Your best W*rk related PERKS!

Two non-COLA pensions of $900/month each, one from a job I left in 1995, one I left in 2006. Generous 401(k) matches. The insurance business still takes decent care of its employees, although I suspect the first company no longer has a DB plan and I know the second company ended its plan when it was acquired.

Travel. Ah. Sometimes undistinguished domestic destinations, but my first meeting as a member of my professional society was in San Juan, PR. (I studied darn hard to pass the exam that would get me inducted as a member at that meeting.) First time I'd ever seen palm trees. Typically the Society meets in a major city or some glamorous resort (e.g. the Boca Raton Resort, the Del Coronado in San Diego) so I got to a lot of nice destinations for meetings and usually got in a little sightseeing. Joined an international company early on and after that got a decent amount of trips to various places in Europe and to India. Post-2006, transatlantics were in Business Class. Lots of FF miles and hotel points I could use for personal travel with DH.

I wanted to talk about the Good Old Days, though. Dad was in management at a steel mill when I was in HS/college. It was back when companies could send gifts to managers of customer companies and Christmas was always fun. Lots of booze (I was too young to partake), some delicious prosciutto and other yummy foods, Bing and Grondhal Christmas plates, etc. The only genuine miss was a set of stainless steel tableware- made in Korea. :confused: Dad sent it back.

I should add that Dad was an honorable man and I doubt very much that his purchasing decisions for the company were influenced by these gifts. Most companies have strict rules against such gifts anymore, but it made for a fun December.
 
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Interesting thread. Looking back, I got a lot of the perks already mention by many, but the things that matter the most to me were the crazy levels of compensation while working and the crazy lump sum retirement settlement. I'm still smiling.
 
Scrapr said:
Road Warriors. Did you pick up the soap? Mrs Scrapr brought a couple zip lock bags of soap to our marriage
Click to expand...

I traveled heavily from 1982 through 2009. During that time I never once bought soap and am still using what I stockpiled from those years.:cool:
 
Not as fancy or $$ as most on here but the big perk we had at my last employer

4% over cost on almost everything in the store. It was a Do It Best hardware.

For example-- a gallon of Benjamin Moore Regal ended up around $28 .

Since we were doing a reno on a large mid-century New England style colonial ranch-- this was a huge perk. It would be even huger with our present reno of a 120 year old late era Victorian.
 
1) Floor seats, plus box seats, to all Lakers games, this during the Three-peat, Shaq/Kobe glory days.

2) Box seats to all other events, including big name concerts, at same, plus at a second Metro L.A. venue.

3) Superbowl tickets.

4) Company cars, including gas cards.

5) Expense accounts for dining out while traveling, and when out with clients.

6) Comprehensive executive level physical exams annually, which included a session with a stress management expert. Oh, the irony.

7) Annual conferences at lovely locations, plus the ability to tack on vacation time, meaning all flights for ensuing vacations were paid for by company, not by us.

On the surface it all sounds rosy, and to be fair, some of it was (See #'s 1 and 3 above ;) ), but for the most part it was all paid for by virtue of the pounds of flesh each of our respective companies received in return. I miss none of it.
 
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1st job out of school I got 24 days vacation and 10 holidays - all paid, of course. I was young and had just moved out west for the job (the mountains) and I used it all.

A later job - could borrow the company dump truck, which we used when doing a major kitchen rehab ourselves. It was quite a trip taking the debris from the walls etc. to the dump. We were small compared to all the other trucks in line!

I think both of those perks are better to me than major sports event tix. Years ago I had great travels for work in the US and England and got to keep the frequent flyer miles. DH did better getting his million miles in.

Maybe the best was getting a severance package of 1 years pay plus keep the company medical plan at company rate forever (have had it 19 years so far) plus some other tidbits that added a few thousand more. And a year after I left they sent me thousands more as the bonus for the year I didn't work. Weird policy that - we figured it was written by people who planned to take the severance package and management didn't catch it.
 
I had a perk that got lost in the shuffle. I was non-management but had a company car/gas because I would travel about 100 miles once per week to one of my accounts. No idea how that qualified but I didn't complain. Made sure I ran up the miles to show that I "needed the car." Plus I worked out of my home so didn't even drive it to work.

Over the years that account shrunk and I was "stuck" with a company car with "no place to go." So on weekends we would take off to run up the miles to justify the car.

New manager came onboard. (he was promoted from within, not an outsider so he "should have known.")

So I get my letter--"it's time to pick out the color and options of your new car" (every two years). I had kept telling my husband (who worked for the same company, different office) that my manager did not know I had a company car.

He said that's crazy--they HAVE to know. Well I filled out the form and dropped it off on the weekend so I didn't have to run into my manager.

8 AM Monday morning he calls me --I DIDN"T KNOW YOU HAD A COMPANY CAR!!

It was good while it lasted! No wonder this company (financial company) almost went bust during the recession if that's how they run things.
 
Many perks, the ones that come to mind first:

- Per diem reimbursement for meals when traveling. If you spent less than the per diem, you got to keep the difference. That was very easy to do. In fact, an informal network built up in Megacorp where we shared "how to eat well in <name of city> for less than half of the daily per diem". :)

- All travel rewards miles you could keep and use for personal travel. I have the equivalent of a couple of round trips flights, a month of car rentals, and 2 weeks of hotel nights that I can use for myself now that I am retired.

- In several years I received free trips to Hawaii for DW and I as a reward.

- For the years I managed a cross-platform software lab environment, "Free" software of any type for any of the platforms (i.e. we just had to request it and we got a license paid for by Megacorp, no questions asked).

But, as was said, these came at a cost... having to travel at a moments notice, working/traveling on weekends, working at conferences held at Disney World while your family enjoyed the amusement parks, having to miss some birthdays, anniversaries, kids school events, family/community events... eventually time for myself became more important than the perks.
 
current perks:

part of my cc dues are paid
all of my parking (150/mo) is paid
we get free coffee
 
1. Food. An abundance of food is always at meetings and appearing in the break room. Today someone brought in garden produce--garlic scapes, zucchini. If I wanted to, I could eat the majority of my meals at work for free (although much of it is not great for you).
2. Books, pens, paper, notepads, staplers, etc. This is an academic institution so this stuff abounds. And yes, some gets taken home and no one cares. I haven't bought a pen, or pencil, or scotch tape, or note pad, etc. in years.
3. Casual dress, pretty much wear what you want in reason. No pantyhose or high heels, ever. Thank God for academia for this. Huge perk for me. I'm in modest shorts (to the knee), sandals, and sweater today at work.

4. Flexible hours. As long as I get the work done, I come and go at will (more or less). If I can only make a hair cut appointment during the day or need to be home for the handyman, I take off.
5. One page performance reviews once a year, culminating in a 15 minute casual conversation with my "boss." (Actually there are no real "bosses" here, just colleagues one notch above you in heirarchy). No competition for more pay. Of course the downside is that there is no merit pay boosts--I hit the glass ceiling of such things awhile back with my last major promotion.
6. Nice travel budget. I've attended conferences in many U.S. states and abroad, and have gotten to make them into mini-vacations by extending my stay for a couple days.

7. Walk to work, 15-20 minutes. No commute.
8. Beautiful campus! And in summer it is like having a gorgeous park to yourself. Sit outside at lunch and breaks and commune with nature.
9. Free classes, including graduate classes, free speakers/events, discounted tickets to city events such as concerts, etc.
10. Fabulous library connected to larger library system. Every possible book is available at will.
 
T-Minus said:
- Fully paid MBA....
Click to expand...

I forgot about that one.. also, I got every other Friday off for about 18 months (classes were Friday one week and Saturday the next).

Interestingly, the company decided to move our offices from the Boston area to Stamford, CT part way through my MBA program and extended to us an offer to move or 3 months salary continuation/severance. While my boss knew that I would not be moving I didn't do anything officially until after the last tuition check had cleared. I was in charge of moving the office... it turned out that my last day of work was also the ame day as my last MBA class.

I wanted to stay with the company but there were no openings that didn't involve a move to somewhere that I didn't want to live.
 
Luvdogs said:
I had a perk that got lost in the shuffle....
Click to expand...

+1 While I was officailly part of our NYC office I was rarely there since I spent most of my time traveling to client offices or telecommuting... but I was at a level where I was given an office. My colleagues in NYC then had a spare office that could be used by out-of-town visitors and it got a lot of use. It took facilities many years to figure it out. I recall that someone once asked me my NY office phone number and I had no idea what it was.
 
Man, the list is long, but varied. None of my perks have really been consistent except for recent 15%+ bonus, 2months off/yr, flexible schedule with option to Remote Work a day or two a week if needed.



In the past I've had first class flights, training in Hawaii, tickets to events like the pro baseball, football, hockey and basketball teams (come to think of it one of each), cigar bar invites, riverboat cruises and some picnics with lots of free food and drink.


Military perks keep rolling in, with reduced lodging, discounted vet admission and prices almost everywhere.



I'll never forget when we all started getting real jobs, one of my friends was golfing a lot and actually paid some fees at a dance establishment...I was thinking, no way. He worked for a major health insurer so I wasn't surprised about the loose budget but I would have feared losing my job...a dance club, really??


The only perk I appreciate these days is more money and time, and really I value time much more than ever. I could buy some PTO but so far, I apparently value money more.


:confused:
I've had some offices with million dollar views, but I'd still rather be at home. I had a boss who traveled back east before turkey day, didn't come back until after the new year, only to get canned when corporate found out. That was one of the best perks ever because we did not see eye to eye, and he threw lots of accusations out that I had to dispell through my backdoor HR channels. My new boss was 100% remote and that perk was incredible.



Office was on a golf course on Maui with bi-coastal views. Thank you DoD for that perk lol.
 
A couple more: someone mentioned Million Mile status. I got that as well, after travel with multiple employers over many years and adding bonus points through various promotions such as donating to Susan G. Komen (before AA stopped allowing anything but actual flying miles to count towards Million Mile status). It pays off once in awhile with priority boarding, access to Elite TSA and check-in and the occasional upgrade.

In 1995 I was downsized from a company that had provided me with a telephone calling card. That was a much bigger deal before cell phones and when a call to the next city was a "toll call". It was to be used for business only. A year later I caught my husband using it for a long-distance call. Apparently he'd found it in the drawer where I'd left it and had been using it freely for a year with my former employer never noticing. I quietly called the phone company, told them I was no longer employed by the company paying the bill, and closed the account.
 
Wow! Some really great perks in this thread. It's amazing we all retired...well, that's probably the best perk of all!

One I forgot:

When I got selected to go to ARCO corporate from my lowly Plant Manager's job in a wire and cable manufacturing plant in Connecticut, the year was 1981, and that's when Carter had interest rates through the roof.

I had just gotten through handing out 15% - 20% merit raises to my staff when I got a call to speak with a guy I knew in ARCO (met on a corporate perk - taking a Super Tanker from Long Beach to Alaska and back as a selected member of the corporate audit team).

He asked if I wanted a job at corporate for a 50% salary jump + bonus. :eek:

Really hard to say "no" when we had two feet of snow that morning. So we went (DW, me, two daughters).

The big perk was moving expenses and mortgage interest makeup and cost basis of house makeup as a bonus.

What that meant was my new mortgage in Thousand Oaks @ 18% was 10% higher than my Connecticut one and ARCO would make up the cost difference for 10 years on a monthly basis.

Also, my home in CT at the time sold for ~ $100K and the one purchased in CA was at $250K. ARCO would give me the difference of $150K over a 10 year period in monthly installments.

Plus paying the moving expenses and making up the tax on that income.

Such a deal! Oh and when interest rates dropped, I refinanced the house at 10% and still got to keep the ARCO payment.

Something like this only comes around once in a lifetime!
 
All y'all have had some amazing benefits. My boss has been and is a tight fisted SOB. Can't get hardly anything from him. Think tomorrow morning when I see him I'll unload on the mirror.
 
Oh, where to begin. Silicon Valley perks flow freely to all employees, to the point where the employees start acting entitled and one wonders when they actually work and why they’re not all fat...

-Free food for all employees WW. At HQ we had breakfast lunch & dinner, snacks, coffee bars, juice bars. The food was good and if you wanted healthy food, it was available. If you wanted bad food, it was available. Daily meal options included Indian, Chinese, Korean, sushi, Italian, Mexican and of course, American. The CFO liked ice cream, so a Haagen Daz soft serve ice cream area was installed with ALL the toppings. I believe it cost the company $12M a month for food at just US locations
-Free smartphones for all, no limits for talk, text or data.
-Transportation benefits such as corporate bus to/from work. Since the buses had WiFi you could work on the bus and count that towards your work day. 2 hours on the bus, 6 in the office. Free transit passes for the bus/train/light rail lines. Free electric car charge stations. For one year I did all of my charging at work, none at home.
- corporate gym, including fitness classes, basketball, bocce, volleyball courts. Trainers available for a small fee. Game rooms with pool, ping pong, & foos ball tables.
- fitness trackers for all employees one year & encouraged to walk during the work day in nearby open space.
- in addition to regular free food, there was beer, wine & appetizers every Friday at the company meeting (and many other events each month). Every Thursday, mid-afternoon a special “snack cart” would come through each building and floor with special treats such as fresh churros, ice cream bars, nachos, fruit & cheese, cupcakes, etc. delivered to your desk.
-one year they gave everyone a $75 credit at the company store for branded merchandise. But in general, we were given at least 5-6 t-shirts a year.
-if you added a baby to your family (fur or human) a gift box of co branded baby or pet items was delivered to your home.
- on-site medical clinic was being built when I retired. This was separate from the health plans, so no fee and no impact to health plan benes. Open to employees visiting from any international or domestic location.
-also after I left (& the chief risk manager retired) they opened a full bar in one building. Open to all, no ID required. We did have one 16 yo EE and many college interns under 21.
- TVs every where with full cable access...no need to try to sneak watching the World Cup or March Madness, it was on constantly, with additional big screens set up in the cafeterias.
-Private concerts with top name entertainment for employees & guest.
-guest speakers including stars, top chefs, sports figures, highly regarded scientists and government officials.
- many on-site services available for a fee - florist & gift shop, weekly farmers market, dry cleaning, haircut, dentistry, oil change, gas fill up, bike tune up, massage (for some reason the mani/pedi business was kicked out, but massage was ok)
-and of course, stock options and RSUs for all

They employees continually asked for valet parking (really?) and permission to bring pets, but were always refused. I’m sure there was more, but that is all of the foolishness that I can remember.
 
I'm green with envy reading these perks...[emoji4]

I worked for myself so zero perks, mostly. However the real perk I always thought was that I had great psychological freedom being out on my own. I had lots of "f##k you" money and had no problem telling clients what I thought. If I wanted to take a month off I did, although I would try to make up lost salary later. Also, if I worked a 60 hour week, the client got billed for 60 hours, which probably was the best benefit considering I worked for a lot of tech start-ups where everyone was working like that.
 
ocean view said:
Oh, where to begin. Silicon Valley perks flow freely to all employees, to the point where the employees start acting entitled and one wonders when they actually work and why they’re not all fat...

-Free food for all employees WW. At HQ we had breakfast lunch & dinner, snacks, coffee bars, juice bars. The food was good and if you wanted healthy food, it was available. If you wanted bad food, it was available. Daily meal options included Indian, Chinese, Korean, sushi, Italian, Mexican and of course, American. The CFO liked ice cream, so a Haagen Daz soft serve ice cream area was installed with ALL the toppings. I believe it cost the company $12M a month for food at just US locations
-Free smartphones for all, no limits for talk, text or data.
-Transportation benefits such as corporate bus to/from work. Since the buses had WiFi you could work on the bus and count that towards your work day. 2 hours on the bus, 6 in the office. Free transit passes for the bus/train/light rail lines. Free electric car charge stations. For one year I did all of my charging at work, none at home.
- corporate gym, including fitness classes, basketball, bocce, volleyball courts. Trainers available for a small fee. Game rooms with pool, ping pong, & foos ball tables.
- fitness trackers for all employees one year & encouraged to walk during the work day in nearby open space.
- in addition to regular free food, there was beer, wine & appetizers every Friday at the company meeting (and many other events each month). Every Thursday, mid-afternoon a special “snack cart” would come through each building and floor with special treats such as fresh churros, ice cream bars, nachos, fruit & cheese, cupcakes, etc. delivered to your desk.
-one year they gave everyone a $75 credit at the company store for branded merchandise. But in general, we were given at least 5-6 t-shirts a year.
-if you added a baby to your family (fur or human) a gift box of co branded baby or pet items was delivered to your home.
- on-site medical clinic was being built when I retired. This was separate from the health plans, so no fee and no impact to health plan benes. Open to employees visiting from any international or domestic location.
-also after I left (& the chief risk manager retired) they opened a full bar in one building. Open to all, no ID required. We did have one 16 yo EE and many college interns under 21.
- TVs every where with full cable access...no need to try to sneak watching the World Cup or March Madness, it was on constantly, with additional big screens set up in the cafeterias.
-Private concerts with top name entertainment for employees & guest.
-guest speakers including stars, top chefs, sports figures, highly regarded scientists and government officials.
- many on-site services available for a fee - florist & gift shop, weekly farmers market, dry cleaning, haircut, dentistry, oil change, gas fill up, bike tune up, massage (for some reason the mani/pedi business was kicked out, but massage was ok)
-and of course, stock options and RSUs for all

They employees continually asked for valet parking (really?) and permission to bring pets, but were always refused. I’m sure there was more, but that is all of the foolishness that I can remember.
Click to expand...

Wow!:cool:
 
1. Lenient dress code.
2. Wednesday afternoons off in the summer.
3. Free college tuition.
4. Free access to recreation/fitness center.
5. Company retirement match.
6. Lots of free t-shirts and sweatshirts.
7. Generous Easter and Christmas time off.
8. 37.5 hour week.
 
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LauAnn said:
1. Lenient dress code.
2. Wednesday afternoons off in the summer.
3. Free college tuition.
4. Free access to recreation/fitness center.
5. Company retirement match.
6. Lots of free t-shirts and sweatshirts.
7. Generous Easter and Christmas time off.
8. 37.5 hour week.
Click to expand...

1. perk
2. benefit
3. benefit
4. perk
5. benefit
6. perk
7. benefit
8. benefit
 
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