Are Job Perks Coming into Vogue Again? 481
Pharmboy asks: "The Register is reporting on a company that was awarded 'Best Small Company to Work for in America' by the Detroit Free Press, in part, for providing Free beer to their employees. They offer free breakfast, lunch AND dinner, gym and snacks. This sounds similar to the late 90s, where companies were offering extreme benefits to attract extreme talent, before the bubble burst and most workers were just glad to have a job. As the job market gains strength, what are companies willing to do in order to attract the best talent? Are we about to enter another era where employers are willing to make work fun again, in order to attract and keep talent? Will this have any effect on other employers, forcing them to again offer benefits to keep pace and talent? How important are these kinds of perks to the average employee anyway? What kind of perks would you have to have to switch to a job that pay the same?"
Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the point is that we are starting to see a return of 'perks' as an incentive for talent as the job market gets better. Not a return to dot-com boom days -- but I think that was a fluke and obviously not sustainable. It was a fun fluke, though...
What kind of perks are we talking about? (Score:4, Insightful)
But what kind of perks? You can separate several distinct types:
As an employee, things like flexitime and "pillow days" are great for me. Options are nice as-well-as but not instead-of your regular package -- I'd be very unlikely to accept a below-par salary/bonus package in exchange for options. I have no interest in the third kind of perk, and would much rather have the money to spend on my first home, since houses are ludicrously expensive around here.
I'm not sure this discussion makes much sense until you've identified what sort of thing you're going to call a "perk".
Re:What kind of perks are we talking about? (Score:3, Insightful)
Health care, gym membership, etc.
Obviously the point is to encourage the staff to work out, since taking up exercising usually leads to healthier employees. This pays in a smaller amount of sick days, more productive employees etc.
Now, if they gave the cash, they would arguably not see the same benefits.
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3, Informative)
For those who haven't been following it, the economy this year - the "big improvement" - has barely outpaced the number of new people entering the job market. And since June, it has been notably outpaced by the number
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:2)
Wow are you short-sighted.
It was pretty bad in 2001. It sucked in 2002. It was still shit in 2003. 2004 has been a good year.
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:2)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:5, Funny)
gene@teaCOFFEEmtri.com minus caffeine
you have tea and coffee in there... which caffeine do I remove
What were the odds that your address would get split there and that the de-obfuscating recipe would call for the removal of it
Sorry, I just found that amusing.
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3, Informative)
That isn't how unemployment is counted, you have to be looking for work [wikipedia.org] in order to be counted as unemployed. That is really regardless of whether or not your benefits run out.
It's actually a bit more complicated, there is the underemployed catagory which rarely gets discussed but is still important. A person is considered underemploye
Apples and oranges... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention that, while the number of new jobs created was pretty small, at least it was positive. Or that unemployment fell from 5.6% to 5.5. That's pretty low to be called 'bad.'
I just finished off 8 months of unemployment by landing a new gig at a much better salary than my old job, and in the past month have received an increasing number of calls from recruiters. I'm not saying we've warped back to 1998 (oh, the glory), but it is getting better.
The sky is not, in fact, falling.
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:4, Interesting)
Heh. The funny thing is that I am one of those workers, and I can't keep people from offering me jobs at pretty nice salaries ($100K/year or so). It's quite annoying really, having people phone you all the time and try to get you to work for them. I hate turning people down.
It's become a lot worse in the last 6 months or so.
I feel no shame. I am more expensive than an American and there is severe pain getting visas for me, and yet people are still competing to hire me. If an American in the same field can't get a job, the problem is not me.
I will be moving to a new job next month, and I expect my job to directly add at least another 2 jobs to the market in the next year (I'll need minions). Go philanthropist me!
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:4, Insightful)
You know what folks, the parent is the real American. He/she realizes that noone hands anything to you. They work their butt off to make something of themself and if the job market turns bad (here's a thought) they work harder.
Funny, I'm a young engineer and my company is laying people off. Yet, somehow they keep me around. I wonder if it's because I EARN MY KEEP.
Sorry, just a little conservative ranting.
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. Not a troll. I can't really toss them your way though - they're a little specialised. I can tell you how I got into the position I am in, though.
This assumes you are in a place with a reasonable population. I live in Seattle, but any city will probably do. I prefer to work for small companies and do interesting stuff. In this space, word of mouth and referrals are everything.
These tips are for people who want to get into software or electronics hardware with a bit more of an emphasis on consumer stuff rather than IT stuff. It also assumes that you are reasonably good at what you do. Word of mouth comes from making people proud to recommend you. It has taken me three years to get to my current position, and I did it as a sort of freelance contractor.
Here are some hints:
1:
Join the local Audio Engineering Society chapter, or if nothing else, go to some of their meetings. They are happy to see new faces. I think the AES is a particularly good one to go to because they attract all sorts of people - musicians, people with home audio setups, hardcore analog design engineers, students, DJs, software engineers, etc.
Talk to people. Be friendly, ask them what they are doing. Ask them about stuff that they are obviously interested in. If someone mentions that they need a person that can do such-and-such, and you know someone that is a good fit, offer to connect them and then do so. Don't recommend people you don't think are a good fit. Being someone who knows people who can help is a good long term thing to be. Eventually it will affect you directly because a person you have helped will probably recommend you for something.
Don't push yourself, but be enthusiastic about the technical stuff you like doing. If someone needs you, they will tell you. You are not selling yourself, you are just being you. This is important.
2:
Be willing to do odd jobs that would otherwise be beneath you. I have done things like install SSH chroot environments to allow secure uploads. I charged $60/hour, and it only took a few hours. As a result, there are now five people that think of me first when they want something technical on unix done.
3:
Be willing to accept jobs that you know you can do, but that you know you haven't done before. Be honest about this to a potential client. It's a wonderful way to to learn new things, and keep food on the table. Keep track of your time, and estimate how much time it would have taken you if you were an expert. Only charge for that time. Your customers should get good value for money - they aren't subsidising your learning directly.
This leads to an important corollary: If people know you accept things you have never done before and then do them well, you get a reputation as a person who can do anything. This is priceless, and is the main reason I am turning away juicy offers. People phone me when they are in a jam, and say things like "We know you don't do this sort of stuff normally, but we also know you finish things. Please help".
4:
Dont be afraid to say "no". Saying no, when done right, increases your value. These are the conditions: You have to say no for a good reason, like "I'm sorry, but I'm busy working on another project" or "I'm sorry, but I cant allocate that much time to a project, and I wouldn't be providing the kind of service that I think is a minimum requirement". If you need the work, take it, but realise that saying "no" isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you refer as per 5:.
5:
Don't be afraid to refer. After a while, you will know a lot of people that can do different things, and you would have worked with many of them. If someone offers you work and you can't take it, pass it on - refer someone you know will make them happy. People will learn that even if they aren't sure you can do something, you probably know someone
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:2)
By the way- I went to my current employer and told them about my offer. They are countering. Oh yes, the job market is back (I am a software engineer).
Re:Are jobs coming into vogue again? (Score:3)
I hate to point this out all the time, but nobody is forcing anyone to read slashdot. If you haven't paid for it, and you're not satisfied, then that's really your own damn problem. If you do like slashdot, subscribe and then maybe people will be happier to
The only perks I get... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The only perks I get... (Score:2)
Free porn? (Score:3)
Re:The only perks I get... (Score:3, Interesting)
You are entitled to £10000 (or whatever) of perks per year. Choose from the following list:
Company car: annual value £5000
Free food: annual value £4000
Notebook computer: annual value £300
etc etc etc
This still enables the companies to get their bulk discounts etc, making perks cheaper than extra salary. Further, it would mean employees get what they WANT from their perks, and feel happy about their employer being h
Re:The only perks I get... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The only perks I get... (Score:3, Interesting)
Thats when the boss is thier anyway, when he's out we eat whatever the hell we want (#13 with triple meat and quadruple cheese) and bring in our laptops for some smoke-break deathmatching.
I work at a Jersey Mikes sandwich shop.. oh the
Would want these employees? (Score:5, Informative)
Would you really want to hire employees who would be motivated by "free beer?"
I can understand how it could be to a company's advantage to offer free perks, but I can think of dozens (okay, thousands) that would be better for the company than free beer but still motivate employees.
Re:Would want these employees? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Its beer...
2. If my employer is handing me a beer it means that the work day is complete and there is no expectation that I'm going to go back to work and do anything more productive than surf the web. Recognition that the day is complete is one of the best perks there is.
Re:Would want these employees? (Score:5, Insightful)
I read the original Register article and thought the best thing was the laundry service, mainly because thats a chore that I *hate* and therefore something like that would improve my quality of life. If an employer offered to do my ironing as well, then I'd probably be an employee for life!!
Although I do like the beer idea also, there's only *so much* of the stuff you can drink, and although drinks are work are fine, my work collegues aren't the people I want to hang out with all the time. And I'm not really a day-time drinker -- even if it is end of working day!
Re:Would you want these employees? (Score:4, Funny)
HR dude(tte) #1 "Want kind of employess do we want to attract?"
HR dude(tte) #2 "How about the kind who want free beer?"
HR dude(tte) #1 "Yeah! Let's offer a perk that would only attract people who drink a lot!"
Re:Would you want these employees? (Score:2, Funny)
Just kidding about IBM...
Re:Would want these employees? (Score:2)
Re:Would want these employees? (Score:5, Insightful)
Only to those unenlightened souls who believe that by spending more hours at the office you're getting more done. People simply aren't machines... they require more than just food, drink, and sleep.
Sadly, too many people believe in the concept you've brought up.
well it depends... (Score:3, Funny)
Sample code of free beer motivated code (Score:3, Funny)
printFFFFFFFFFF("Hello there buddy, I loveee you *hick* *snore*\n");
}))) hehe
You Insensitive Clods! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You Insensitive Clods! (Score:3, Funny)
Pervert.
stronger? (Score:5, Insightful)
People are still getting laid off. The example you cite is an exception; it's nowhere near the norm these days, nor will it be anytime in the near future.
Re:stronger? (Score:5, Insightful)
After nearly 23 years with one organization .... to whom I was loyal and faithful ...
My UI benefits were exhausted last month ...
I now own a business: but it is a start up, and we are frantically trying to reach the breakeven point; we arent there yet .... we wont be there for a few months, and even then: we wont be able to pull a salary there for a few months after that ...
Im down to my last $150 in my bank account ...
My rent is due in 24 days ... and I dont have it ...
I have three kids: the oldest could not start college, because we cannot afford her modest tuition ...
We are starting to buy basic staples: rice and bean, pasta and flour ... in anticipation of running out of other 'easier' foods ...
My credit cards are saving my life, for the moment, but they will require another payment in 28 days ...
The job search, which should have already ended with a good job, has stalled, and gone stale: I have four outstanding cover letter/resume packages with prospects for decent work, but they are sitting on them, while I start to sweat it ... badly ....
I have sent each of those four a kindly email to find out my current status, and all four say I am in the running .... but: the clock is ticking ....
I have been thinking about looking up the local food bank ... my thoughts are now floating towards memories of obtaining food stamps, and the shame I felt being in that office, and answering those questions ...
All the while: knowing I have vast technical experience that surpasses nearly anyone else in the local job market, and should have been hired weeks ago .... I think my experience scares prospective employers ... I have been paring it down to the bare bones to try to be more attractive to employers: so far: no dice ....
So as I ponder my near term future: as I fret over how I will feed and house my children and wife, as I wait by the phone, wondering if those whom still consider me a 'viable candidate' for open jobs will actually call, wondering if I should at least find a menial job of ANY kind in the interim: fry cook, janitor, laborer, gas jockey, ANYTHING .... I am resisting making further contect with my 'prospective' future employers, so I dont reveal my ever growing desperation .....
Im going to dig in the phone book: and see if I can find a backdoor into my chosen field ... otherwise: all Im doing is spinning my wheels, waiting for a call that may never come ...
Sighs: dont you wonder how much better this GOP economy can get ? ...
Do you wonder how many jobs 2.4 TRILLION dollars in tax cuts will buy the nation ? ....
Is it trickling down yet ??? ...
Someone tell me if it does: I would hate to miss it ....
Re:stronger? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:stronger? (Score:3)
I'm a sophmore at a uni in Ohio, and I have yet to pay a dime out of pocket. All I've done is signed some loan paperwork, and I'll pay it back when I graduate.
College is no longer only for those with money, and I'm sick of hearing that exscuse. It just means you were to lazy to do any research.
Re:stronger? (Score:5, Insightful)
When I got the job, I had to leave my wife and kids every week for 3 weeks and drive 6 hours each way to the new job, and only see them on the weekends. I eventually was able to get an apartment, and have been in the same job for 2 years. My debt load continues to increase and my credit rating is about as low as it can get because I have not had the funds available to pay off my existing debt. However, I am able to buy food and keep up with the car payments (the one thing I was able to keep through all this, and believe me it hasn't been easy).
Now, I'm going back to college. I work full time during the day and take classes early in the morning and late at night. It is difficult, but I'm doing it. As a previous poster noted, you can get by on loans and grants quite easily. Currently my loans and grants pay my tuition, books, plus around 3 grand extra per semester, which I use to make car repairs, buy the kids clothes, and pay off the loudest debt collectors as I can.
My point is, things can always get worse, but you can also always adjust your standard of living to get through the lean times. You mentioned you started a new business, and I have to question the wisdom of that when you are having trouble with basic necessities. Starting a business is a huge risk, and taking that kind of risk when you are so close to financial ruin already is not the smartest thing to do.
As for food stamps, yes it is humiliating, but keep in mind that these things are designed to help people like you who are normally able to support themselves, but have fallen on hard times. You have spent 23 years paying into the welfare system, you should not hesitate to take what you need back out of it when you are having a tough time.
If these four prospects are taking their time, go after more jobs. Sometimes, when you get desperate, you have to simply accept the first offer you get just to make ends meet. Also, if a fry cook job will put you in a better situation than you are now (and it looks like it will), then get one. Neither you or anyone else is "too good" for that kind of job. It's honest work, and it pays the bills. Do what you have to do to support your family, including swallowing your pride.
Re:stronger? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is your daughter really that submissive that when you tell her not to go to college she really wouldn't? I hope she finds a nice guy to support her, cause her only chance for a good life is that the guy who takes her is nice. (as opposed to a jerk who will beat her, and it seems most of the guys who want a submissive wife want to beat her)
I paid my own college by working at McDonalds on weekends. I graduated with no Debt! Didn't cost my parents much either (dad paid my car insurance which was a nice b
Re:stronger? (Score:4, Informative)
Well, I did the same, except that
1) My dad was unemployed during most of my studies
2) I didn't have to work much during my studies
3) I actually got money left at the end
How did I do it ? Very simple...
I grew up in a country(Switzerland) where the education system is not targeted towards the rich(can afford to pay) , the athletes(get scholarship to play golf, lucky ones !) and the geniuses(get scholarship also). It's a country where every kid has a chance, no matter how rich his parents are.
And maybe the screwed up education system in this country could take a lesson out of that, so that we end up with less teenagers in the streets, homeless or joining gangs.
I can't believe how many of my friends here in Seattle are still paying the loans they got for their studies, they've been out of school for more than 5 years and have a decent job, but it's not sufficient !
Re:stronger? (Score:3, Insightful)
We can argue pluses an minuses all day...
Personally I think everyone would be better off if financial aid was illegal, including aid from parents. When kids have to work to put themselves through school maybe they will appreciate it... If nothing else this would bring competition into schools. Is a MIT education really 10 times better than a public university? (YMMV, MIT is very good)
Re:stronger? (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, any government should realise the benefits of having a large segment of their population educated. Personally, I think the Australian way is pretty good. The government will give any Australian citizen a loan with no interest for their first degree (indexation applies, but not interest). If you pay a p
Re:stronger? (Score:3, Insightful)
I honestly can't see how that could be the make-or-break decision for your child going to college or not.
Was this year going to be the "save up my entire salary so my child can get a post-secondary education"?
How about the essentials? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How about the essentials? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How about the essentials? (Score:2)
Healthcare should be solved, but retirement? Its a pretty new concept, introduced in a big way to shrink the workforce during the depression. Think retirement was the rage in the 1800's? Nope. Why is retirement a right? The thought of suddenly stopping my life is horrifying to me.
Now, financial independance so I don't have to work, that's good. But do you know about life expectancy comparisons between retired and non-retired people of the same age and physica
That's nothing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's nothing... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a young coder (not employed at present, I have the luxury of being 18 and still living at home so I have no expenses that I don't want.) and my right now I'm hunting for my ideal job. I'm going to university in the fall to make sure I can get some good jobs in the future, but
Re:That's nothing... (Score:3, Interesting)
Over the years I've set my priorities from hard experience:
A. Make sure the company's executive team isn't looting the company through stock options, signing bonuses for their own, interest free loans that turn
Employement? (Score:2, Interesting)
See the news today? 32,000 new jobs for July?
I still know too many people who consider a perk actually being paid more then a burger flipper. This is probably one of those exceptional places, where the owner doesn't feel the need to line his pocket and gives something back. See how long it lasts.
Re:Employement? (Score:2)
Re:Employement? (Score:5, Informative)
Perks? (Score:4, Insightful)
Cafeteria and feeding the employees is nice and all.
What do I consider perks? HOw about a boss that lets me DO MY FSCKING JOB.
Re:Perks? (Score:2)
We where usually on schedule. I would say that we put in more after hours work because we wanted to be drininking beer by 3PM, at the latest.
Re:Perks? (Score:3, Funny)
Dude! Your whole job is to FSCK disks? Wow, either you've got a few thousand servers your work with (google, perhaps? I can see a FSCK engineer working their cluster...) or really bad hardware/bad setup/bad administrators.
Quite frankly, I don't know if that would be a stressful job or not...
-Adam
Redundancies in the article summary (Score:5, Funny)
Once you say "free beer", saying "breakfast", "lunch", etc. are redundant.
"Beer" pretty well covers everything.
Perks? Not on your life! (Score:5, Insightful)
Hearing that some companies are starting to give perks again means that the cycle is turning back. I will be so glad to see employers like mine losing all of their best employees next year, because they'll be playing catch-up -- and it will be 'too little, too late' for most of us.
Re:Perks? Not on your life! (Score:4, Insightful)
Moreover, benefits often are valued by employees at a level beyond the pure monetary value. One of the more interesting books I've read on employee compensation, Strategic Human Resources, makes this point:
The psychological leverage associated with providing benefits is likely to depend on whether the employer is a pioneer in providing this perquisite or instead simply seen to be matching the competition.
Re:Perks? Not on your life! (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone better tell (Score:4, Interesting)
that to MS as they are going in the opposite direction. [pcworld.com]
mmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:mmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, but the retirement plan sucks.
Re:mmm... (Score:3, Funny)
But SW Engineering jobs dropped 15% last quarter! (Score:5, Informative)
"There was no recession in the second quarter of this year, but BLS data show 131,000 fewer American computer software engineers employed in the second quarter than in the first quarter of 2004--a decline of 15% in three months."
So, I seriously doubt that we are going to get anything at all like the late 90s going on for technical workers.
Re:But SW Engineering jobs dropped 15% last quarte (Score:2)
Re:But SW Engineering jobs dropped 15% last quarte (Score:3, Interesting)
Economy improving? Ask those who are in the unemployment line.
Re:But SW Engineering jobs dropped 15% last quarte (Score:3, Funny)
Stop It! You're scaring DeVry.
Re:Not wanting to hire (Score:3, Interesting)
If you do what I said, and look for the jobs there, companies do post them. If you see a company you want to apply to, contact them directly.
This DOES work.
How else do you get a job at a company that you have no inside contacts with?
I like to start (Score:3, Funny)
It must be said I am not having the greatest of success with this approach at the moment. I guess I have to hope either Catwoman bombs or the market picks up a tad more and in the meantime be happy if they offer me free parking.
Re:I like to start (Score:3, Funny)
I saw the trailer. i think you've got a actress in your future.
How about this (Score:5, Funny)
Language classes would be good too.
Flextime (Score:2, Informative)
Then, Now, Tomorrow (Score:4, Interesting)
DotComs were offering Ferraris to those who could recruit the most talent. Everyone who was anyone offered stock options.
When the bubble burst, much of the madness was finally seen as madness, and it all went away. That gave many existing companies leverage to take away benefits - "You're lucky to have a job!". Yes and no.
I had a friend who was an attorney for Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack). Tandy paid their attorneys ridiculously low salaries (as in $30k/yr for a real estate attorney). When I asked him what the hell was wrong with them, and why they thought that was appropriate, he told me their response: "These guys are just going to come here for a couple of years and leave anyway, so why should we pay them reasonably?" Duh! Naturally, anyone with talent will move along. That's true in IT as well, and options do still exist. Maybe they involve moving to a new city, but they exist.
Some companies have been doing right all along, and they are rewarded with fierce loyalty and very good productivity. SAS Institute [sas.com], in Cary, North Carolina, has been providing stellar perks for years. They've remained private, and thus avoided the Quarterly Earnings per Share death-cycle. Imagine if your company had benefits [sas.com] like theirs.
Other companies could be like SAS if they weren't public, and if their leaders understood what some perks could do for their productivity and employee loyalty.
Perks (Score:4, Interesting)
One of my last jobs catered us lunch on Fridays, did the free liquor thing, paid for our healthcare and did a 150% 401k match (Every dollar I put in, they put in 1.50).
This current job is a hell of a lot better though. Sure, they don't have all the real cool perks. Catered lunch was replaced by Donut/Bagel Fridays, there's no company match for the 401k (Until next year), the healthcare isn't free but they do chip in. But I do get some nice perks, mainly the free college education. I can work my way up to a PhD and it's on the company dime. And they take care of me better then the employer with a lot of perks. There's no pay cap. Well, there is, but if you hit the cap for your position, instead of a raise the company will cut you a bonus check for a few thousand. And they give everyone a certain percentage in stock each year. Overall, even though I have less visable perks, the perks I do get, in the end, equals more money. Bonuses, stocks, and a free education hehe.
Your questions answered! (Score:2)
Not much more than when the job market sucked. Wait. That's now.
Are we about to enter another era where employers are willing to make work fun again, in order to attract and keep talent?
No.
Will this have any effect on other employers, forcing them to again offer benefits to keep pace and talent?
No.
How important are these kinds of perks to the average employee anyway?
When you've never seen a
Well at my office... (Score:2, Interesting)
We do this because we would rather people get something useful than giving half a pay raise to the government. Plus we try and be flexible on work hours (although on the flip-side we are INSANELY timeline sensitive, e.g. work when you want but get it done by Wednesday 9:00am).
I'm noticing a trend with friends at oth
I'd need... (Score:2)
...free beer. WHAT? You're kidding. What's the company's name? AGI? I'm applying.
Perks? (Score:2, Insightful)
I worked for a webhosting company recently called WestHost in their support department, and one of the things that they would do is advertise to potential hires "we offer free pop, and LAN parties!" Then, they would hold this over our heads, and if we didn't perform perfectly and clean up management's messes and smile all the while, we got no LAN parties
You pay for it, one way or the other (Score:3, Interesting)
If you create lots of value, you get lots of money, if you create less, you get less. On average that must be pretty close to reality, because if you get paid more than what you create, your average company would go bust right away.
Now, if you get "Perks" like Gym, free food etc, that's still coming from your total compensation, and on average just makes your paycheck smaller. That's true for Perks as well as "Free" insurance, Social Security and all the other things that "the employer pays for". If the Employer does not pay for it, you would get that money.
IANAE (I am not an economist)
Re:You pay for it, one way or the other (Score:3, Insightful)
Kinda, except for the fact of the big black hole that is taxes. Normally many perks are not taxed, so you get 100% of them instead of the taxed 50%.
Eliminate the income tax. V
Re:You pay for it, one way or the other (Score:4, Informative)
Basic benefits (Score:2)
But on the plus side I'm getting 55% of what the company is charging for my time, even if it is only half what I would bring into the company during the dot com era.
I know many hate to admit it... (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the big perk right now is working from home or at various sites. My current job allows me to work from home 2 days a week. Oh- and I get every other Friday off. One of my job offers has 1/2 days ever Friday. Hopefully I see two trends:
1. Employers are realizing that we have lives and not forcing us to work ridiculous hours. I make more than I have ever made right now and I never work more than 40 hours a week.
2. Employers see the benefit of allowing employees to work off site and/or at home. 2 of the 3 offers I have had offer work at home benefits. My current job allows me to work from home. Nice. Why does a software engineer need to be in the office every day anyway?
Markets go in cycles. We are in a recovery now. Employers are ready to produce again, and in the case of software, that means its time to hire. They realize that outsourcing didn't save them any money, so they are hiring workers right here in the U.S. Good news!
Re:I know many hate to admit it... (Score:2)
I hope you trust them, becasue for many companies 'Better offer' means will pay you more while we search for your replacement.
Out of curiousity, what state do you live in?
Re:I know many hate to admit it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Random slashdot guy,
Do NOT, repeat NOT take that counter-offer. It is the end of your career there, because they know you've been interviewing and are on your way out. The reasons you were leaving in the first place hasn't changed. Now, you'll be at the same place, but they'll be making sure they can get rid of you in 6 months.
I'm not saying that you're going to be fired in a few months automatically, but you'll be miserable.
Re:I know many hate to admit it... (Score:5, Insightful)
NEVER EVER take a counter-offer. More money isn't going to change why you were looking in the first place.
A couple of things the parent post didn't mention:
If they have layoffs, your name will be on the top of the list.
Salaries are generally in one pool of money. If you get a raise now, you'll either NOT get one next time raises go around. It's also probable that the people you work will think they won't get as big of a raise because of YOU if the raise they get doesn't meet expectations.
Plus, if you really want to work for that other company, turning them down how will make it much much harder to go back there to ask for a job. Oh, you can do it, but they'll likely say "oh, that's the guy who was just looking to make more money at the place he was at... don't bother".
There are MANY more reasons never to take a counter-offer. Do yourself (and your career) a favor, and don't take it.
Good luck
Re:I know many hate to admit it... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know. I can half-support that based on my own experience. I was a severely underpaid web monkey at Borland back in the 90s. As the market boomed, I had a ton of job offers, some for $30K more than my existing salary. Eventually I went to management and explained it. They said they would need a few months to arrange a matching offer. I actually gave them the time, and they actually came through. I spent many months pulling down that fat paycheck and being hap
Self Employeed (Score:5, Funny)
Rus
There is such a thing as a free lunch (Score:2)
I get free porn (Score:2)
It's just all over the place here.
Dogs (Score:3, Funny)
Unfortunately, it comes with a cost: She has to watch "Animal Planet," as output by one of the digital set top boxes we are testing, and has been trained to whine whenever she sees macroblocking or other artifacts.
Stefan
Free Beer's nice and all but what about benefits? (Score:3, Insightful)
After I showed this article to my boss... (Score:3, Funny)
How unemployment is arrived at. (Score:3, Informative)
Since so many people are going to mention the unemployment number, you should look at what that number actually means.
This site spells it out in detail. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm [bls.gov]
I would like to point out that the government does not simply make use of those people applying for unemployment insurance to arrive at the unemployment figures. This is a survey.
Perks I get at work. (Score:3, Funny)
Free ADSL!(I work at an ISP)
Computer upgrades every 5 years! (for my workstation, not at home)
Air conditioning! (We just replaced the old clunker at work)
And, um, an occasional day where the tech support calls aren't so frequent and I can actually get real work done! W00t!
Perks? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well I currently have: a company car (they pay the insurance and maintenance), a guaranteed 10% of salary additional bonus for each full year I stay, full health care for me and the wife, 24 days holiday. Oh and pension scheme that the employer contributes 5% of my salary to.
I think that's pretty much standard in the UK- the only thing that's changed for me after 3 months on the dole about 2 years ago was I lost my long service leave entitlement (it used to be 27 days).
Re:Or maybe... (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, the last company I was with made no sales for 2 quarters. their solution? fire the half the develepors, and treat the sales staff to two weeks in Jamaica.
Morons.