What is it about perks that employees value so much? It certainly isn’t the money
Fringe benefits, or perks, are a divisive issue in the corporate workplace: many employees love them, consider them a fundamental part of their package, a way of retaining their loyalty, of receiving something back from the employer beyond straightforward remuneration. Others dismiss them essentially dishonest, and call on companies to pay that as a bonus and let them spend it as they want.
However, the evidence seems to show that perks, when they are perceived as privileges employees could not easily obtain on their own (if they were not based on collective bargaining, for example) or address questions they would otherwise have to solve on their own, are defended tooth and nail by employees.
I remember, years ago, a friend who had been working at Google for over a decade, who told me that although he wanted to move on, he had not yet done so largely because of the “mental hassle” of sorting out many of the items the company covered for him, from food on workdays to laundry and many other benefits. Decent health insurance is a clear case of a benefit that contributes employee loyalty, and is even associated with social prestige in certain countries.
Can unlimited enjoyment of the company’s own products become a perk in its own right? Many years ago, it was…
