The Best Employee Perks For Attracting & Retaining New Employees

Employee perks are fast becoming the norm as employers look for new and innovative ways to attract and retain talent.

In fact, according to a 2015 Glassdoor Report 79% of employees would prefer additional employer perks rather than a pay increase.

Not only that, but a later report prepared by Glassdoor showed that 57% of potential employees (i.e. job seekers) list employee perks as one of their top considerations when deciding on a new employer.

With those statistics in mind it makes sense that perks, or a lack thereof, can make all the difference with the quality of talent you can attract to your organisation.

Therefore, if you are looking to offer perks in your workplace you may look to the following for some inspiration:

Employee Perks For Families

Providing perks for employees with families is one sure fire way to help retain staff. Every mother, father and primary caregiver knows how hard it can be to balance bringing up a family with work sometimes. Having a little bit of flexibility can therefore go along way.

Here are some of the best companies and the perks they offer for staff with families.

Netflix — Unlimited Parental Leave

Despite running a multi-multi-billion dollar company Netflix CEO Reed Hasting takes 6 weeks annual leave each year and encourages his staff to do the same. Not only that but Netflix offers a generous unlimited parental leave program.

Ikea — Four Months Paid Parental Leave

Having been born out of a country with well developed maternity and paternity leave programs its not unusual to find Ikea offering a generous parental leave program of their own.

Ikea offers 4 months of paid parental leave for employees who have worked at the company for at least one year. What makes this program unique however, is that it is also open to part time employees.

Amazon — Share Your Parental Leave

Amazon is another tech company with a pretty awesome parental leave program. Known as “leave share” Amazon employees are able to share their paid leave with their partner is their partner’s company does not offer paid leave.

Spotify — Fertility Assistance

Spotify, like many other Scandinavian based companies has a generous paid parental leave program, as well as flexible work options for parents returning to work.

Where they differentiate themselves however is with their offer to cover egg freezing and fertility assistance to their employees.

Campbell Soup — Free Kindergarten

It’s not only tech companies that are offering up employee perks these days. Campbell Soups has a program that offers a full kindergarten program, as well as after school care for children aged six to twelve years old.

Clearly Campbell Soups has worked out that employees who are worried and stressed out over dropping off, picking up and looking after children are not the most productive, so why not solve that provide with an on-campus program that takes care of this.

Employee Perks For Work life Balance

These employee perks not only benefit families who have to juggle school runs, school excursions and day trips with work, but also those who want a little more flexibility when it comes to how and where they work.

If you are looking to say goodbye to the standard 9 to 5 then these companies may have something to offer you.

Netflix — Flexible Work Hours

Netflix make another appearance on our list of companies offering amazing employee perks, this time for their “Freedom and Flexibility” system of work that removes the need to be in the office during the standard 9 to 5.

Instead employees are given the freedom and flexibility to work the hours that suit them. Their argument is that as long as you get the work done then you don’t need to clock the standard hours.

Envato — Reduced Core Business Hours

Melbourne based startup Envato has reduced core business hours from 10am to 4pm. This allows employees to work around school drop offs and pickups.

In addition to that HR Director James Law said in an article on Seek.com.au that “We try and make work as flexible as possible by allowing people to work from anywhere that suits how they want to live, and where they are most effective. That means we have people working from home, cafes, shared work spaces and even overseas!”

Mattel Inc — Time Off For Your Kids Schooling

Mattel the global toy brand knows the importance of spending quality time with your children, as well as the depands of juggling school trips/excursions. As one of the perks Mattel offers they allow parents to take up to 16 hours for paid leave for school related activities such as parent teacher meetings or excurions.

Plus, their children no doubt enjoy the discount employees get on toys!

Employee Perks For Health & Fitness

For the healthy conscious many companies offer perks that can help get you in shape and keep you looking and feeling great.

As the competition for offering the best employee perks heats up, many of these options now go above and beyond just offering a gym membership or a run down tennis court on site.

Here are our top employee perks for people looking to be a little more active during the work day.

Reebook — Free Crossfit Classes

Having an on-site gym is one thing, providing access to Crossfit classes (which are notoriously expensive) is another. That’s why staff at Reebok must be glad that the sportswear company is also the prime sponsor of Crossfit!

As part of their work/life balance program Reebok staff are encouraged to be active and have access to free Crossfit classes at their on-premise gym.

Cisco — Gym’s Are So 2010

Having a gym on site for a tech company used to be a massive perk. Now it’s pretty common place. Especially amongst the larger players in the world of software and associated technology systems.

One company expanding just what it means to support a healthy lifestyle is Cisco systems. In addition to an on-site gym they provide physical therapy and acupuncture services to their employees.

Chesapeake Energy — Extreme Sports

Chesapeake Energy doesn’t offer any old sports program, they take things to the next level and offer employees free SCUBA certification.

They also have an Olympic sized swimming pool, volleyball court, rock-climbing wall and quarter mile running track. Clearly someone at the company likes to keep active and thought it would be a good idea to extend these perks to employees.

Employee Perks For Enjoying Your Life

We all have different interests, passions and goals in life. Some people love to travel, other people love to learn and others prefer to give their time to freely help those around them. It’s no wonder then that many companies are creating employee perks that let you explore these passions.

If you are looking to have some extended time off or explore the world then these employee perks are going to stand out.

Airbnb — A $2,000 Travel Allowance

Imagine being paid to go on holiday! Well if you manage to find yourself working at Airbnb then you will be able to take advantage of this generous perk.

Airbnb provides an annual stipend of $2,000 stipend to travel and stay in any Airbnb across the world.

Deloitte — Job Sabbaticals

As your career advances you can often feel boxed into working the 9 to 5 and only getting your standard x weeks holidays a year. One company that recognises there is sometimes a need to step back and do something different is Deloitte.

Deloitte offer two sabbatical programs to their staff. The first is an unpaid on-month sabbatical that can be taken for any reason. The second is a three to six-month sabbatical that can be taken to pursue personal or professional growth opportunities. Plus you still get 40% pay.

Timberland

Timberland, the US footwear company, is passionate about supporting the charitable and volunteer efforts of their staff. That’s why employees can take up to 40 hours of paid leave each year to spend as a volunteer.

Employee Perks — Free Food (& Money)

Who could say no to an extra $2,000 in your bank account or free meals 3x a day. Sometimes the simplest employee perks are the best. Here’s some standout employee perks from companies renowned for being a great place to work.

Atlassian — New Employee Referral Bonus

Have you ever had a friend or colleague that you know would do an awesome job in an open position your company has? Chances are you have, perhaps on even more than one occasion. However not every company pays you for access to your professional network, but Atlassian does!

The Australian born software company will pay employees a $2,000 bonus for any new person they successfully refer to the company and who is selected for a full time position.

Google — Free Food

Google is one of the pioneers when it comes to free workplace perks. One of their staple programs is the offer of free gourmet breakfast, lunch and dinner. Clearly they know that well feed staff are productive staff!

Not only that but if you can cut down on the time it takes people to leave the office to grab a meal then there is more time for them to spend interacting with their colleagues, fostering a stronger sense of community within the organisation.

That’s it for our round up of the best employee perks. If you know of any other companies that offer standout employee benefits or perks comment below and be sure to let us know what they offer to stand out in a competitive jobs market.

Originally published at Task Pigeon Blog.