What's been your best work perk?

[gildalily]

I was reminded on one of those fb nostalgia posts about Luncheon Vouchers. In my first job I got luncheon vouchers as a perk. I think it was about 50p a day. The idea was you put them towards buying your lunch and in those days (1989) lots of places accepted them in payment. It was a nice perk if the job at the time and I'd save mine up and go for a pizza once every couple of months. It seems like an ancient concept now.

I then moved to work at M&S head office where the perks were amazing and legendary - hairdresser; chiropodist; staff discount; medical area like a full-on hospital with nurse; discount; fed at all lunches and breaks (and after work if you wanted!) for £10 a month. I think I lucked out perk-wise there.

What have your best perks at work been? Official or unofficial

50% fees, free wrap around care, free 2 course lunch every day and free access to pool/gym etc. I can also have subsidised accommodation but choose not to live onsite

For a 6 months or so only - overnight contract prof reading big city firm. We had full use of managed apartment with fully stocked fridge. Could sleep/shower watch tv whatever but once a contract was ready we were called to work. Also driven home every morning by exec car. Somehow managed to juggle this with postgrad study. Was also extremely well paid !
Also got luncheon vouchers late 80s from publisher. Found huge bag of them many years later. Got so much each week didn’t ever use them all.

Flexible hours, great sick pay and

@sunflowersandbuttercups

and don't forget the 'as much dog poo as you can carry home' for the allotment.

It's what made me select that job...

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@sunflowersandbuttercups

and don't forget the 'as much dog poo as you can carry home' for the allotment.

It's what made me select that job...

[/quote]

I don't mind the poo so much in winter...in summer, however, the smell is quite something else.

I remember once I left a bag of poo in a jacket that I left in my car for several hours in August when I took some dogs to the beach. The stench when I got back...I had to air my car out - even the dogs didn't want to get back in

I still got lunch vouchers in Germany when I left in 2016 - €2 a day!
Probably relatively flexible hours (can start between 8 and 10 and finish correspondingly between 4 and 6)
Our benefits are generous though - life assurance, private healthcare, non contributory pension, income protection insurance. Option to buy holiday or pay extra to cover your family with the healthcare etc. We have always had wfh one day a week and went fully wfh the week before lockdown as they were quite proactive about it. We got an allowance to buy whatever equipment we needed for at home.

I worked for a household products company and didn’t buy soap powder or dish washing detergent for about 8 years. Latterly we also had a fridge stocked with (from a different part of the company) free ice creams and drinks. My kids loved visiting my work.
Both my husband and I travelled a lot back in the day so our mounted up points and frequent flyer cards got us plus children into business lounges all the way to Australia and back on one amazing trip.

Oh I forgot my annual bonus (8%) and raise of at least 2%

In my first job the PR companies used to send in all sorts of stuff - especially loved it when I could take books home. Local cafes and restaurants would send us food too, and we’d get into clubs free.

I had another job where there were a number of health professionals you could see for a subsidised rate - I used to see the chiropodist for £1 a foot!!

Also got cheap paint, wallpaper and bedding when working for a paint manufacturer. We were issued tickets annually which we took to the paint shop to exchange for paint.

Now I get ten weeks’ holiday and a flu jab - but it’s a rubbish job.

9-3 Mon-Fri and 13 weeks holiday!

Free photocopying and green pens

(in reality 8-5 at school and then shit loads of overtime at home)

These days? Nothing, we did have free parking but they got rid of that!
In the past, I've worked at places with subsidised canteens and one place had a tea lady that came round twice a day, with scones in the morning and samosas in the afternoon! I also worked for a year in a place that had free accommodation.
When I think back to the perks my parents had in their jobs, they really had it a lot better. Mum worked for a building society that had free coffee and tea, massively subsidised canteen, epic Christmas parties, sports and social club with squash, tennis, badminton, gym and swimming. The company also owned holiday rentals all over the country that staff could go stay in at ridiculously cheap rates - think £50 a week for a central London flat or a cottage in Cornwall or Scotland. They also had several flats and villas in Spain for staff to use. And that was on top of 2% mortgage rate (at a time when it was nearly 15% rate), BUPA cover for the whole family which continued after retirement, and great final salary pension.
Dad worked in sales and always had top of the range company cars, and petrol included for private use. Loads of business class travel, top hotels, great bonuses and lots of staff events in nice locations both in the UK and abroad. Health insurance and excellent expense accounts too.
These days so many companies seem to give very little to employees while expecting the world from them.

Free trial products, I think the school receptionist kept signing us up for deals, so we got hundreds of cereal bars to ‘try’.

The holidays are my biggest perk as a teacher.

One job (not teaching) was on Tottenham Court Road, so the perk was being in a great location and being able to see London sights, but only quickly at lunch, worked til 6 which killed me, having briefly left teaching to move areas!

A two week cruise of the Galapagos.... Free board and lodging for a horse...
Now I don’t get any of that but I do get school holidays off and a pension!

Huge hamper every Christmas at one company.

Another company - massive Christmas bonus if you hit target (half annual salary++ - no upper limit)

Annual conference with dinner dance with famous speaker - we had people like Frank Bruno, Gary Linaker and a free casino, always lovely food and it was a great chance to catch up with friends from other branches you only spoke to on the phone.

Box at Henley Regatta, in fact boxes all over the place. But my favourite, above the large box at a very well known football club, was the box at the well know racecourse - and as I lived nearest I was usually signed up to go and entertain the clients. One of our staff was very knowledgeable about racing (I think had worked in the industry) , so I used to go armed with a list of top tips, we'd lay money on them, and all the box went home considerably richer than when they arrived.

My paid job private health, flu jab etc.

My non exec board role - paid travel abroad to conferences in Kenya, Australia, Finland and Ireland.

My car! And business class flights on one occasion.

The holidays and we sometimes get ice cream in the summer

Oh and 3:30 finish on Fridays.

One role perk was business class flights and 5 star hotels around the world...but typically you were working 6 day weeks and 18 hour days when travelling. On the upside your days off were spent exploring places like Hong Kong, Shanghai or Bangkok.

Current role lots of free food, snacks like crisps, biscuits and chocolate. Lockdown weight has been an issue!

6 months full pay maternity leave!!

Smoozing by reps, a weekend away to the races, tickets to concerts, VIP football tickets, free work wear, research visits abroad (for DH). It was good but we both were working far too much, and DH in a physical job.

I swapped it all for 13 week's holiday and left over fruit on a Friday .

Old job- attending international conferences, I used to tag on extra days and explore the city/area. Plus loads of flexibility

Current job- flexibility, I can usual manage to pop to sports day and school assemblies. I go above and beyond for them and they repay me with flexibility. It just works :)

Can you all say which industry your in?

I’d love to know as these sound amazing!

I get free food, free overnights, discount family travel, flexitime, free/discounted home wear, dry cleaning, pensions, great team. I work for a hotel chain. It’s the best employer I’ve ever had.

Current work gives us money back on health related claims and allows us to add partner and children to cover. It’s a good system.

The main office has free tea coffee milk etc but I’m rarely there even outside of COVID restrictions.

Previous work had a 50% claim back on concerts theatre etc a couple of time a year through sports and social club you paid in for. Plus money back on spa days or treatments.

I do a pretty basic job for a smallish business and they value their employees, so these aren’t typical perks for my of job but the product of a good boss. The pay is far higher than other companies pay for this kind of job. My boss only wanted 50% capacity during parts of lockdown to try to keep everybody safe, so they changed our hours to part time but kept us on full time pay. My usual child/school arrangements were slightly changed during that time so they allowed me to come in late but still leave at the same time instead of being stressed and trying to sort it all out. We have mechanics on site who will often take a look at our cars if we have issues and sort out anything fairly simple. I have dental/medical insurance and a non-contributory pension. The biggest one is probably regular bonuses. Opened my payslip this month to find a surprise bonus. Much higher one at Christmas.