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.

Perks I have had:

Free tea & coffee
Free working lunches
Free city centre parking
Free use of company library, gym and swimming pool
Discounted degree courses
Free firewood
Discounted company product

Free tea and coffee. Free entry to certain heritage sites and % off in their shops and cafes. Free on-site parking (used to be 24/7 in our old building which was city centre so brilliant if you were going shopping or out to eat). Fuel and expenses paid back if I have to go somewhere outside the office/training. Eye tests and new glasses paid for if there's been a change in prescription.

After 10+ years working for the NHS and then local authorities, I was astounded when my current employer provided free tea, coffee and milk! I wish I was joking. The quality was undrinkable and I prefer oat milk so I rarely use it, but I very much appreciate the gesture. That's as good as it's every gotten.

Just remembered the thing which (to me) really shows whether the employer cares about the comfort of its staff while they're working: Letting them wear shorts in hot weather. It keeps me sane.

My husband gets free hot and cold drinks, plus snacks.
They're regularly taken out for drinks/ meals, etc, as rewards for working hard.
Also decent pay rise every year in November, a week off at Christmas and last month they were each given an extra £1000 to help with rising living costs.
Also free lunches if there's any cpd/meetings around lunchtime.
Probably a few more that I can't think of.

Also, paid Christmas meals/party x 2, fully paid for inc. all you can drink and quarterly meals/trips all paid for inc. all drinks, etc.

Free tea and coffee, free bus pass, half price train tickets. Previous job in college which taught animal care, free stick insects, guppies etc, free day time dog care and dog grooming.

Out of interest, what is sick pay like in the private sector? I have family in hospitality who get nothing, but I'm guessing that's not the norm for all jobs?
I'm public sector and although I've fortunately not had to use it, we're not penalised for any covid related absence which I know is fortunate. Sick pay is up to three months full pay and three months half then SSP. Pension is better than private but a long way off what my older colleagues get! And annual leave isn't anything special, 26 days a year or 28 after 5yrs

Technically there is one new perk which is a car leasing scheme. It is only for electric or hybrid cars though, which isn't compatible with my job (I do a lot of work miles) but mainly that the cost would be more than my share of the mortgage, even with the tax breaks! I do get free parking at work but given Im required to use my car for work purposes I wouldn't work anywhere that charged me for bringing it.

My boss does regularly buy treats for us at the office but it is out of her own pocket rather than a work perk as such.

And annual leave isn't anything special, 26 days a year or 28 after 5yrs Statutory minimum is 20 days - lots of people only get this.

The 26 days include the bank Holidays though as nhs don't get those days on the day so it's counted into their al

NHS - Confidential waste bin, so I don't have to do any shredding at home

Discounts in some shops if I show my ID/Blue Light card.

@emmylou24

The 26 days include the bank Holidays though as nhs don't get those days on the day so it's counted into their al

The statutory minimum for holidays for full-time staff is 20 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays. Miss a bank holiday and you will get it back on another date.

www.nhspay.co.uk/NHS-Annual-Leave-Calculated.php

All the West End Theatre tickets I want. Wasted on me as there a only a few shows I like. My niece has seen Hamilton about 20 times with my free tickets. Every Xmas we get a £500 John Lewis or Marks or Argos voucher. We get to choose which. Very handy for present buying!

@Eggshausted

All the West End Theatre tickets I want. Wasted on me as there a only a few shows I like. My niece has seen Hamilton about 20 times with my free tickets. Every Xmas we get a £500 John Lewis or Marks or Argos voucher. We get to choose which. Very handy for present buying!

Can I be your friend?☺️

We get all the unpaid overtime we want. Hang on a minute…..

We get a buffet lunch that is really delicious on our first day of term. We get champagne as our Christmas present. We get a bunch of daffodils in the spring.
And a lovely Christmas hot buffet on the last day of Michaelmas term.
We get a nice cold lunch on the last day of each term.
Lovely presents including JL vouchers from our parents.
And toast every day. And a pack of Foxs chocolate biscuits a week to share between us ( 3 staff in our department)

I worked at a drinks company and I used to receive 36 bottles of gin, whiskey, etc a year. My family loved it!

@Moonflower12

We get a buffet lunch that is really delicious on our first day of term. We get champagne as our Christmas present. We get a bunch of daffodils in the spring. And a lovely Christmas hot buffet on the last day of Michaelmas term. We get a nice cold lunch on the last day of each term. Lovely presents including JL vouchers from our parents. And toast every day. And a pack of Foxs chocolate biscuits a week to share between us ( 3 staff in our department)

Oxford or Cambridge ?