Keep your rock walls and quirky perks: Employees want actual benefits
We've all heard about amazing employee perks at certain tech companies. From beer taps to Botox, and pawternity leave to free acupuncture, over the last 20 years or so, companies have spent a lot of time (and money) creating impressive benefits packages to attract top talent
[...] After surviving a global pandemic, we're not as impressed by things like nap pods or free exercise classes. In 2022, we want real, meaningful work benefits that improve our day-to-day lives rather than novelties that generate a bit of publicity.
So, without further ado, here are the top five [sic] benefits that employees want today. Do you agree?
A shorter work week
[...] Companies that have implemented this perk are calling it a success.Unlimited time off
[...] Offering unlimited time off can be a wonderful benefit but it does hinge on a company's overall culture. Staff members need to have autonomy over their work schedule and feel like they are not only encouraged, but expected, to take ample vacation days.Career Development
[...] The best way for employers to keep top performers is to keep them motivated and interested. We all want a job where we feel valued and challenged. We need to know that we are working towards something and that a promotion (or a raise) is within our reach at all times.Monetary Bonuses
[...] At the end of the day, employees come to work to get a paycheck. Financial stability and rewards are almost always going to trump those other "fun" benefits.
Ok, well, beer taps would still be pretty awesome.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @12:37PM (10 children)
5. Free hookers and blow
[...] If it's good enough for the CEO, it's good enough for lower level employees.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:13PM (9 children)
Objectifying males, eh? The milking male herd, yes?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:55PM (8 children)
Sex work is not objectification! If people want to sell sexual services, they have that right! We should legalize it and regulate it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:26PM (5 children)
>> If people want to sell sexual services, they have that right!
No they don't. Prostitution is illegal.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Sunday May 08 2022, @04:09PM (2 children)
Not everywhere.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Sunday May 08 2022, @08:52PM (1 child)
Outside of Las Vegas there are areas where it is legal. The service providers are required to have regular medical checkups.
I had to move away from there before I was 18.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 4, Touché) by MostCynical on Sunday May 08 2022, @09:22PM
There are places outside the US, as well..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @08:35PM (1 child)
Just remember to take a picture of the prostitute and the exact same illegal calamity becomes the perfectly legal filming of pornography.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Sunday May 08 2022, @10:20PM
Oblig Family Guy Clip [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Sunday May 08 2022, @08:50PM (1 child)
Legalize it and regulate it? How could you forget Tax it?
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @11:14PM
Done through income tax, just like in all other industries.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @12:57PM (4 children)
Bottled one's good too. But neither taps nor bottles will convince me to return back in the office, thanks.
I'm good with 10% raise every year of the pandemic, I can pick my favorite brands to stock my home office fridge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:58PM (3 children)
How about the choice between coming in, or the sack?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @04:40PM (2 children)
What sack? Oh, you want to sack me? Saves me the work, go ahead. It should be trivial to find a security officer with a law and finance background and 15 years of experience that costs you less than 150k a year, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @05:09PM (1 child)
No, but I can temporarily assign the duties to your bus insurance, and be rid of your entitled ass.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @08:22PM
Go ahead.
You see, you need to learn what some politicians who threatened to resign had to learn: You can only threaten with something people fear would happen, not something people hope would happen.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Unixnut on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:10PM (20 children)
I mean full remote work anywhere in the world. I know of odd situations where companies advertise "full time remote work", but then insist you must be in the same country as the office, or sometimes to live within "commuting distance" of the office, despite never having to actually go there.
If the job is fully remote, why does it matter where the employee is? As long as they work the agreed hours in the agreed time zone, and they do the agreed work, it should not make a difference where they are physically.
People can move to where they would like to live, rather than where they have to live in order to be near the office, and likewise those who like the "digital nomad" lifestyle can indulge, which is a quality of life improvement overall, for me more than financial bonuses or a 4 day work week.
Saying that, overall I agree with the other *four* points listed (I even read TFA, and still only saw 4 points, so no idea what the 5th one may be).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:18PM (8 children)
One word: taxes.
Otherwise I'd register to work from Bermuda, Monaco, the Bahamas or UAE [investopedia.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:25PM (6 children)
Pretty sure that America taxes its citizens even if they earn money while overseas. It's one of the very few countries to do so. If the gp is a USAian then the company could just pay normal USA taxes and leave him to sort out the local stuff.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Sunday May 08 2022, @04:16PM (5 children)
If you have your permanent residence in another country, the other country's laws may be applicable to your work contract even if you are an American and the company is an American company.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @07:00PM (3 children)
As a USAian having worked as an expat in Japan, I can assure you that you get privilege of paying BOTH the local tax and US income tax. It used to be possible to exclude a certain portion of your foreign earned income, but no longer. In any case you must file federal income tax, even if you renounce your US citizenship, for at least 10 years. I believe that this tax situation is unique to the US. Welcome to the Hotel California.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @07:14PM
Hey, we've all got to do our part and chip in our share to help pay for those enormous tax cuts for the rich. They gotta have their private jets and yachts.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday May 09 2022, @06:52PM (1 child)
As a non-American I always found this requirement to pay taxes in the USA even if you are living and working outside the US to be very strange.
It was 'explained' to me that, should some major catastrophe strike then every US citizen anywhere in the world would expect the US to come and bail him/her out of whatever it was that had just occurred - kidnapping, collapse of society in a foreign country, getting caught up in somebody else's war etc.
I pointed out that I didn't think they would get a better response than any other foreign national who wasn't required to pay taxes twice. He believed he had a 'right' to expect the cavalry to be sent to his aid whereas I would only get whatever help my own country felt it could provide. Fortunately, I've not needed to test that theory personally, and I sincerely hope he hasn't had to either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @10:51PM
America is only willing to let its tax sheep wander around if it can still milk and shear them each year.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday May 09 2022, @04:22PM
Correct, and then it's up to each filer (e.g. you AND the company) to go figure out exactly which laws apply where and for how much. And if you make a mistake fines and even prison can be the results.
I'm somewhat sympathetic to a business not wanting to take on that risk....
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:17PM
This. There's a huge jump in all regulation when you go across country lines. I mean I worked in a corporation where at one point we had someone from UAE, Scotland, and Denmark (in addition to myself from California at the time). But this was an internet spaceships game [eveonline.com] where nobody in the real world cared what we did. If any significant real money were involved, then suddenly, it would matter where my coworkers were from and how much extra work and cost those locations would bring to the employer.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:26PM (7 children)
I've recently landed what is definitely the best job I've ever had, and what they gave me was:
1. Fully remote - my commute is about 10 feet, and I'm hundreds of miles from the office they gathered in pre-Covid.
2. A very generous paycheck.
3. Some stock.
4. Good and fairly generous PTO policy, with not a lot of approvals needed for me to actually take it.
5. Good and reasonably priced health, vision, and dental coverage. (Because I'm in one of those backwards countries where those are tied to employment)
6. A lot of autonomy over my schedule - basically, I can work whatever hours I like, as long as I'm online for meetings within particular times.
7. No expectation of overtime: my boss is very firmly against that as a solution to any scheduling issues that might come up.
Those are all very tangible things. I don't give a damn about whether you give me a gift card to a chain restaurant, I'm in this to maximize my compensation while minimizing the hassle to my day-to-day life, and this company is on board with doing that.
One other thing I like to make very clear: If you're thinking the "team-building exercises", office parties, and other cheap ways of trying to buy employee loyalty are working, think again. If I'm at an office event with a drink in my hands, I'm not off work, I'm very much on my guard to ensure I don't do or say anything career-ending, paying close attention to what my bosses are saying and doing so as to have material to use politically later, and making an effort to fake enough enthusiasm that you don't think I'm maladjusted or something. You just think otherwise because you can relax and enjoy yourself.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:41PM
Pretty much this. And, are you hiring?
Any office event, any single one, is not leisure time. Not counting as work time only adds insult to injury. Because it's not leisure time. I cannot spend my time with the people I want to spend it with (which would be none), I also have to deal with office politics.
Frankly, if I know long enough in advance, I'll have a very important appointment unfortunately JUST at that time, so sorry that I can't be there.
But seriously, are you hiring?
(Score: 5, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:53PM (4 children)
Career-ending? I have felt that fear. Once, one of my bosses had me come into his office for a little talk, in which he completely ignored metrics in his insincere complaints. I learned later that he was bluffing, and his purpose was only to try to scare me into working harder, by not just threatening to fire me, but also intimating how very damaging it would be to my career. What he said was that he wouldn't inflict a firing upon me, wouldn't do that horrible thing to my record. Instead, he would allow me to quit. Said that with an air of conciliatory magnanimity, as if he really was a nice, caring boss who hadn't just threatened to fire me over nothing, and I should be grateful he was feeling so merciful.
The boss's threat backfired. I thought about it for a day, and I quit the next day. He didn't hear about it right away, because he'd jetted off on some business trip. I more than halfway believed the threats, and thought it might be prudent to get out, right now, before he changed his mind and did fire me, thus ruining my record and indeed ending my career, in case he was right and no one would want to hire a person who'd been terminated for cause. So I didn't even give 2 weeks notice, I walked out at the end of the next day. Yes, I know, not giving 2 weeks could be another bad mark on my record, but it seemed better to have that than the dreaded termination for cause mark. There were other factors, like that he also asked me if he needed to have all the passwords changed so that I couldn't sabotage the company. I was able to talk to my coworkers before I pulled the trigger, and they all told me they were fairly sure he was bluffing, and I could safely blow that threat off. Of course, they couldn't make any guarantees, so I worried that what if, this time, he wasn't bluffing? Maybe I could be fired to serve as the example to all the others of what would happen if they got too uppity.
The boss actually called me a few days later, after I'd quit. He seemed shocked, and spoke much more softly. Asked in a roundabout way why I left and if I wanted to reconsider. Nope! I didn't make that decision with any expectation I'd be able to unmake it. That bridge was burnt. If he was just kidding, I wasn't. There are some things in some situations that you don't crack jokes about. Moreover, he'd destroyed whatever little trust had been in the relationship. I didn't like at all the thought of being made the scapegoat for whatever happened to go wrong next, the object of a witch hunt, in case those passwords weren't all changed. Blame those computer problems on the hacker!
Last I heard of that boss, he'd been demoted to ordinary office worker, and finished his career as that, no longer managing anyone. I don't know when he was demoted, but I think it was years after I'd left, so I don't know how much of a factor my departure was in the decision to demote him. I fancy it was one item in a list of a few dozen reasons.
Now, though, I have the impression that in recent decades, there have been too many b.s. firings, and the threat of that being career-ending is no longer credible.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Thexalon on Sunday May 08 2022, @05:31PM (3 children)
I'm talking about the sort of mistakes that don't just cost you a job, but leave you blacklisted forever in the market. Y'know, you get a bit too tipsy and are caught with your hand up the skirt of the CEO's college-age daughter, that sort of thing.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @10:43PM
A guy I worked with did something like that. No details. Sex with his daughter's friend. Five years in prison. Fired and now unable to get any job in IT that has a police check.
As a side note, there were two dicks at work. I consider this to be karma. It's a pity the only one didn't get done for fraud.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday May 09 2022, @06:54PM (1 child)
Which bit of that are you describing as the 'mistake'?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @07:34PM
If you can't figure that out then your brain is swiss cheese.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:06PM
This democrat partisan knows Obamacare is available, which is not tied to employment, but the employee plan cost a tenth of that, so he chose his employer’s plan instead.
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:44PM
They don't seem to have really embraced that aspect as of yet. A lot of the once that seem to offer remote work still expect you to be close, or worse they say it's remote but they still expect you to be in the office a day or two per week. Then it's not really remote, it's a nice perk for the people that already live close to the office that htey don't have to be in the office for a day or two per week. It's not remote work. But when you tell that to the HR-drones they get all huffypuffy about it.
So far I have not really found a lot of companies and organizations that offer complete full remote work. There are always some caveats.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @04:25AM
A large part of that is regulatory. If somebody is in a different jurisdiction, the laws can get rather confusing. What's more, it may be a fully remote job, but that doesn't mean that there aren't times when it might be expedient to have something driven directly between the two locations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @05:38PM
This sounds like an engineer.
How are labor laws different between the United States and Sweden? How does Overtime work in India? What holidays does Israel observe? What is the tax rate in China?
As a quick, concrete example of how complicated things get and how people take things for granted, see: Germany Works Council [velocityglobal.com], and that's for a developed, Western country (which is to say, "fairly similar to the United States," as compared to say... China or Iraq).
There are a whole bunch of other things related to work outside of "code produced," and no company wants to have a fluent German speaker on staff only to deal with German-specific laws, and another Chinese lawyer for Chinese laws, and an Imam for Muslim practices, and a...
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @01:36PM
Not trinkets and shiny beads that cost you nothing?
What cheek, next they want to get paid for working here!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:08PM (1 child)
Happened with pharmacy workers: #PizzaIsNotWorking
See usage examples here [msn.com] and here [wsws.org].
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:06PM
Old military joke: Why do medals exist? Because brass realized that stamped metal is cheaper than gold.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:48PM (3 children)
All of us. After two years WFH. For "productivity" reasons.
Seven people, each with a decade of experience, have left so far.
The turnover is fun to bet on.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @09:05PM
Our productivity went down when they increased our office time requirement. According to a friend of mine that is higher up in management, they are trying to figure out a way to relax the rules without actually appearing to relax the rules. Because we all know the rubes are too stupid and will totally fall for the face-saving gestures. Right now, they allow you to file for an "exemption" where you have to prove that working from home won't harm your productivity and apparently HR doesn't even read them anymore after an incident. If your manager approves, you automatically get it. But they still make you play the stupid game.
As for why HR doesn't even check them. They managed to become a joke because they denied an exemption that the managers all approved so that guy walked and single-handedly gutted his department when he left. The CEO himself tried and failed to straighten that one out. In my department, whenever we have to ask HR or our mangers for something, someone always says something about how they don't think it will be approved because not everyone is a Rock Star, to which the expected reply is, "Some people are rock stars, Janet!" Janet being the former head of HR that started an argument with the CEO to defend the decision and that is what the CEO finally yelled loud enough for the entire floor to hear after taking quite a bit of abuse. Suffice to say she isn't there anymore and probably still feels like the victim despite her much worse behavior.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Opportunist on Monday May 09 2022, @11:54AM (1 child)
In our case it's even more ridiculous than that. Fortunately not in my branch, but here's what went down in our main office:
First thing that happened when Covid pretty much enforced "99% home office" (i.e. everyone who doesn't outright have to hold some server's hand physically works from home) was that they got rid of about 40% office space and also did away with a dedicated desk, doing the whole "shared desk space" bullshit... just in case the open plan office wasn't already enough of a nusance. Anyway. We didn't give 2 shits about it since nobody went to the office and the people who had to pretty much could still depend on their "dedicated desk" because, well, if you have like 10 people in the office and about 500 desks to choose from, there's no need to fight over a particular one. Everyone has a window seat. Hell, everyone has their own private FLOOR if they so please!
Fast forward 2 years and suddenly they wanted to have people return to the office. But ... uh-oh, we only have office space for about 60% of the people anymore. No worry, hey, let's add a job perk, only 3 days per week you have to come to the office! Erh... yeah, problem just that everyone had the same idea, i.e. choosing Tue-Thu or Mon-Wed, in other words, everyone was in Tue-Wed. Management's solution "Sort it out among yourself".
People did that. About 25% of the staff quit and now there's plenty of office space again. Of course, as usual, the 25% that quit were also the 25% that were qualified. Productivity took a nose dive.
Management quickly realized their blunder but pulling the brakes on this one wasn't going to happen. Sending everyone back home would essentially constitute admitting that they are complete failures, so we took the usual solution: Compromising without compromising. People are still "encouraged" to come in 60% of the time, but middle management was also instructed to not even monitor who does or even if and "inofficially" tell their workers that. Our current guess is that they want to ride out the Summer and hope for Covid cases to pick up again in Fall when they can announce that we should work from home again until "it gets better", and then not repeat the blunder from this year.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @05:05AM
Management failed again. Once you start making some rules optional more and more will fall under that scope regardless of their unofficial approval or not.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:54PM (9 children)
Give me cash money, first and foremost. I'll purchase all the benefits and perks I want, if I'm paid a proper wage.
In the US, the only bennie that I'm going to show interest in, is insurance. Our society is structured in such a manner that parents genuinely need insurance, and most often, the only affordable way to get good insurance is through an employer.
Sadly, employer provided insurance is often a bucket of manure. I can introduce you to a lady who cannot get surgery for a severe hernia, because the insurance company believes it to be optional, and cosmetic. I can introduce you to a man who needs surgery, but his insurance pays for zero hospital expenses. If a doctor will perform the surgery in a clinic, without admission to a hospital, he can get his surgery. Alas - every doctor contacted insists that the surgery take place in a hospital.
I've never had "good insurance", but the garbage being offered to today's working men and women is so substandard, we are close to deserving that 'third world shithole' moniker being tossed around.
If I were a female, especially a single mom, I can see that day care / child care would be equally important as insurance.
Free beer? I've had a few in my lifetime. Always as a kind of "thank you" when part of a crew that exceeded expectations in some way. Free beer actually on the job? Forget it. And, it doesn't even make sense, unless restricted to one beer or two. WTF wants to work among a bunch of intoxicated fools?
All the rest seem like so much silly bullshit to me. Rock walls? Do that on your own time, Bozo. There are some beauties on the coast of Maine. Go visit them sometime, if you dare get out of your cities and suburbs.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:10PM
Pretty much this.
Job perks I care for (aside of the obvious, i.e. money) include working from home and having total control over my working hours, i.e. working when I feel like it (with the understanding that a certain amount of time needs to be done by the end of the month).
Aside of that, I don't give a fuck about any "perk". They're not perks. They're trinkets. And I have no use for them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @08:37PM
Exactly. I'm at the point where about the only thing keeping me working is that I need the health insurance, and the non-employer market is totally toast. I've got an inherited condition that's expensive to treat, and my doctor doesn't accept any of the ACA policies (with good reason, too) so I'm pretty much stuck for now.
I have had good insurance, but only mediocre stuff now. They force me to use a specific mail-order pharmacy, Accredo, for one of my meds, and they're the absolute worst health-care experience I've ever had. In the past year they've not once managed to handle the billing properly, and this year they've started to short me on pill count. But thanks to the insurance I can't switch.
Mind you, the company I'm working for presently has other problems. I've been there long enough to see it isn't going to get better, so I've started looking. My main two compensation wants are simply money and health insurance. I do like working from home, and I'm late enough in my career I don't really need to worry about additional networking in the office, but I can take or leave it. Good compensation, an interesting project, and a healthy (emotionally and mentally) work environment is more important.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Monday May 09 2022, @12:43AM (3 children)
It tends to be especially bad if you work for a small employer that cannot qualify for large group discounts. The best solution is to completely uncouple insurance from employment. Plenty of other nations manage to do it, and their per capita cost tends to be far lower than ours.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @06:11AM (1 child)
You may have heard of this program called Obamacare.
$350 a month gives you individual health coverage not tied to your job.
Of course, when your employer offers subsidized health insurance for $35, people choose that instead.
And don’t think $350 is some outrageous price gouging the insurance companies have inflicted on Romney^WObama’s beautiful plan. Costs are similar in other countries that charge for health insurance outside of taxes.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday May 10 2022, @03:41PM
How many do that? I've never seen company provided insurance plans that were not half again or more expensive than comparable Affordable Care Act plans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @02:03PM
Path dependency problem. The problem dates back to WW2, when FDR and congress put salary caps in place and started dishing out tax breaks to encourage employers to offer benefits. Too many entrenched interests to combat to get rid of that crud now, unfortunately. They've had a long time to build up. And, of course, ACA only doubled down on the worst parts of the system, so it's even harder to break that off.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Monday May 09 2022, @03:15PM (1 child)
I agree with you on insurance; if insurance wasn't tied to employment in the USA I probably would be taking a gap year very soon - I'm approaching 10 years with my company and I've only taken one "large" vacation (Iceland, highly recommended).
However, I have to disagree on how important money is in employee retention and how minor other benefits are. It is easy to brush off something like free lunches as a small benefit, however enjoying your work is probably the most critical aspect for employee retention. I turned down a promotion because I would need to relocate and deal with the headaches of being a manager; the money would have been more but I know I would dislike my job more.
The examples highlighted (rock wall, beer, acupuncture) are easy to brush off if you aren't interested, but if the company does hit a benefit you particularly enjoy it probably would help keep people from looking on Linked-In for other opportunities. And these benefits are relatively trivial in cost compared to a shorter work week. I guess what I'm driving at is the paycheck is less important for retention; I believe the other proposed benefits (less hours, career development, unlimited time off is a lie) are more impactful for talent retention.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 10 2022, @12:48AM
Free lunch has genuine value, and no one should turn their nose up at it. Even better if there is an in-house cafeteria, so you don't have to go to lunch, lunch is already here. Even a steeply discounted cafeteria lunch will have value - if it costs ten bucks to eat anywhere close by, and only costs five to eat in the cafeteria, you're miles ahead. Presuming, of course, that the company hires good cooks, with a little bit of dietician knowledge.
The single best "bennie" I've ever had, was a company vehicle. The boss asked that I keep off-duty driving to a minimum, and I did, and my own truck sat idle, not costing me anything. It's amazing how much running around you can do, if you plan things in advance. Stop here on the way to work, stop there on the way home from work - once home, if you really have to go somewhere, drive your own vehicle.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @11:11PM
I once worked at a consulting firm that was started up by three college friends who essentially wanted the college party to keep going. Since 90% of the staff were always out working at client sites, they held monthly meetings back at the "homeship" (yes, they called it that; it referred to their actual office). These meetings were after normal work hours of course, were mandatory, and they let people drink beer if they brought it in. That was fine... but then they decided to have at least two of those mandatory meetings downtown at a very nice bar, and the first two drinks of whatever anyone wanted were on the company.
I'm the one who had to point out to them that forcing the entire company to fucking drive to a bar and give them free drinks before they drive back home would be a great way to get the place sued out of existence should anyone have an accident after the meeting. Their solution wasn't to stop having meetings at the bar, but to pay for taxis (pre-Uber) for anyone who didn't want to drive home afterwards. (Note they wouldn't pay for a taxi to get there, only to go home.)
I left that place soon after. Never join a company run by guys who still think they're in their frat house.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by fliptop on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:29PM (1 child)
One of my clients is a phone company / ISP and I get internet for free. That's a nice perk.
Another is a tire shop where I occasionally work as a mechanic (Saturdays, and fill in when other mechanics are off), and I have access to a full shop, all the tools, two-post lift, oxy-acetylene, welder, alignment rack, and it's heated in winter. When you drive old [peacecomputers.com] rusty [peacecomputers.com] junk [peacecomputers.com] like I do, *those* are really nice perks.
One of my attorney clients give me free advice.
One of my dentist clients gives me reduced rates.
The list goes on...
The right kind of perks are nice to have.
To be oneself, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @12:24AM
...one of my clients was a car buff magazine. I got invited to a day at a race track with $well_known_racer and a half dozen 100K+ sports cars. I did have to write up my engineering assessment of the cars, but got to melt their tires all day long.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @04:25PM (1 child)
a window that opens, preferably not looking at a brick/concret wall and a FREE restaurant reachable in reasonable time on foot that made it to michelin classification ...
maybe also clear goal set what you want me to do for the monies. magic wand waving included :P
(Score: 3, Touché) by Opportunist on Sunday May 08 2022, @04:46PM
Easy to do, home office. Not Michelin, but good food, exactly the kind I like because, well, I cook it.
Call back for the other ones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @09:55PM
Salary and options for useful time and contributions is good
Also vested 401k with some care on the company's side to help steer it to reasonable investments.
Less drama, more understanding how to methodically make happy customers.
Interesting work, with learning new stuff is nice, continually reinventing the wheel is fun, but eventually not satisfying. Continual panic mode, not cool.
Working with other smart folks is tops.
(Pro tip, the cost of cokes in the machine is an indicator. 50cents indicates caring management, time to leave when it gets over a dollar. Coffee is free as getting your folks to drink it gets more more work.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @02:36AM (2 children)
The "P" in "PTO" means "if you tell me I have a month off and I either do not or cannot take it--F'ING CUT ME AN EXTRA CHECK."
Absolutely NO ONE buys this "unlimited time off" bullshit. That means BEG for every single minute north of zero, and oh, by the way, it is now 100% lose it or lose it.
Such a deal! Anyone saying employees believe let alone want that lie clearly works in HR and/or Finance.
https://youtu.be/E-P2qL3qkzk [youtu.be]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Monday May 09 2022, @12:01PM (1 child)
I find your obsession with money strange. Money is something that can be multiplied at will. Time isn't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 11 2022, @06:39AM
I find your inability to recognize that was actually the prior post's point as well to be... strange.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @04:27AM
Keep your Walls? After Runaway donated $200 he really couldn't spare, just to keep other low income fools like himself out of Texas? There is some hypocrisy here, especially given that if Runaway's employer, a super Woke Corporation, ever knew what he posts here, well, climbing walls would be the least of this problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @05:34AM (6 children)
Is zero time off. If you're lucky, you'll get half of the national holidays.
The last place I worked (which was the worst place I ever worked, and I've worked for two companies that missed payroll) had "unlimited" time off. Nobody but management ever got a vacation, only the black people got MLK day, nobody got President's Day or Veterans' Day or Columbus/Indigenous Persons day, and it was pretty much death march style most of the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @06:42AM (4 children)
How would it have been different if vacation time had been limited? Yes, you would have got unused time paid out, but they could have prevented you from taking time off on their whim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @09:37AM (2 children)
Getting unused time paid out is valuable. Equal to a 4% difference in pay. Plus you get holidays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 09 2022, @02:14PM (1 child)
You only get paid out when you quit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 11 2022, @06:42AM
That has not been and is not always the case.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @03:46AM
With limited time off, at least at the places I've worked that do PTO (as opposed to "vacation" and "sick" days), you're given a set number of days you can use in a year, and it's use it or lose it come December 31st. They can certainly turn down PTO requests if they want. But come the end of the year and you've still got some PTO left, and that's because you've made reasonable requests to use it during the year and have been turned down, by law they have to pay out your remaining PTO. As such, it's really rare for PTO requests to be turned down, as it's recognized that those days are yours and you're entitled to use them however you see fit. Even if it's just burning them off so you don't lose them.
With "unlimited" PTO, expect all of that to change.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday May 09 2022, @12:03PM
Do you get paid so little that you actually NEED that money for a couple weeks a year?
Get a better contract or better work conditions. If you offer me "unlimited time off", be prepared that I only show up if I feel like it.