Lunch at Work

[hairyunicorn]

Work pays £12 per day for lunch through Deliveroo; they have just announced this amount will increase to £15 per day.

I can not say how happy I am. While it is a taxable benefit, I hardly buy dinner these days. I have a gastric sleeve, so i just eat a little and then save my lovely lunch for dinner. Honestly, saving me around £120 plus a month.

We also get a lovely breakfast on a Monday to welcome us back to the office, a fully stocked kitchen with every snack you can imagine and paid for team drinks every month. There are only 50 of us in the office.

These little perks really make being in the office 5 days a week a little more bearable (work in facilities, so we have to be in). What's the best little perk your job offers?

i did once get what was left of a meeting breakfast and it was mmmmmmm

Ours was free tea, coffee, hot choc etc including milk.
There was also free fruit to which you could help yourself.
All made available when we returned to the office after COVID.

Didn't make any difference to me, the realisation that there was absolutely no reason to be in the office anyway showed me that it was time to leave and pursue an easier, quieter life.

In our offices there is a wide selection of hot/cold drink, nice coffee machines, fruit, cereal, some other food depending on what people have asked for in that office. Periodic full on breakfasts/lunches provided. All the toilets have pads/deodorant/spare tights/spare pants, shower gel and towels in the shower rooms. When we travel all the parking is paid for up front and we have a generous room allowance for dinner that includes alcohol, so there’s no personal outlay and claiming back. Makes a big difference.

Best perk tho is that I don’t need to attend the office and can wfh all the time if I want to! Not having to focus on office attendance (either for me or policing my tram is really beneficial. Save me so much time and money.

Fancy boarding school - free lunches during term time and tea (which always has a hot pudding and custard) if there is a reason to stay late, tea and coffee machine, biscuits at break time and staff party at the end of the year.

Nothing like that, we don't even get coffee

However, we have a tech vending machine which is alright

I've worked in two places (same industry) where SO much was provided for us and it was truly wonderful, massive global workforce with long hours so people would often make social connections at work and the long hours meant not much time to do normal things weekdays.

• two baristas with free coffee
• canteen (more like a bistro) with lots of choice for less than a sandwich and drink in pret
• loads of clubs and societies and funding to start your own
• funding Christmas party and summer party - every other year the summer one is abroad (usually France or somewhere you dont have to fly)
• doctor on site
• piano in the communal space
• monthly drinks
• epic team offsites
• deliveroo dinner after a certain to about £30
• taxi home after a certain time

Good times - but I would give up a good portion of that so teachers and nurses can have tea and coffee and biscuits at a minimum.

its normal for teaching, academia (not oxbridge), nhs other public sector.

Public sector so the only thing is sanitary products in the bathrooms. I think because of period poverty awareness and COL issues, we didnt used to have this. Good pension though!

Never had so much as a paper clip in my office.

Do you find it difficult to eat healthily though? It’s hard to find healthy options via Deliveroo where I am, although it might be different in a city or somewhere bigger I suppose. I’d find that lethal tbh!

I dont get any perks like that, but have huge amounts of flexibility in my role and a civil service pension so that does me.

I work in an academic library and get unlimited books to borrow (including inter-library loans). I love it! Also I get institutional access to various media databases, so lots of free movies and tv too!

Most people order from salad places like Atis, where a salad will set you back £16 😳 but we are London based so there is a lot of choice

I’m actually in charge of organising and arranging these perks, so please keep them coming. I already have a few ideas from this thread I’m going to implement at the office. Spare pants and tights in the bathroom is genius, nicking that one@shuffleofftobuffalo

im sorry to everyone whose work doesn’t provide any perks. It really makes you appreciate your job

I envy you your unlimited access to whiteboard markers. I wasn't quick enough last time they ordered some so I've had to buy my own.

My perk is free use of the plumbed in water dispenser to refill my bottle. In other words, free tap water.

Friend of mine worked somewhere where the only perk was a selection box at Christmas. Talk about bankers bonuses.....

I’m another in local government, we get drinking water, fresh anir and all the unpaid overtime that we want!

I provide a lot of my own stationery as I don’t like the poor quality Banner/5 Star rubbish.

Our Christmas lunch was held after work (in our own time) and we paid for ourselves. Actually we also paid for our office cleaner to come with us (employed by a contractor, not one of our employees)

If I won stupid money on the lottery I'd set up funds for nhs staff lunches

Work in a school, apparently the free parking and the phone number we can ring for mental health support are our free perks. If they ever start charging for parking I will quit.

Ex teacher. We all have to chip in to buy tea/coffee/milk for the staffroom. Again, all chip in to order pizza on parents evenings/staying late for ofsted nights. One school did buy doughnuts the next day but that would have been paid for by the head, not school money.

I work in the public sector and the only freebie is the use of the toilet and water to wash your hands, we even pay for our own parking though we can buy discount permits still costly though. If you are slt you get free access to parking which I never understood as they earn far more and do not need to leave their office to go out on visits, which you would struggle to find another space to park

free hot drinks and squash.

free parking

lunch occasionally provided for meetings.

senior staff often bring in cakes and biscuits.

incentives for recommending job vacancies and for ‘going the extra mile’

quarterly individual employee recognition.

beautiful garden to sit in during breaks.

sincerely felt thanks and verbal recognition.

low pay, minimum pension contribution and annual leave.

third sector.

That’s awful.

I’ve just spent 14 hours in a and e with ds before he was admitted and even as parents we were given tea and coffee and offered a sandwich and I did very little compared to the amazing range of staff of all bands did all day.

I get a $35 dinner allowance any time I stay past 7pm in the office, which is typically 1-2 times a week.

I don’t eat dinner, or anywhere near $35 worth of food, in the evening, so I spend it on groceries - milk, porridge, chia seeds, fruit, yogurt, teabags etc.

We also get free hot drinks and snacks all day.

None of that means it’s a great place to work though 🙃

We get free tea, coffee and fruit teas, free fruit and random other freebies left in the kitchen - we’ve had Diet Coke, pastries, pasta, mince pies. We have a choice every Friday between lunch being bought for us or drinks paid for that evening - it goes to the vote every week. It was lunch today so I had jerk chicken and jollof rice, it was lovely! One of the bosses also handed out Twirls this afternoon for some reason. I did also get given a bottle of Prosecco today because I voted for drinks tonight as it’s been a very busy and stressful week for me and the HR Manager felt sorry for me so she bought a bottle as a present so I can still have some fizz, bless her 😂

Oh, we also get a free black tie Christmas party with food, drink and safe travel home paid for as well.

Tea and coffee and that’s it! You work sounds great