Perks/freebies at work (not stolen/liberated items!)

[NellesVilla]

Hi,

This is a slight TAT. When trying to be positive, I thought about the good things about current and previous jobs, not just the rubbish pisstakey things workplaces do like:

• Expecting me to use my own car and have me pay for my own business insurance/low mileage reimbursement etc
• uniforms the employee must pay for
• no free tea/coffee
• shit pay job but have to pay for parking as no car park/just for management etc.
• As a TA, no paid breaks.
• No card, nothing, when leaving a job. Just charming.
• As a tutor, clients often cancelled last minute without paying me. Having to watch my blood pressure reading that back!

The one that still fucks me off a decade later is when working as a nanny, how tight some families were. Think, demanding I take the kids to the cinema to see a film I’d never choose to see, yet expecting me to pay the petrol, parking and my own ticket. If I dared to use their money for the parking or my ticket, they would get funny. Oh, and I often had to purchase food for the kids inside as no more cash. If anyone wants to know how to NOT treat a nanny, let me know!!

Anyway, the perks (little things) that I rather enjoy/have enjoyed have been:

• Free meals on duty and unlimited free tea, coffee and biscuits (why not!)
• Decent daily budget as a premium nanny (virtually unlimited if the trips were ‘educational-ish’). And not expected to pay entry for myself.
• In previous care type jobs, although no scheduled breaks, in quiet times it was lovely to just sit and watch a film with the client and take the weight off your feet for an hour or two. Bliss.
• Bonuses- big or small at Xmas and leaving card and gift- again, big or small- when leaving. One family at a tutoring job made me homemade cards when leaving- that was v sweet!
• Use of printer at work (I was permitted to do so, promise!)- really kind and helpful when I couldn’t afford a computer and printer at the time.
• Use of a house for 3+ months. Possibly outing, but a lovely employer let me use her house for a while when she went travelling. V kind of her.

@FawnFrenchieMum

Some days it’s red all over

Used to work at a theme park - free entry whenever I wanted, and a handful of free friends & family tickets per year.

My job now: a Costa order or two a week if we want, VERY occasional all-expenses weekends abroad, regular meals out, plus a Christmas gift and a bigger gift for things like babies, weddings etc. Usually breakfast on Fridays if you're in the office. Flowers or similar-sized gift when you've done especially well on something. It's a good place to be.

I'm a nanny. Terrible pay but I get paid to have days out in the sunshine which is nice! My current family are really decent about covering all the overheads.

[quote Marmite27]@FawnFrenchieMum

Some days it’s red all over [/quote]
Hahaha yes been both red & black in the past days

@housemaus

Used to work at a theme park - free entry whenever I wanted, and a handful of free friends & family tickets per year.

My job now: a Costa order or two a week if we want, VERY occasional all-expenses weekends abroad, regular meals out, plus a Christmas gift and a bigger gift for things like babies, weddings etc. Usually breakfast on Fridays if you're in the office. Flowers or similar-sized gift when you've done especially well on something. It's a good place to be.

Do you have to pay tax on these perks?

I'm a teaching assistant, and sometimes I love sitting in a lesson and learning. Massive perk of the job, free education 👏

I work in school admin - I sign my daughter up for the sports activities that she will like before I tell everyone they exist so I know she’ll get a place…!

@ThinWomansBrain- free theatre tickets AND watching plays would be one of my ideal jobs 😊

Free lunch every day, and breakfast once a week. I could have three courses for lunch if I wanted to.
Free tea and coffee
I can sign out whenever I'm not teaching. It means I can get some fresh air, pop out for a coffee, post letters etc.
Work generally supportive - I've had long covid, and they've been so helpful with making my life as easy as possible. People happily cover each other for school plays, doctor appts, sick children etc.

I work harder than I've ever worked, but I love it.

I do a basic admin type job in a private company and seem to have quite a few perks. The job itself is fairly well paid for what it is as the company are keen to retain good staff. We have free coffee/tea/squash. I have medical and dental insurance which covers my entire family. A decentish pension. Breakfast one morning a week if I want it (I usually don't). Free parking onsite (never thought of this as a perk tbh). Can freely use the computers/internet/printer for personal stuff. Anything I think would be useful to me at work (obviously within reason) I can request and will more than likely be granted. I get monthly bonuses if the company is doing well, which it almost always is. I'm not in a role which can increase profit but my boss likes to reward all of us. I get minor fixes on my car for free - sorting out tyres/replacing windscreen wipers/topping up oil etc. Wouldn't be able to do major repairs but will attempt to figure out what problems might be so that I have some idea of what a garage should be telling me to make sure I'm not ripped off. Very generous at retirement. Nice Christmas party and meal (not during covid though). And generally a nice, generous boss who is understanding and tries to do his best for his staff. I was allowed to change my hours even though it's quite a traditional company with traditional hours and can't be done from home. They managed to make it so that I can work slightly modified hours so that my husband and I can both work without needing to pay for childcare. I think they are a great employer tbh. And my lunch break is an hour long and paid.

What exactly are enhanced sick pay and enhanced pension? I am paid the same whether I'm off sick or not. No idea whether this is in my contract though - I imagine that might have to change if I was ill long term. And my pension doesn't require contributions from me, my employer covers it. I forgot to mention the biggest one - my boss brings lots of lovely treats back when he's been on holiday and buys me my own fancy advent calendar every year

I used to work for a Merlin-owned theme park. A substantial Lego discount and 20 tickets for Merlin attractions per year.

I now work for a railway company. I get a mixture of free and discounted rail travel all over Europe.

@Sitdownnext

Public sector - enhanced maternity, enhanced sick, enhanced pensions, enhanced annual leave - do these really not mean anything? Lots of employees don't get these benefits

If public sector get that in England where do I sign up? Nothing enhanced in Canada where I live. As I said below, my experience going from private to public was a reduction in those benefits and much stricter administration. It is the public purse. Also, no special deals for fitness membership or anything as they would be frowned upon by the public. We also had our salaries published every year, which included all benefit costs.

There are good and bad to wherever you work. You have to decide what it important to you.

@Princetopple

What exactly are enhanced sick pay and enhanced pension? I am paid the same whether I'm off sick or not. No idea whether this is in my contract though - I imagine that might have to change if I was ill long term. And my pension doesn't require contributions from me, my employer covers it. I forgot to mention the biggest one - my boss brings lots of lovely treats back when he's been on holiday and buys me my own fancy advent calendar every year

What exactly are enhanced sick pay and enhanced pension? Anything more than the statutory minimum. For sick pay - no money for first 3 days of illness then it's £99.35 a week - try living on that! Pensions - minimum total contribution is total 8%, if the employer makes the minimum a 3% contribution - employee must pay 5%.

• very good private healthcare and dental care
• employee assistance programme with free legal advise, counselling etc
• Espresso machines and decent bean to cup coffee machines (which also make a very good hot chocolate)
• free breakfast, free fruit, free chocolate and subsidised lunches
• free on site gym with personal trainer, yoga and HIIT classes
• hampers at Christmas and Easter
• Christmas presents for all employee’s children
• Family Christmas party and summer fun day
• Lovely conferences and generous business travel policy and expenses allowances

Can’t even pack away one minute before the end of work, HR will bollock you.. now no one starts early.. we all do our 7am to 4pm shift and not a second more. Fuck HR

@BathshebaKnickerStickers

I work in school admin - I sign my daughter up for the sports activities that she will like before I tell everyone they exist so I know she’ll get a place…!

That is really shocking Not a perk- a total pisstake.

Isn't it funny how so very few people mention enhanced annual holidays, enhanced sick pay, enhanced maternity pay and enhanced pension contributions - these are the big-ticket items the things that cost the employer loads and have the greatest benefit to the employees.
But it all come down to free coffee and tea

Your partner might work all of the hours god sends to earn a six-figure salary, but it's still the little things that truly make you appreciate them.

As a police officer I loved the response driver training I received. Really top notch coaching and skills you can't really legally develop on a paid for course.

I worked for a charity that was a clearing house for food donations for other charities (like shelters and soup kitchens). We weren't allowed to put anything with alcohol out for distribution. So when a local artisan chocolate company donated it's seconds to us they put all the ones that had alcohol in in a seperate box and donated them for staff and volunteers to eat.

I also had to travel a fair amount in one job and really enjoyed it - could extend my stay if I took vacation and sorted my own accomodation for the extra nights. Would hate it now, but young and child free for a few years it was brilliant.

I get free clothes, the one perk of my job.

And a very nice perk it is too

State school. Free lunch on training days. Occasional thank you doughnuts. A Christmas decoration for everyone. Free parking. Small Lindt bunny at Easter. A sandwich for Parents’ Evening.

Biggest bonuses for me are proximity to home and being left alone to do my job (mostly)

@Sitdownnext

Isn't it funny how so very few people mention enhanced annual holidays, enhanced sick pay, enhanced maternity pay and enhanced pension contributions - these are the big-ticket items the things that cost the employer loads and have the greatest benefit to the employees. But it all come down to free coffee and tea 😂 I recall one senior manager we knew who got a new job - it was most likely 6 figures+, boasting about his new workplace providing free fruit, I wondered how long that novelty was going to impress him.

We gave our staff a fixed sum benefits pot and polled them on how they'd like to spend it so we could provide services they valued, it was no surprise that they universally opted for medical insurance (which we could obtain at a very low price) and the rest in cash for them to spend exactly as they chose - they were not impressed by gimmicky perks.

I see these as part of the compensation package rather than perks.

Compensation package comes way before nice perks, I'd rethink my employment if the compensation package went down, but not a perk was no longer available.

We moved to a new, purpose built building. Only the 8 members of senior leadership get an office. I’m in a big open plan with about 30 others. It’s fucking awful

Sounds like where I used to work. Covid was a blessing in disguise.

@Sitdownnext

Isn't it funny how so very few people mention enhanced annual holidays, enhanced sick pay, enhanced maternity pay and enhanced pension contributions - these are the big-ticket items the things that cost the employer loads and have the greatest benefit to the employees. But it all come down to free coffee and tea 😂 I recall one senior manager we knew who got a new job - it was most likely 6 figures+, boasting about his new workplace providing free fruit, I wondered how long that novelty was going to impress him.

We gave our staff a fixed sum benefits pot and polled them on how they'd like to spend it so we could provide services they valued, it was no surprise that they universally opted for medical insurance (which we could obtain at a very low price) and the rest in cash for them to spend exactly as they chose - they were not impressed by gimmicky perks.

The staff may say they're not impressed by gimmicky perks, but just look at some of the posts on here by public sector workers complaining that they get nothing, and completely ignoring how much their pension and working hours are worth Vs the Hotel Chocolat Christmas present and free fruit for a private sector counterpart.

@OverTheRubicon it's mind-blowing isn't it! 😂 A colleague's dd worked for a company who gave them £5 voucher every day to spend in a local sandwich shop, after the initial excitement, they quickly got bored of the sandwiches on offer and the only other thing to buy was chocolate and crisps, which they donated to communal food baskets - quite a few people were annoyed by the amount of junk food hanging around and the resulting increase in their waistlines, including my colleague's dd who sited it as one of the reason's she was glad to leave.