Creative Perks Instead Of Money

There are often relatively little things a company can do to reward people instead of more money. It can save a company money and increase loyalty. Examples:

Better parking spot
Window office
Bigger cubicle
- But note that window office/bigger cubicle as a reward leads to OfficeSpacePolitics?, and can make ExtremeProgramming project rooms difficult to implement.
- I think as long as the other members know the reason behind the size. Perhaps somebody else wants money instead, so it won't bother them knowing they had a choice. In other words, in a flexible perk world, your office size may actually be inversely proportional to your wages.
Flexible hours
Naps
Yoga
Free coffee and [diet] soda/pop/whatever-your-region-calls-it
4-way desktop CPU
- If a bigger computer is used as a perk, the employer isn't thinking clearly. Desktop investments (more powerful computers and bigger screens) are cheap routes to more productivity, and the morale benefits are just a side effect.
Allow opinions to be voiced more freely (debate lunches?)
- Should be TableStakes? for any organization with a good CorporateCulture?!
Occasional Experimental or "fun" projects
Toss really bad bosses and CowOrkers?
No-layoffs policy
- Not realistic these days. A shrinking company is a shrinking company.
- An alternative is to shrink everyone's hours equally. "Furloughs" in gov't speak.
BubbleHockeyGame? or FoosballGame?

Companies don't seem to want to negotiate such things. It seems it's easier for them to use money instead, at least from a psychological or social standpoint. Sometimes, specific small things will make a person much happier with a company. Taking advantage of that is a potential bargain being ignored. Not everybody loves money above all else. We spend most of our waking life at work, so making it more satisfying can be more valuable than money.

Please note that to money-grubbing consultants (me) these "perks" are completely meaningless. This is one of the joys - and curses - of being a contractor. One has no long term commitment nor investment in the client's firm, so all these niceties are just fluff. And as for bad bosses, well, that just comes with the territory.

Don't forget TheConsultantsMantra.

Nobody is suggesting this is for everybody. The main point is that a company can save money spent on "regular" workers by using creative perks. Maybe if you give an employee a premium parking spot or allow him/her to take naps, you can pay him/her diddly squat in wages because they get something at your company that they likely cannot ever get elsewhere.

(Well, money is easier to quantify - that's what it's for. If it can't be quantified it can't be important.)

My previous employer put my work area in a converted warehouse with limited parking, and used parking close to the building as one of its CreativePerksInsteadOfMoney. I wound up with a ten minute commute, and a twenty minute walk from my car to my desk, in the middle of the SnowBelt?. -- SusanDavis

We started out with several of these perks: flexible hours, naps are an option, free drinks (soda, water, coffee), personal education opportunities. However, the cubicles could be getting smaller to accommodate more employees in our limited space. It's possible I'll get an office with a window in another building instead as a part of my promotion. -- WillGray

"I wound up with a ten minute commute, and a twenty minute walk from my car to my desk...", "the cubicles could be getting smaller to accommodate more employees in our limited space..."

These are indications that the employer is treating his people (the most important resource any firm has) like crap. Why worry about getting the perks (the kind of treatment any decent employer would offer) as opposed to finding a better gig? Remember, it's always easier to find something when you have something, so start looking now.

I work in research for a university medical center (specifically, the cancer center). Space is limited in all research buildings and they're always building something new. We need people and there's not much else we can do. In two years, they'll have new space for our department and all its branches. I'm not sure how the cubicle situation will be then, but I should at least get a shared office. -- WillGray

I wound up with a ten minute commute, and a twenty minute walk from my car to my desk...

Back when Zenith was still manufacturing a few things in Chicagoland I had a gig at their Melrose Park (think it was) facility. The huge building was mainly empty; the only part still being occupied was at the far west end. The parking lot was on the east side of the building.

I got tired of the loooong walk from the east entrance door (the only one open for "security" reasons) to the development lab, which was actually connected to the far west exterior wall. So, I started using my skateboard to go from my car to the front door security station (the raised eyebrows were a treat) and then on to my work station. I turned a 15 minute walk into a three minute ride. Heh.

And gained 20 pounds?

CategoryEmployment