
Ask HN: What are unusual perks of a job? - bryanrasmussen
Companies often offer perks aside from wages, common perks in the Western world include:<p>Company Computer<p>Phone service<p>maybe paid lunch (in Denmark my experience is not because of, as I understand it, tax rules)<p>in the U.S Health Insurance (also in European countries but as an add-on, not an all-important employee lock-in device)<p>Banks often have low interest rate loans for employees.<p>Other stuff people can think of? And also if you know anything about how particular perks are used by companies, tax-wise or studies on how they affect employee retention&#x2F;enticement please let me know.<p>edited: improved formatting
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qxmat
At Games Workshop we had a huge discount ~ 60% IIRC. Staff were regularly
terminated for reselling - a big no no. If you were a hobbyist the discount
was great perk to make up for low the low salary.

The share-save scheme, in hindsight, was amazing. You could buy at a good
discount. While I was there it traded between 380 and 425p. Last year it hit
4000p. Currently at 3200p. Unfortunately I couldn't make ends meet on my
salary there (even opting out of the workplace pension scheme). I try not to
dwell on it too much but I really did miss out on easy money.

If you worked at the HQ you were fortunate to have an on-site gym. For £5/m
you could join the "Sports & Social" group for access (local gyms were
£40+/m). The balance was spent on cinema trips and bowling... great get-to-
know-your-department events.

Oh, did I mention they also have a Dwarf themed pub with £1 a pint staff
nights?!

~~~
dominicr
I remember the financial unattainability of some of their larger figures &
sets from when I was young.

Considering that they're a profitable company, do you think the low salary is
partly because they know people will work there because they love the GW
universe, so can low-ball salaries?

------
hadlock
In-building daycare is a pretty amazing perk.

There are a handful of companies in downtown where I live that offer this. You
pay slightly above market rate for daycare, but it is incredibly convenient to
travel with your child to your place of work, pop in to the 8th floor to drop
them off, and be on site in case anything comes up.

The office subsidizes the square footage in the building for the day care, but
the actual cost of daycare is offset by the rates they charge (and believe me,
parents are willing to pay for the convenience)... actually the company makes
a very small profit on the daycare, which incentivizes the company to keep it.

The other advantage of having in-office daycare is that employees cannot get
this perk anywhere else, and are extremely unlikely to job-hop and lose this
perk. Once you have in-office day care, it's like health insurance - you are
unlikely to want to lose it.

~~~
godot
If a company makes a very small profit on it, and it's being used as a
retaining feature ("employees cannot get this perk anywhere else"), why would
more companies not offer this perk? Seems like something pretty much all
companies at a size that can afford to offer it, would and should offer it,
right?

~~~
rajacombinator
Why even try to make a profit? The company should be willing to offer this
below market because the retention, productivity, satisfaction and other
benefits to them would be incredible. I suppose having the critical mass of
employees with daycare age children and sufficient facilities would be a
limiting factor. Plus any negative aspects of liability etc.

------
moviuro
In France, most employees have perks when purchasing/loaning stuff from their
employer. Employees could get a discount on their company's telco public
prices (e.g.: Orange or Bouygues) ; power suppliers (in France: EDF, Total,
etc.) offer a discount on the electricity bill.

Some other "benefits" (some are required by law): the employer pays half of
the public transportation bill for the employee; Christmas/Summer gift cards;
buy one stock, get one free; Intéressement et Participation ([0] [1]); paid
lunch (or "lunch checks"); professional vehicule;...

There are also "Comité d'entreprise" [2] in France, which get from the company
0.2% of the total salary mass (0.2% of the total salaries before tax) to
propose many offers, such as: cheap theater tickets, discounts in select
stores (not linked with the employer's domain), cheap all-inclusive abroad
vacation, birth/marriage checks, custom social and financial help (debt; help
to purchase a house), etc.

[0]
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Int%C3%A9ressement](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Int%C3%A9ressement)

[1]
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_des_salari%C3%A9...](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_des_salari%C3%A9s_aux_r%C3%A9sultats_de_l%27entreprise)

[2]
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comit%C3%A9_d%27entreprise](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comit%C3%A9_d%27entreprise)

------
theriddlr
In the UK:

Cycle to Work: A scheme which involves an interest-free loan from the employer
to buy a bike and safety accessories for cycling to work. This is a salary
sacrifice so the employer pays less National Insurance and the employee saves
on National Insurance and income tax.

Season ticket loans: Interest-free loans from the employer to enable the
employee to purchase a yearly train/Tube ticket. Yearly tickets work out
cheaper than monthly tickets.

------
cimmanom
In the US:

\- allowing employees to buy their transit or parking passes with pre-tax
wages. In some car-centric areas, some employers that don’t have their own
parking lots will pay for their employees’ parking in commercial lots.

\- tax-advantaged retirement accounts, often with partial employer matching of
deposits

\- community service days when everyone in the company volunteers together for
a nonprofit organization (should be on what would otherwise be a workday, and
paid)

\- certain types of businesses (financial firms, high end law firms, etc) will
offer their highest-paid employees concierge-type services to make it more
practical to spend extended hours in the office. Examples might be handling
the employee’s dry cleaning for them.

\- free snacks and beverages are very common at tech companies/startups. Some
also make alcoholic beverages available, with varying degrees of quantity and
freedom as to when to consume.

\- free coffee and tea in the office are very common but not universal

\- I’ve seen some places where discounted gym memberships were available
either through the health insurance provider or as a corporate perk.

\- covering continuing education costs - whether that’s mandatory ongoing
courses for licensing purposes or simply one course per year that the employee
wants to take to advance their career

\- perks that are arguably not perks (aka mandatory fun time): happy hours;
company outings and office parties; catered lunch with “bonding time” strings
attached once a week; etc

\- shorter hours in the summer, still paid for full hours. This typically but
not always takes the form of early closing on Fridays. It’s relatively rare
but seems to be more common among companies that existed before about 1980.

\- at companies with stricter dress codes, “casual fridays” allow employees to
wear less formal outfits (at a suit and tie business, casual Friday dress code
might be “business casual”; at a normally business casual office, casual
Friday probably permits jeans and t-shirts, etc.)

\- in the US, vacation time is considered a perk. Even in white collar jobs,
as little as 10 days of paid leave per year (plus a handful of holidays)
combined vacation and sick leave is common.

\- parental or family leave (paid or unpaid) beyond the government-mandated
minimum seems anecdotally to be becoming increasingly common.

~~~
theelous3
Nothing is more depressing than hearing about paid leave in the US. With 0
experience here going in to my first job, I have 24 days leave and 7 paid sick
days on top.

Another random benefit: I work in what is technically a telco company. Free
unlimited data and calls throughout the EU is nice.

~~~
code_beers
It’s unsurprising job-hopping is so common these days. Sometimes it’s the most
practical way to get a long (granted, unpaid) vacation and come back to a
raise and a new environment.

------
chad_strategic
US Marine Corps: -Traveled all over the world. -I essentially got a new job
every 2-3 years. -Forced physical fitness (but I like exercise) -Constant
challenge -But there were downsides, but I liked those as well

Web Develop: -I have had positions in web development, where I'm the only
developer. So I get to call the shots and my hours. -Work from home, has got
to be the best perk of any job -Free postage meter

------
bsvalley
A few weird ones I've seen in Silicon Valley:

\- Bring your dog at the office

\- $20K credit to freeze your eggs (for women)

\- In-house bar with barista training for employees

\- Indoor garden where you can grow your own plant at the office

etc.

~~~
leesalminen
We have a bring your dog to work policy! We end up with 7-8 dogs pretty
regularly. They mostly get along and play with themselves during the day.

~~~
bsvalley
This perk is a dangerous perk :) Some people love it some hate it.

~~~
titusjohnson
Especially those coworkers with allergies. I work in an office, not a dog
park. Your fur-friend will give me hives if he licks me, and because he's near
me I have to start packing an emergency inhaler again.

No thanks.

~~~
leesalminen
I'm sorry to hear that!

We're in a bit of special circumstance- we work in the pet-tech field. Most
applicants to our company are pet lovers!

I would definitely consider a no-pets at work policy if we were in a different
industry.

~~~
titusjohnson
Thank you for the sympathy. Don't count me out as a pet lover though! I would
have dogs and cats if I could, but I'd be huffing the inhaler constantly and I
can't live like that. I make do with pocket pets, and am currently co-parent 2
hamsters.

Something you should consider however, is how your pet policy might make other
allergy sufferers self-select out of working at your company. With 30% of the
US population having allergies, and 10% reporting pet allergies
([https://www.webmd.com/allergies/allergy-
statistics](https://www.webmd.com/allergies/allergy-statistics)), it's not
inconceivable that a massive portion of people you interview would experience
moderate physical discomfort during an interview at your office.

I think the intersection of development-types and severe allergies is pretty
high (personal opinion from observation). Something about not being able to
breathe outside or near animals makes one spend more time inside on the
computer.

Pets in the office are another reason why I'm sad we don't have a better
culture of private offices in this industry. Being able to close the door and
equip my personal work space with a high-quality HEPA filter would make such a
situation tolerable, while also allowing those with pets to keep them separate
from the general population.

------
planteen
In addition to what others have said:

ski passes - had a job in Colorado where you got up to 4 passes for the same
day once per season

flex time - for jobs where you are billing hourly, as long as you get 80 hours
in a 2 week period and manager buy-in, they are happy. Other variations are
doing 9 hr days, getting every other Friday off (9/80) or every Friday off
(4/10).

employee discounts with partners (typically if supplier to a larger company) -
this can be substantial on cars and appliances

old computer and test equipment - when old equipment is being retired, it is
sometimes given out to employees. I've gotten a very nice soldering iron &
Agilent power supply this way.

cell phone & internet - if you work from home some or all of the time, your
company might pay for your cell phone and internet service.

sports tickets - the company may have season tickets to pro or college games
available for occasional use by employees.

------
flukus
The view. I work fairly high up and have a great view of much of the city and
bay. Doesn't sound much but when you're untangling legacy spaghetti and ready
to throw a monitor across the room being able to spin your chair around and
admire the surrounds is a great stress reliever. Also nice to look out when
stuck in yet another useless meeting.

I'll take that over a Foosball table any day.

------
ryanmercer
I've seen Air Force One twice?

We get bagels and room-temp cream cheese, sometimes, on Thanksgiving?

~~~
potta_coffee
Sounds like my company!

~~~
ryanmercer
You've worked the past 13 Thanksgivings too? My sympathies!

------
cbanek
Working at Blizzard, they give you a card good for 10 years of free World of
Warcraft (along with all the other games they sell, in a cute little bag).
There's also a tavern (with full bar) in one of the buildings, funny enough
called the World's End Tavern.

Working at LSST, after 2 years, you are considered a "builder" and
automatically put on the major papers as an author/contributor.

At Xbox, if you're a good engineer, or maybe even not a good one, they have
take home consoles with the latest test builds that you can play at home and
give feedback.

SpaceX, every mission that launches when you are there you get a personalized
mission patch for with your employee number on it.

Everywhere has its own little things, usually related to what they do,
although I wouldn't call them game changers.

------
Antoninus
As a remote employee, I liked that my data usage was paid for. I worked out of
East Africa and SE Asia and the data rates were fairly expensive. Being able
to set your own hours within a certain frame was nice. I prefer to work 11-7pm
as I like to exercise in the morning and have breakfast with my wife.

------
rjkennedy98
The very large company I work for has:

1\. A discount site with discounts on everything from electronics to cars.

2\. A gym at the office with instructor-led courses.

3\. Payment for classes at an accredited university.

4\. A company owned bank that allows you to buy a house with a lower down
payment (this is a cool perk for young employees).

------
LiamPa
Consulting, points! Annoyingly we are limited to using company Amex but can
still collect hotel points / air miles which when you are travelling first
class can soon add up. Many of my colleagues have there holidays paid for with
a few on Marriot platinum.

------
rajacombinator
Not a very unusual one but a lot of employers are willing to pay for classes
if they’re directly relevant to one’s job.

More unusual: worked at a place that bought a guy a motorcycle once, just
because. (No clue how he swung that.) Same place claimed to be willing to
directly underwrite employee mortgages at below market rates, although not
sure if they ever did. (Maybe founders only perk.)

I’ve always thought it would be fun for someone else to pay for me to travel
internationally for work or to meaningless conferences at hotspots like Vegas.
(The kind that hire headline bands just to play the conference.) But as a
lowly entrepreneur/engineer this does not appear to be in the cards.

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mvelie
Working at a theme park doing technology work, it allows for free access to
the theme park (significant other included) and other theme parks in the area.
Deep discounts are provided on merchandise and hotels in the area.

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laurieg
In Japan it's not unheard of for a company to help you find a wife by hiring
cute young office staff, arranging drinks parties etc.

It's definitely unusual...

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BenjiWiebe
Free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Walmart #2428)

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Torgo
Early in my career I used to work in the public sector, one place I worked
everyone's salary was public information. But discovered that several checks
were printed every month for the executives "refunding" expenses like
"transportation costs" and various other things, substantially boosting their
pay, which was not reported as part of their official salary.

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dsfyu404ed
My employer happens to have an office that's ~25mi outside their main HQ in
the city. They love it because the cost per body of this office space is much
lower and those of us who can take advantage of it love it because it reduces
our commute times.

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nojvek
Work from Vacation part time so you can have longer paid time off.

I really enjoy that perk, I work at night and then chill around during the day
at different cities.

