NBR: Growing trends in corporate companies; thoughts?

[tjanca22]

You may or may not have heard recent stories in the news about corporate companies offering unlimited vacation, year long maternity leave (for US employees), and a host of other company perks to attract the highest level of talent. I work in a Talent Management function within HR for a global company and our group is working on a large project to go before our CEO and senior leaders to present growing trends across the country and globally to assess what "perks" we offer and if we are competitive in the workplace for outside talent. So yes, I'm crowd sourcing ideas of what other companies out there offer to add to our presentation!

If you haven't heard anything about this, NBC just had a story about LinkedIn announcing unlimited vacation for thier employees: www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/linkedin-the-latest-company-to-offer-unlimited-vacation-days-543199299893

What type of perks are offered at the company that you work for? Do you feel these perks actually attract top talent? Do these perks get abused by current employees? What would you like to see your company offer to it's employees? Dream big ladies!

[dmoney]

So its not a BIG perk in terms of unlimited Vacation days. But my office has a "comfort room" for nursing moms. It has a lazy boy recliner and a sink in there. It makes pumping a bit more enjoyable!

[Widget123]

We have core hours and flexible hours before and after the core. People can work 8, 9, or 10 hour days. There is the ability to telework regularly (with mgt approval). I accrue a lot of leave each year so my maternity leave was 100% paid. I only work paid hours, no uncompensated overtime is expected.

I think if the organization paid more that would encourage more talent than these perks but people like myself enjoy the flexibility offered. There aren't any more perks that I want that I dont already get- other than more money.

ETA if I'm really searching for something else, I wish we didn't have to work when the weather was bad, but thus is life in an electronic world.

[tjanca22]

Pumping again, so I can actually post my own response. My company has quite a few perks but none that I feel actually attract talent to our company. We have an onsite gym (classes before work and at lunch hours), a walk-in clinic for minor health related issues, walking track, ping pong room, and an onsite bank. None of these perks are abused by our employees, but I personally wouldn't choose to work for our company over another based off of just these items alone.
I think the idea of unlimited vacation is great and would love for our company to adopt a policy like that. When I am on vacation, I bring my phone with me to check in and in case I'm absolutley needed for something. I could see some employees abusing an unlimited vacation policy, but for the most part, I don't think it would be to the extent where it would hurt the company.
As for a perk that I wish our company offered, I would say onsite daycare or free health insuracne. Now two perks like that would really catch my attention.

[dmoney]

I should add that we also do have the ability to get up to 500 a year if you have an energy efficient vehicle,l they offer $10 a month for gym reimbursement and if you are on your spouses insurance they will give you $50 a paycheck towards your insurance. The department that I am in everyone does have a laptop, so if the weather is bad we are not required to come into the office (because we hardly ever close). One thing I wish I had the ability to do would be to have my emails pushed to my cell phone. Because I do not have an apply product, our Global Head quarters in Paris, does not feel my phone (android) is secure enough. So no emails.

[Deleted]

We get year round 1/2 day Friday's. So basically you can leave work at 1pm every Friday.

In addition they just offered a new perk to us that you can bring your dog to work with you everyday.

Extended maternity leave or more vacation time sounds awesome. We don't have any of those benefits yet.

I work for a clothing and shoe company so we get clothing allowances quarterly that add up to getting about $4000 of free clothes, shoes, accessories yearly.