shame I felt being in that office, and answering those questions ...
All the while: knowing I have vast technical experience that surpasses nearly anyone else in the local job market, and should have been hired weeks ago .... I think my experience scares prospective employers ... I have been paring it down to the bare bones to try to be more attractive to employers: so far: no dice ....
So as I ponder my near term future: as I fret over how I will feed and house my children and wife, as I wait by the phone, wondering if those whom still consider me a 'viable candidate' for open jobs will actually call, wondering if I should at least find a menial job of ANY kind in the interim: fry cook, janitor, laborer, gas jockey, ANYTHING .... I am resisting making further contect with my 'prospective' future employers, so I dont reveal my ever growing desperation .....
Im going to dig in the phone book: and see if I can find a backdoor into my chosen field ... otherwise: all Im doing is spinning my wheels, waiting for a call that may never come ...
Sighs: dont you wonder how much better this GOP economy can get ? ...
Do you wonder how many jobs 2.4 TRILLION dollars in tax cuts will buy the nation ? ....
Is it trickling down yet ??? ...
Someone tell me if it does: I would hate to miss it ....
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
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)
I was out of work for 6 months, and finally ended up taking a job paying 50% less than what I was making before. Me and my wife and two children maxed out my credit cards, were forced to move out of our (rental) house, and lived in one room of my sister's trailer for 2 months, and one room of my father's apartment for 2 months.
When I got the job, I had to leave my wife and kids every week for 3 weeks and drive 6 hours each way to the new job, and only see them on the weekends. I eventually was able to get an apartment, and have been in the same job for 2 years. My debt load continues to increase and my credit rating is about as low as it can get because I have not had the funds available to pay off my existing debt. However, I am able to buy food and keep up with the car payments (the one thing I was able to keep through all this, and believe me it hasn't been easy).
Now, I'm going back to college. I work full time during the day and take classes early in the morning and late at night. It is difficult, but I'm doing it. As a previous poster noted, you can get by on loans and grants quite easily. Currently my loans and grants pay my tuition, books, plus around 3 grand extra per semester, which I use to make car repairs, buy the kids clothes, and pay off the loudest debt collectors as I can.
My point is, things can always get worse, but you can also always adjust your standard of living to get through the lean times. You mentioned you started a new business, and I have to question the wisdom of that when you are having trouble with basic necessities. Starting a business is a huge risk, and taking that kind of risk when you are so close to financial ruin already is not the smartest thing to do.
As for food stamps, yes it is humiliating, but keep in mind that these things are designed to help people like you who are normally able to support themselves, but have fallen on hard times. You have spent 23 years paying into the welfare system, you should not hesitate to take what you need back out of it when you are having a tough time.
If these four prospects are taking their time, go after more jobs. Sometimes, when you get desperate, you have to simply accept the first offer you get just to make ends meet. Also, if a fry cook job will put you in a better situation than you are now (and it looks like it will), then get one. Neither you or anyone else is "too good" for that kind of job. It's honest work, and it pays the bills. Do what you have to do to support your family, including swallowing your pride.
Today I went to my current employer and told them my situation--- they are going to counter offer.
Random slashdot guy,
Do NOT, repeat NOT take that counter-offer. It is the end of your career there, because they know you've been interviewing and are on your way out. The reasons you were leaving in the first place hasn't changed. Now, you'll be at the same place, but they'll be making sure they can get rid of you in 6 months.
I'm not saying that you're going to be fired in a few months automatically, but you'll be miserable.
Mod parent response up on this.
NEVER EVER take a counter-offer. More money isn't going to change why you were looking in the first place.
A couple of things the parent post didn't mention:
If they have layoffs, your name will be on the top of the list.
Salaries are generally in one pool of money. If you get a raise now, you'll either NOT get one next time raises go around. It's also probable that the people you work will think they won't get as big of a raise because of YOU if the raise they get doesn't meet expectations.
Plus, if you really want to work for that other company, turning them down how will make it much much harder to go back there to ask for a job. Oh, you can do it, but they'll likely say "oh, that's the guy who was just looking to make more money at the place he was at... don't bother".
There are MANY more reasons never to take a counter-offer. Do yourself (and your career) a favor, and don't take it.
Good luck