Company perks

[big_slacker]

Today I went to eat lunch with my brother, who works for a very successful dot com-ish type of biz. They get, I shit you not):

FREE FOOD. Like a stocked cafeteria with fruit, protein bars/drinks, jerky, as well as less healthy stuff (not gonna lie, I drank a monster energy drink)
Massages once a week
Laundry service
Personal trainers and gym equipment (like serious, if you see a trap bar you know it's legit)
Haircuts
Free clothing (mostly t-shirts and hoodies)
Catered lunches once or twice a week

As well as the typical corporate 401k, stock options and so on.

Not that I expect everyone get this kind of thing, but the wheels were turning in my head. If you worked at such a place you could pretty much eliminate lunch costs from your budget on weekdays. Gym, gone. Haircuts, gone, etc. Wonder what the total financial impact would be? I wonder if anyone has every gone 'extreme' in using these perks?

FWIW other companies in the area offer some outrageous perks. Like $800/yr for fitness (meant for gym membership but my buddy bought a mountain bike), discounts around town, their own bus system, etc.

Anyone have any stories about using similar?

[randymarsh]

These benefits are to keep employees at the office for more than 40 hours a week. They want their campuses/offices to resemble a tiny city, which makes it much more likely you'll stay late or show up early. The financial aspect is of course positive, but you're also putting in a lot of overtime.

Not saying there's anything wrong with that. I don't have anywhere close to those types of perks, but I do get like 8 weeks off a year and I'm out the door by 4PM 99% of the time.

[Insanity]

The dot com-ish companies are the ones competing for mostly the best talent.  They need differentiators.  They also do put in a crap ton if hours and need to make life easy for their employees.   

That said, I have always said I would do something similar if I owned a regular business.  I want loyalty out of my employees, and the best way to do that is to make life easy and provide necessities - work/life balance, free health care, quality food while they are on site, day care, etc.  I don't care the cost, I care about the talent and the mental health.

[minority_finance_mo]

Thinking as an employee of a company that provided some perk, I definitely consider the lifestyle cost of losing these perks when moving to a new company. I get $500/month in healthcare premiums and insurance from the company, for example, and consider it part of my comp package. A new company would have to beat my salary + healthcare + 4500 401K match + fringe benefits + a comfort/risk premium to get me to switch over for a similar position.

[Insanity]

Thinking as an employee of a company that provided some perk, I definitely consider the lifestyle cost of losing these perks when moving to a new company. I get $500/month in healthcare premiums and insurance from the company, for example, and consider it part of my comp package. A new company would have to beat my salary + healthcare + 4500 401K match + fringe benefits + a comfort/risk premium to get me to switch over for a similar position.

Exactly!

[Arktinkerer]

You miss another big part of these benefits--one that the IRS is homing in on.  When the company pays, it is an expense and deductible.  For the worker, it is tax free. 

The IRS was starting to look at the free cafeterias at some places on the west coast and proposals were floating to make such benefits considered taxable income.

[Davids]

You miss another big part of these benefits--one that the IRS is homing in on.  When the company pays, it is an expense and deductible.  For the worker, it is tax free. 

The IRS was starting to look at the free cafeterias at some places on the west coast and proposals were floating to make such benefits considered taxable income.

I can't see that ever happening. What's next, when someone has a birthday at work do i pay tax on the slice of cake i eat?

[Eric]

You miss another big part of these benefits--one that the IRS is homing in on.  When the company pays, it is an expense and deductible.  For the worker, it is tax free. 

The IRS was starting to look at the free cafeterias at some places on the west coast and proposals were floating to make such benefits considered taxable income.

I can't see that ever happening. What's next, when someone has a birthday at work do i pay tax on the slice of cake i eat?

How big of piece are we talking here?

[ivyhedge]

Perks such as those (and the monetary ones you casually referenced) can be wonderful as long as one balances intake with output. We enjoy them, but are senior enough to know what they mean and why they are offered...

[StockBeard]

I wonder if anyone has every gone 'extreme' in using these perks?

Yup, there's this pretty well known story of google employees living on the google campus:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29146961
http://www.quora.com/Which-Googler-holds-the-record-for-living-at-Google-HQ

quote:

1. Ben Discoe, Google

• UI programmer.

2. October 2011-November 2012 (13 months).
3. Main reasons: I had a house payment (on my farm in Hawaii) and alimony to pay. No money left for South Bay rental prices.  I got a 1990 GMC Vandura custom conversion van for $1800 (blue velour, wood paneling, previously tricked out by a burner) and that (roughly speaking) was my entire rent for the 13 months.

[abhe8]

Many hospitals have free food for the doctors. I have a friend who aye three meals a day, snacks and drinks for the entire work week. He also worked some weekends, so his food costs were basically $0. Of course there is the whole he worked all the time, but still a perk, not limited to dot com s.

[NoraLenderbee]

The company I work for (Silicon Valley, young company but not a startup any more) provides snacks and drinks. But the best perk for me is the free catered lunch every day. The food comes from a local restaurant and catering service. It's real food--meat, chicken, vegetables, rice, potatoes, salad-- and it's good. Besides saving $, the best part for me is being able to choose what I want and exactly the portions I want. It's not fast food or sandwiches, it's not heavily based on carbs, and I never have to agonize about spending full price when I only want a little of something.  I've actually lost weight working here.

No gym, unfortunately, and no 401k match.

[forummm]

We have basically no perks. If you do a really good job, you get rewarded with more work.

[Zamboni]

Here are some of the perks I've enjoyed at various companies (besides the more normal healthcare benefit and retirement plan with match):

old employer:
yoga & fitness classes and gym with showers on site
up to $30 per month to belong to external gym
subsidized cafeteria for lunch
chair massages twice per week (this got killed eventually, alas)
health screens (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.)
up to $200 per year for filling out an exercise log, plus other "prizes" along the way
wellness workshops every month with topics varying from learning to cook to a local museum rep bringing live examples of venomous and harmless local snakes and spiders for us to examine
fitness consultant offering various services (body composition measurement, etc.)

current employer:
yoga & fitness classes
very nice on site gym with lap pool and running/walking trails
free coffee/tea/hot chocolate fancypants drinks (espresso, etc) all day long
free cookies twice per day
free bus pass
free lunch about twice per week
option to live on site for "free" (some very minor off-hours tasks involved; apts are decent for a single person. I will probably do this when my children are grown; for now it's not a good fit.)
nutrition/health/fitness consultants offering private appointments
free pass to local museum
I'm sure there are more; I should look into this . . .

Between these two jobs I worked somewhere with none of these perks.  It was a drag.
Ironically, at my current place I have to pay $45 per month to park, which is crazy.  You are right, I should move closer to work and walk, bike, take the bus. Trust me, that plan is in the works.

[choppingwood]

I've had quite a few jobs (including self-employment) which involved lots of travel to major cities in North America and Europe. Lots of meals at quality restaurants paid for. During my last contract, however, there was little travel, but each year had a stay at a first-class resort in the Canadian Rockies. The note on the hotel computer said "All incidentals paid for by employer." Even the hotel staff would gulp when they saw that. Its an interesting question -- what would you buy if it cost you nothing?

[nobodyspecial]

>Zamboni

Wow ... I shouldn't have become an engineer.
Here they introduced $100/month parking.

[Zamboni]

I would understand the parking fee if I lived in Boston or SF or NYC.  I hope you are in one of those places for $100/month.

But I don't live in any of those places.  I live in a medium sized city where I can go downtown and park for free on the street within a block or two of my desired location any time of the day or night. There is no parking shortage at all, and I never to pay to park anywhere else but the big arena on the other side of town on hockey nights, but yet we have these gated lots at work for no apparent reason and we have to pay for a little card to get the gate to open. It's not even a fancy covered parking garage, it's just a big square of hot, shadeless black pavement that barely even has visible paint lines marking the spots. For awhile people were just driving around the gate through grass, so they blocked that route with big boulders. I guess they are trying to keep the riff raff away from our free cookies?

[tyir]

You miss another big part of these benefits--one that the IRS is homing in on.  When the company pays, it is an expense and deductible.  For the worker, it is tax free. 

The IRS was starting to look at the free cafeterias at some places on the west coast and proposals were floating to make such benefits considered taxable income.

This happens in some countries.
I work at a very large silicon valley company outside of the head office, in Canada. Lunches are provides, however it is considered a taxable benefit, so the company also has to pay the Canadian governments the tax we would owe for that benefit.

 

[big_slacker]

I wonder if anyone has every gone 'extreme' in using these perks?

Yup, there's this pretty well known story of google employees living on the google campus:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29146961
http://www.quora.com/Which-Googler-holds-the-record-for-living-at-Google-HQ

quote:

1. Ben Discoe, Google

• UI programmer.

2. October 2011-November 2012 (13 months).
3. Main reasons: I had a house payment (on my farm in Hawaii) and alimony to pay. No money left for South Bay rental prices.  I got a 1990 GMC Vandura custom conversion van for $1800 (blue velour, wood paneling, previously tricked out by a burner) and that (roughly speaking) was my entire rent for the 13 months.

That guy is awesome, haha!

I should mention that during my about 25% travel at my current gig everything goes on the company card. I do actual expenses and enjoy just having my portion of the food taken out of the budget, enjoy some good meals, etc. There are guys that do 70%+ travel. They'll have a studio apt back home but they're mostly on the road. They do per-diem, stay in low cost motels and eat the motel breakfast and PB&J for weeks on end. They bank serious $$, it's actually a cool nomadic lifestyle for a young guy. And possible to RE with a boatload of cash, million mile status on the airline they used and an ungodly amount of airline miles, car rental and hotel banked as well to kick things off.

[patrickza]

I wonder if anyone has every gone 'extreme' in using these perks?

Yup, there's this pretty well known story of google employees living on the google campus:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29146961
http://www.quora.com/Which-Googler-holds-the-record-for-living-at-Google-HQ

quote:

1. Ben Discoe, Google

• UI programmer.

2. October 2011-November 2012 (13 months).
3. Main reasons: I had a house payment (on my farm in Hawaii) and alimony to pay. No money left for South Bay rental prices.  I got a 1990 GMC Vandura custom conversion van for $1800 (blue velour, wood paneling, previously tricked out by a burner) and that (roughly speaking) was my entire rent for the 13 months.

I would so do that too if I could.

My perks, um well I get to go to all sorts of dodgy african countries free of charge...

[Chris22]

I should mention that during my about 25% travel at my current gig everything goes on the company card. I do actual expenses and enjoy just having my portion of the food taken out of the budget, enjoy some good meals, etc. There are guys that do 70%+ travel. They'll have a studio apt back home but they're mostly on the road. They do per-diem, stay in low cost motels and eat the motel breakfast and PB&J for weeks on end. They bank serious $$, it's actually a cool nomadic lifestyle for a young guy. And possible to RE with a boatload of cash, million mile status on the airline they used and an ungodly amount of airline miles, car rental and hotel banked as well to kick things off.

We hire field engineers that are 90-100% travel for the first 3-5 years of their careers.  Same deal, basically they don't own anything that doesn't fit in a suitcase or in their childhood bedrooms at their parents' houses.  They come off the road and they (should) have tons of money socked away.  They earn every penny though, that's a shitty lifestyle. 

[RoadLessTravelled]

Reminds me of the old vaudeville saying, no applause please, just throw money.

When I was a member of the working class (that's what you are until you become a member of the leisure class), I made a sale that was the largest single sale in the history of the company till that time.  I'm talking a multi-million sale.

My employer provided very good perks and was very relaxed about expense accounts.  They also paid very competitive salaries.  When I made that sale, the company President and his wife took me and my girlfriend out for dinner.  I got a pat on the back and was assured my annual raise would be at the top of the scale used.

Then I got to thinking.  The company made a lot of money and I got peanuts.  So I told the President I did not want to be an employee of the company any longer.  I wanted to be an independent contractor and paid a commission on every sale I made.  What I had realized was that I didn't need perks or pats on the back, what I wanted was no applause please, just throw money.

Gone were the perks, the company car, the pension plan, etc. etc.  Instead as a self-employed person, I paid for all of those myself.  I also decided for myself how much to spend on a hotel room or a meal etc.  In my first year doing that, I doubled my income and more than doubled my savings rate.  As the saying goes, no one ever got rich working for someone else. 

[Arktinkerer]

You miss another big part of these benefits--one that the IRS is homing in on.  When the company pays, it is an expense and deductible.  For the worker, it is tax free. 

The IRS was starting to look at the free cafeterias at some places on the west coast and proposals were floating to make such benefits considered taxable income.

I can't see that ever happening. What's next, when someone has a birthday at work do i pay tax on the slice of cake i eat?

How big of piece are we talking here?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/09/04/no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch-irs-mulls-tax-on-employee-meals/

[ivyhedge]

I would understand the parking fee if I lived in Boston or SF or NYC.  I hope you are in one of those places for $100/month.

Those commuting to this Beantown tower, and parking beneath it, are rewarded by $48/day, or $44 if they arrive prior 0900hrs.

[Zamboni]

Ah, when I worked in Beantown, the company gave us our choice of either a parking space in the building garage or a free monthly T pass of our choice (different levels of pass get you different distances from the city; apparently you can get a pass that gets you all the way to RI).  Not wanting to deal with traffic, I choose a commuter rail pass that would get me to and from my apt in Norwood.

[2Birds1Stone]

I work at a company that provides a lot of these benefits as well.

Another one to add to the list is entertainment. We go to team happy hours, bowling, volleyball, darts/beers, etc for "team building" purposes.

So much fun, it actually makes working bearable. For now.

[smalllife]

I get some perks, but not the ones I would like. 

They contribute x to my health premiums, but I'd rather have x and buy on the exchange (allowing me access to an HSA - our network is crap so I wouldn't be losing anything).

Paid parking, but I bike and would rather have the transit benefit to buy some bike gear.  Two months of that would allow me to get some trusty rain gear (no shower).

Food every now and again, but I'd rather get more PTO.

Match, but not vested in a reasonable amount of time (would take 6 years, up from 5 when I started - and no I don't get to keep the year I lost)

"work life balance", but I'd prefer work life balance ;-)

To be fair, the casual dress code and pay will have to be topped.

[Redstone5]

We do get a really nice employee thank you party every year with a chocolate fountain, and every five years you get honoured with a gift at the party for your service. Last year I got movie tickets and a co-worker got a jacket. We get Christmas week off paid in addition to regular vacation leave, our pension has a guaranteed payout and is vested after 2 years. We also get 3 weeks paid vacation to start, 4 after five years, and 5 after 10 years of employment, and a really nice health and dental plan too. And we have fully catered holiday season events that are free to staff, and a fun children's party with Santa.

All in all, I feel well compensated, except where it actually counts, on my paycheque. Because our pension contributions keep going up, I'm bringing home only $7 more a paycheque than I was five years ago. And that's correct. 7 dollars. We did get a 1% pay increase last year, but the cost of living is so much higher so it just felt insulting that it was just 1%. But I feel bad complaining about making $22/hr when so many people are worse off. I thought about going back to school to learn a trade or take up accounting again, but I already make more now than I would at the start of a new career, and I'm 37 with three kids so I don't feel like I can waste the time taking a step back like that, plus taking on more debt.

[sugarsnap]

Free coffee, that's about it. I also get some leftover promotional items occasionally. Yay.

[kasey21]

I get fully paid for accomodation, but I live in the middle of nowhere, where my employer owns the only housing, so otherwise we would have some major problems.

[darkadams00]

Great healthcare, dental, vision insurance
Reasonable annual bonus/401k contributions
On-site family healthcare center
On-site pharmacy
Recently renovated gym/fitness center
Racquetball, basketball, tennis courts
Disc golf course
Year-round intramural sports/fitness incentives and programs
Indoor pool/hot tub
On-site massages and haircuts
Subsidized on-site daycare
Subsidized cafeterias (4)
Coffee shops (3)
Free snacks, soft drinks, coffee
"Unlimited" sick days (be professional and honest)
More vacation days than I typically use
Showers/locker rooms in most buildings
Interior bike storage or covered exterior bike storage
"Community" planner (works with other companies to provide nice discounts)
On-site car washing/detailing
Dry cleaning drop-off/pick-up

Yeah, I would have to see a lot of extra income to look at another employment offer.

[nobodyspecial]

I get fully paid for accomodation, but I live in the middle of nowhere, where my employer owns the only housing.

And it's ocean front property. Now if it wasn't for the planes constantly taking of just above your head, and the seasickness it would be great?

[iamlittlehedgehog]

Great healthcare, dental, vision insurance
Reasonable annual bonus/401k contributions
On-site family healthcare center
On-site pharmacy
Recently renovated gym/fitness center
Racquetball, basketball, tennis courts
Disc golf course
Year-round intramural sports/fitness incentives and programs
Indoor pool/hot tub
On-site massages and haircuts
Subsidized on-site daycare
Subsidized cafeterias (4)
Coffee shops (3)
Free snacks, soft drinks, coffee
"Unlimited" sick days (be professional and honest)
More vacation days than I typically use
Showers/locker rooms in most buildings
Interior bike storage or covered exterior bike storage
"Community" planner (works with other companies to provide nice discounts)
On-site car washing/detailing
Dry cleaning drop-off/pick-up

Yeah, I would have to see a lot of extra income to look at another employment offer.

That is impressive!
I'm pretty jealous of some of these perks I'm seeing! My company has all of 5 people - 3 of which are contractors.  I get free parking (I provide reception services so it really isn't free) and free coffee (office keruig). But being the only manager of a small company means I can get away making my own schedule, not really having any higher ups other than the owner and my own office. Yay?

[Erica/NWEdible]

My DH interviewed recently with a company that installed a mini-golf course in the office.

[BlueHouse]

I once worked for a company that provided free lunch (chinese, cheesecake factory, etc) during crunch times.  Clearly intended to make it so we stayed in and didn't waste time.  If you had errands to run or other plans, you didn't order lunch.  One guy ordered lunch every day, then went to the gym for his "lunch hour".  This didn't sit well with the rest of the team, so he was fired a few months later. 

[Helvegen]

- Cheap HDHP w/HSA. A very low high deductible plan.
- Good dental with high yearly max.
- $750 company contribution to HSA + up to $1500 in additional incentives.
- DCFSA available
- 2% of salary deposited to 401k with no vesting on top of the 50% to 6% employer contribution (subject to 3 year vesting). Next year, it will be 4% of salary (no vesting).
-401k options are very good, with many low cost institutional class Vanguard funds to choose from.
-Decent amount of PTO, but odd holiday schedule. We don't get Christmas Eve off, but two business days surrounding July 4th?
- Subsidized cafeteria
- Free freshly ground coffee
- In-house gym and free yoga classes
- Locker room w/showers
- Indoor bike storage area
- Lactation room
- Flex time and telecommuting options available for many positions (not mine, but it is generally speaking there)
- My husband and I work at the same place with the same hours, so we carpool to work.
- Option to enroll in carpool/public transport incentive program. I got $175 in gas gift cards and my husband got $25 public transit gift pass and won a $25 cash card so far.
- Electric car charging station
- Random gifts. Gotten nice throw blanket, kitchen scale, yoga mat, portable phone charger, umbrella, high quality backpack, high quality rain jacket, etc
- Employee discounts on places I never go and for things I don't want to buy even with a discount, but that's there.

[Zamboni]

We have an odd holiday schedule, too.  Like work on Memorial day and Labor day.  But then we get MLK day off, but not President's Day. Weird, I tell you. The highway on Labor day is empty for the morning commute like some post-apocalyptic movie scene.

oooh darkadams, that sounds pretty posh!

The "unlimited" sick days one is kind of a double edged sword.  You don't accumulate sick time at such places even if you never miss a day for years, and then if you have a bad year when you really are sick a lot, I assure you that they will hold it against you and consider it "absenteeism" unless you are able to get some of that certified as short or long term disability. I have been mostly blessed with good health, but I saw an employer with the "unlimited" policy hold using more than just a couple of sick days a year against a couple of coworkers. In one case a person was going to get chemo (co-worker had gone on disability but then came back between cycles despite no hair and nausea because work was like family to this person and this was an uber loyal worker giving their all). In another case a new mom had a premature infant and she ran out of leave and started to use random sick days to be with her baby. It was sad to watch how they got treated. Eventually the uber-loyal one got "laid off" and the other ran off. Even though we had a lot of other perks, it was easy to leave that place behind after that. I think the company ended up losing about a dozen people who gradually found new jobs and left after the incident where they laid off the 20+ year vet during chemo (it was a layoff of N=1 in a mid-sized company, so not really a layoff.)

[music lover]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay. I'd prefer to have the equivalent value of most of those perks on my pay cheque instead and do all those things myself for less or for free. Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

That being said, benefits like matching contributions, decent vacation, sick time, or flex time are good to have.

[Helvegen]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay. I'd prefer to have the equivalent value of most of those perks on my pay cheque instead and do all those things myself for less or for free. Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

Maybe this belongs on the anti-mustachian wall of shame, but one of my co-workers recently started inviting a detail service to our parking lot. There was so much interest that they are now trying to come back once every 10 days to two weeks. I got one of the fliers for this and the most basic service was $60 and went all the way to $300! And people were climbing over each other to get their car in for detailing.

[Chris22]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay.

Some yes, some no.  The ones that are easily attributable to an individual, such as subsidized health care or 401k matching is part of your total comp.  Something like offering a free gym at work or dry cleaning service (that you usually pay for, you just don't have to make a separate trip) is super cheaper to spread across a lot of people.  If you work at a 3,000 person office, would you really rather have the extra $300 in your paycheck ONCE than what it might cost to build a nice gym onsite you could use for perpetuity?

Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

Sure, all the time.  I dryclean my work pants and shirts, and take my car through the automated wash at the gas station. 

[stlbrah]

When I worked for a startup the benefits were similar than that, but actually probably even better. Add free beer to that, huge referral payments, and the office was downtown by the bars, I was in early 20s at the time so I would stop in the office for a quick beer. But it did not make up for the imbalanced pay/hours-worked ratio.

I almost worked for a company that provided lunch every day completely catered. It was an investment bankers firm and they didn't have time to get food.

[Chris22]

I have 1-2-3 days a month I know I'll be working late.  On those days I go out and grab myself and anyone on my team who is around dinner on the company CC.  Just a sandwich, nothing extravagent, but the least the company can do for me those days is kick in some dinner.

[TRBeck]

If you work at a 3,000 person office, would you really rather have the extra $300 in your paycheck ONCE than what it might cost to build a nice gym onsite you could use for perpetuity?

Yes. I could outfit my garage as an at-home gym with the cash and use the at-home gym in perpetuity. I wouldn't really like to spend extra time at my workplace during leisure activities like lifting weights, and I wouldn't have to deal with waiting for the squat rack.

I know that's just one example and that you were making a broader point; just sayin'.

[stlbrah]

If you work at a 3,000 person office, would you really rather have the extra $300 in your paycheck ONCE than what it might cost to build a nice gym onsite you could use for perpetuity?

Yes. I could outfit my garage as an at-home gym with the cash and use the at-home gym in perpetuity. I wouldn't really like to spend extra time at my workplace during leisure activities like lifting weights, and I wouldn't have to deal with waiting for the squat rack.

I know that's just one example and that you were making a broader point; just sayin'.

Everywhere I have worked hasn't a squat rack or even a free barbell. Everything is smith machine. I assume its so idiots don't sue the company when  they fall backwards or choke themselves with the weight.

[music lover]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay.

Some yes, some no.  The ones that are easily attributable to an individual, such as subsidized health care or 401k matching is part of your total comp.  Something like offering a free gym at work or dry cleaning service (that you usually pay for, you just don't have to make a separate trip) is super cheaper to spread across a lot of people.  If you work at a 3,000 person office, would you really rather have the extra $300 in your paycheck ONCE than what it might cost to build a nice gym onsite you could use for perpetuity?

Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

Sure, all the time.  I dryclean my work pants and shirts, and take my car through the automated wash at the gas station.

I have a gym in my home and wash my car in the driveway. I also don't own any clothes that require dry cleaning.

In Canada, many perks end up on your T4 slip (statement of earnings) as a taxable benefit. Therefore, they are considered income and you pay tax on them. Even if they are not included as a benefit, they are a part of the company's bottom line, and are included in their calculation of employee costs along with salary and matching contributions. Employee A makes $50,000 but to the company that employee costs them $60,000 (for example).

For those who don't require the perks or can find them elsewhere for less money, they are simply subsidizing those who do use them.

[Chris22]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay.

Some yes, some no.  The ones that are easily attributable to an individual, such as subsidized health care or 401k matching is part of your total comp.  Something like offering a free gym at work or dry cleaning service (that you usually pay for, you just don't have to make a separate trip) is super cheaper to spread across a lot of people.  If you work at a 3,000 person office, would you really rather have the extra $300 in your paycheck ONCE than what it might cost to build a nice gym onsite you could use for perpetuity?

Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

Sure, all the time.  I dryclean my work pants and shirts, and take my car through the automated wash at the gas station.

I have a gym in my home and wash my car in the driveway. I also don't own any clothes that require dry cleaning.

In Canada, many perks end up on your T4 slip (statement of earnings) as a taxable benefit. Therefore, they are considered income and you pay tax on them. Even if they are not included as a benefit, they are a part of the company's bottom line, and are included in their calculation of employee costs along with salary and matching contributions. Employee A makes $50,000 but to the company that employee costs them $60,000 (for example).

For those who don't require the perks or can find them elsewhere for less money, they are simply subsidizing those who do use them.

Car washes here are nearly free.  Usually the cheapest wash is $5-6, and knocks $.20/gal off your fuel purchase price.  My sedan takes ~15 gal of gas, so my wash is $2-3. 

Dry cleaning is $1.25 a dress shirt and helps my shirts last much longer than if I were to wash them at home, PLUS I don't have to iron, they re-sew buttons, and can work miracles on lunch stains. 

[mandy_2002]

On top of some pretty standard perks, my large manufacturing company has several jets/planes.  Many of them are used for business travel between the hubs.  When they aren't full, you can fly stand-by for no charge.  If the plane is more than half full, that's the end of the story.  If it's less than half full, you get half the "recharge rate" added to your W-2.  I've used the planes a few times.  Very nice, and interestingly different than a commercial airline. 

[Dicey]

Reminds me of the old vaudeville saying, no applause please, just throw money.

When I was a member of the working class (that's what you are until you become a member of the leisure class), I made a sale that was the largest single sale in the history of the company till that time.  I'm talking a multi-million sale.

My employer provided very good perks and was very relaxed about expense accounts.  They also paid very competitive salaries.  When I made that sale, the company President and his wife took me and my girlfriend out for dinner.  I got a pat on the back and was assured my annual raise would be at the top of the scale used.

Then I got to thinking.  The company made a lot of money and I got peanuts.  So I told the President I did not want to be an employee of the company any longer.  I wanted to be an independent contractor and paid a commission on every sale I made.  What I had realized was that I didn't need perks or pats on the back, what I wanted was no applause please, just throw money.

Gone were the perks, the company car, the pension plan, etc. etc.  Instead as a self-employed person, I paid for all of those myself.  I also decided for myself how much to spend on a hotel room or a meal etc.  In my first year doing that, I doubled my income and more than doubled my savings rate.  As the saying goes, no one ever got rich working for someone else.

Awesome story! RLT, I hereby nominate you for the Mustachian Hall of Fame. Can I get a second, please?

[Indexer]

All those "perks" come at a price....they are part of your pay. I'd prefer to have the equivalent value of most of those perks on my pay cheque instead and do all those things myself for less or for free. Does anyone here pay someone to do their laundry or to wash their car?

That being said, benefits like matching contributions, decent vacation, sick time, or flex time are good to have.

+1   I would trade all the back massages, free meals, free 'nice' coffee, car washes, etc. for higher pay or a higher match into my 401k. 

25% match.  I would take that over everything else listed!

[c3044897]

The biggest perk at my current job is health insurance for me and my girlfriends (and future family).

We do have other small perks like free fruit at work, yoga (sometimes), free parking (once you're senior enough). We also receive bonus payments based on company and individual performance.

Actually the best perk is the flexibility - we can work from home whenever we like and no one would bat an eye lid. I do it about once a week.