What would you say is the most important workplace perk to you? - LYSTech
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k4ch0w
Flexibility.

Being able to work remote if I don't feel like going into the office.

Take a vacation whenever.

Never worrying if I can't get a day off to go see a doctor.

I get my job done and do it to a high degree which frees my time up to do
other things. You couldn't give me name a price to me right now that would
make me give that up.

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copperx
What kind of companies give you that kind of flexibility?

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juangacovas
For me, those where you put a lot of effort, you earn it and of course you get
your stuff done.

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noir_lord
Silence (I have my own office).

I'd take a job with an office over.one without even if without pays 15% more,
I know this because I did.

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LYSTech
Do you mean like a 4 walled office rather than open plan / hot desking, or
literally over remote working?

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cirrrrrrus
I'd say a great place makes all the difference. Being remote can be nice but
for teamwork it can get tricky. Having a place where you can both work alone
and meet in teams is a great perk.

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duiker101
My coworkers. It really doesn't matter how much good the place is if I don't
enjoy the people I work with.

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omosubi
How the hell has no one said insurance yet?! I guess this mostly applies to
the US, but I wouldn't want to work at a place with bad insurance.

Otherwise

\- fun/intelligent people to work with

\- vacation, both in length and ability to take it whenever I want (I have 20
days right now)

\- ability to take an hour here or there to get a haircut/deal with
bureaucracy/etc. I guess wfh is included in this

-office being in a convenient place close to public transportation with lots of lunch options nearby

Stuff I don't have that I'd like:

-natural light/a view

-summer hours would be amazing

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EnderMB
It's also a solid perk in the UK. I've not worked at many big companies, but
most places I've worked at have had good health insurance plans.

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NeedMoreTea
I've worked at a few major, but mainly smaller over my 30 year UK career, and
_none_ have had health insurance. Mostly outside London.

I have had gourmet meals in-house, gym membership, book allowances, discount
hardware and others, but never yet health insurance.

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EnderMB
That's surprising, considering most plans are pretty cheap. I've almost
exclusively worked at small companies, agencies mostly, and my last three
places had some form of private health plan. I've also never worked in London,
where it seems to be a common perk everywhere.

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trumbitta2
The most important to me right now is enough money to care for my wife and
child.

The second one, which used to be the first "before", is flexible hours.

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gshdg
0\. Proper ergonomic furniture, including height-adjustable desks (ideally
hydraulic sit-stand), depth-adjustable chairs, standing mats, and
laptop/monitor risers plus external peripherals.

1\. Quiet / walls (haven’t found those in over a decade, tho, so...)

2\. Non-fluorescent light. Ideally from nice big windows with a view of
something other than the side of the building across the street.

3\. Summer Fridays (afternoons off between Memorial Day and Labor Day; common
in NYC companies that originated in the 1980s or before)

4\. Norms of taking > 3wks/yr PTO

5\. Flexible hours

6\. Keeping the fridge stocked with milk to go with all that free coffee and
tea (so many places take weeks to restock whenever they run out of milk. Such
a simple thing. Boggles the mind.)

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chadash
1) Respect for my role from upper management. This one is huge for me. I have
a friend working as an engineer in a company where engineers aren't considered
impact players (i.e. aren't perceived as revenue generating, even if the
_perception_ isn't 100% true). She is paid well and her boss loves her. But
her boss's boss and everyone from there on up have the attitude that engineers
"just don't get it" and she's miserable there, because her work can't have as
much impact without upper management buy-in. This is a cultural thing and
varies highly even between companies in the same industry. For example, there
are hedge funds where good engineers are rock stars and there are hedge funds
where they are looked at as support staff. In that industry, your importance
to the company is often reflected in your pay, but pay aside, where do you
think that the engineers are happiest?

2) Some people reading this aren't going to like it, but: Coworkers and/or
bosses who have kids, or at least are sympathetic to the fact that I do. This
one is really only applicable once you have kids yourself, but if you are in a
startup where everyone is young and childless (or old and childless), it'll be
hard for them to understand the myriad number of things that come up with
children. You need to take your kid to the doctor, you need to stay home
because the nanny is sick. I can make up the time, but sometimes it means
missing important work or things that can't be rescheduled. The excuses add up
and I've met many people who aren't sympathetic to them. And I even understand
where they are coming from. But as a parent, I value a company where people
_are_ respectful of this.

3) An even keeled boss. You can be a nice person or you can be an asshole. But
as long as you are consistent, I can figure out how to deal with you. But if
one day you are Dr. Jekyll and the next day Mr. Hyde, then I'll always be
afraid to approach you.

4) Good health insurance (in the USA). Our system of having health insurance
tied to employment is stupid. But it is what it is, and if you aren't getting
good health insurance from work, it can be a fortune to pay for it out of
pocket.

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apohn
>I have a friend working as an engineer in a company where engineers

I categorize this as a place where there are "leaders" and "peons." The
"leaders" see themselves as the important people who have ideas and make
decisions. The "peons" are the grunts who are involved in execution and are
easily replaceable by another peon. The most valuable people are the ones
talking about all supposedly great revenue generating stuff they getting peons
to do.

Don't work for these places if you like to be an engineer. As you pointed out,
an individual manager may be great, but everybody above them sees you as a
cog. If your manager is replaced you are done.

I think the only benefit of these places is that execution is mixed in with so
much BS that great work life balance can result from it.

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ThrowawayR2
Flex time / working from home

A private office that is quiet

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mikelevins
1\. Congenial colleagues.

2\. An office with actual walls and a door that closes. Full-time remote work
is a good substitute.

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Cymen
Working remote nearly 100% of the time.

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karmakaze
We have so many and get used to having them it's sometimes hard to pick one
out.

Practically speaking I'd have to say the free breakfast/lunches/snacks because
I'm way healthier than when I worked at places without them. Sometimes I even
get in on time to have a breakfast.

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LYSTech
Do you guys ever think about the light inside your workplace and how it
affects you?

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potta_coffee
We're in a dungeon with fluorescent lights here. It makes me so miserable that
I'm considering looking for work simply because of the lighting. Every other
group in the building has windows they can look out of.

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marapuru
Quietness. As a creative person it's very easy for me to get distracted. I try
to work with noise canceling and white noise, but that doesn't really work
that well.

A library like quiet place would be a gamechanger for me.

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dagw
Being able to work with really smart and engaged co-workers.

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DBYCZ
I'm a Jr. Engineer and I really appreciate working in a positive learning
environment with a bunch of experienced, helpful Senior Devs.

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whttheuuu
Salary

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sieglo
company car with unlimited mileage. So far I've driven more than 11.000 km in
a month - mostly private, due to the customer being 5min away from my home.

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herogreen
But this could easily be replaced by an increase in salary right ? It is not
really part of the workplace (unlike coworkers, location, size, etc.)

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chadash
Or reimbursement for mileage. Businesses can take this as a tax write-off
(i.e. no payroll taxes) from the IRS [0]. My father used to get reimbursed for
mileage from his work at the IRS rate, which accounts for things such as
reduced car value, gasoline and maintenance costs, but is actually quite
generous. The reimbursement rate was high enough that he actually _made_ money
from it, since it exceeded the costs of gas, increased maintenance and
depreciation. That said, if you drive a ferrari which depreciates quickly and
guzzles lots of gas, the calculus is going to be different.

[0]
[https://www.ifebp.org/news/regulatoryupdates/Pages/2019-irs-...](https://www.ifebp.org/news/regulatoryupdates/Pages/2019-irs-
mileage-rates.aspx)

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digianarchist
\- Vacation

\- Remote work

\- Flex time

\- Vacation

\- Free coffee

\- Office close to public transit

\- Did I mention vacation?

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perfunctory
part time work

