ByKat Hours Updated
Comments 38 Comments

What are the Best Employee Benefits & Perks?

· ·
stock photo shows "Employee Benefits Package" sitting on desk with highlighter and binder clip

There was an interesting thread on Reddit a while ago about job perks — readers, what employee benefits and perks does your company offer, and how are you optimizing these perks? There are, after all, a TON of them out there — I was blown away compiling this list!! — and there's a lot of money involved.

In the past, we've discussed how many vacation days we get, and tech budgets, and (eons ago) we had a guest post from my friend Sue on how she saves $10,000 a year by maxing out her work benefits, including her flex-spending account, commuter spending account, and dependent care spending account… but we haven't talked about employee benefits and perks too much. So let's discuss!

Here are the questions:

  • Which of the following perks do you get automatically?
  • Which perks were not automatic — you needed to be employed there for a certain amount of time, you had to get to a certain level within the company, you negotiated something different than your coworkers, etc.
  • How do you find information about perks and benefits — word of mouth? Is there a portal, or just an HR department, or just lengthy paperwork you got on Day 1?
  • Have you negotiated for any of these perks (either for a new job or as part of a promotion)? If you were choosing among multiple job offers (such as after finishing law school or grad school), how much did the employee benefits factor into your equation?
  • What employee benefit or perk is your favorite? Will you try to negotiate for it if/when you leave your current company?
  • What would your advice be to someone just starting who has the same perks you have?

Employee Benefits & Perks You Might Be Getting

Stuff You Probably Know About

  • remote / hybrid policies and arrangements
  • vacation days, “closed office” holidays, half-day Fridays, sick leave, and other PTO
  • fully paid or discounted health insurance: You probably don't even identify this as a benefit unless you're comparing your employer's plan to the marketplace. I was surprised by how many people in the Reddit post said their health insurance is 100% paid by their company, often for the employee and dependents, sometimes the employee's entire family!)
  • 401k contribution or match (or a pension): Some companies contribute 3% (for example) automatically, regardless of whether or not the employees contribute to their 401k; others will match up to a specific dollar amount.
  • professional development funds / education reimbursement
  • access to a Flexible Spending Account or a Health Savings Account
  • signing bonuses, year-end bonuses, other bonuses
  • company stock or equity: Sometimes “phantom stock benefits” — one Redditor described it as shares appointed that have no value unless the company goes public one day, but it seems like the phrase typically means a form of compensation that tracks the company's actual stock, but without giving equity in the company, as described in this Smart Asset article.
  • relocation package or reimbursement for moving expenses (One friend's relocation package even included broker help with selling their home!)
  • Employee Assistance Programs: You may not know that EAPs typically provide more than mental health services. Offerings may also include legal advice, assistance with financial issues, referrals to childcare and other family supports, and more.

Other Health-Related Perks

  • free or discounted therapy sessions
  • Health Advocate services
  • executive physicals (such as those mentioned in this PartnerMD article)
  • free/discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass memberships
  • disability benefits
  • life insurance policies
  • “earned perks” such as $25 if you walk 10,000 steps or work out for 30 minutes for X days in a particular month
  • pet health insurance

Note also that employers can often choose what the company plan will and will not cover, or create different tiers of employees. For example, one of my employers did not cover birth control pills (until the women rioted, ha) — and there's been a lot in the news lately about whether insurance plans cover weight loss drugs)

Parental and Family Planning Job Perks

  • maternity and paternity leave: Note that the FMLA only applies if your company employs 50+ people.
  • on-site daycare or childcare stipend
  • dependent care flexible savings accounts (such as those described by this Investopedia article)
  • family planning reimbursement (e.g., freezing your eggs)
  • bereavement leave (sometimes pet bereavement leave, also!)

{related: How to Negotiate Future Maternity Leave Before You're Even Pregnant}

Benefits You Can Taste

  • snacks, soda, juice, etc., in the breakroom
  • discounted / free office cafeteria for lunch
  • reimbursement for dinner when working late / on weekends

Moving Fast: Job Perks for Travel

  • cars home when working late / on weekends
  • travel perks, upgrading your airline and hotel statuses
  • reimbursement (partial or full) for mass transit, parking, gas

Mo' Money: Smaller Job Benefits

  • tech reimbursement or “remote work stipends”
  • discounted rates on mobile phone services, home internet, equipment such as iPhones
  • discounted tickets (theater, theme parks, etc.) and museum memberships
  • “cool office” perks: game rooms, private movie rooms, kombucha-on-tap, etc.
  • company merch

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / zimmytws.

38 Comments

  1. One of the reasons I don’t ever want to leave my job is the amazing benefits! We have a health & wellness amount that can be applied to just about anything that improves mental & physical wellness – music classes, running shoes, last year I went to the spa for my birthday and work covered it!

    2. I mean, obviously this is a nice benefit, but why not just give it to you as cash in the form of salary? Is there some sort of tax advantage doing it this way?

  2. I worked for a company with a large number of international staff and they offered an extra flight for a friend/family member to come visit you after two years (there was also a more frequent travel benefit to support you going to visit your home country)

    1. YES! And ideally affordable and without insane waiting lists. The university I work at has an amazing childcare center on campus, but it’s really expensive for our area so it’s out of reach for grad students/postdocs and even some staff, and the waiting lists to get in are nuts. We didn’t get a spot until our daughter was 16 months old and that was considered early.

  4. I just took a job with a big firm instead of a small one because of the application of FMLA and greater confidence in the healthcare benefits. I am middle aged with elder care on the horizon and I just did not trust the small firm to make accommodations. Sad because it would have been a better opportunity in most ways.

  5. I’m a fed and I love my benefits. They’re nothing splashy but they’re comprehensive and overall are good benefits.

    I previously worked as a fed contractor, in state government and in the private sector. Sure the private sector had some splashy Bennie’s, but they were pretty stingy elsewhere.

    Hard to pick my favorite benefits, but I’d say either separate sick time or my super flexible maxi-flex schedule. I very rarely work 5 full days a week and can adjust as needed!

    My two government jobs are the only ones that have had separate sick leave in addition to vacation time. I’m rarely sick but when I am it is SO NICE to take the time and not worry about it. I have a chronic condition that rarely requires me to miss work due to illness but does require frequent doctors appointments and annual testing with anesthesia it’s wonderful to take appointments without worrying about leave. When I was in the private sector I only had 18 days of leave and it didn’t roll over so every December I would have to burn some days that I had saved as sick days.

    1. As a counterpoint, I was a Fed for about 13 years and was consistently disappointed in the benefits (when I tell people we had to pay for our own drinking water, no one believes me). A major one was lack of any type of fertility coverage. I froze my eggs twice and none of that was covered, which was not great as a single woman who was already underpaid by being a fed employee. I’m now in the private sector (in house) and get $80K worth of fertility benefits, which I no longer need b/c I’m done having kids, but I wish I had been here when I was younger.

    2. I work for the feds too, and my favorite perk is the leave. I get basically 4 weeks a year of vacation (which goes up to 6 weeks for me in a few more years), never have issues with running out of sick leave, and love the new paid parental leave. I just got back from a 22 week maternity leave, and didn’t even touch my 4 weeks of vacation for this year.

      The other benefits seem pretty consistent with what I had in private practice. The few transit benefits is nice, but only saves me less than $100 a month.

  6. My boss’s wife just passed away from cancer. They have several children – elementary through high school aged. What can I do to help and show support? I’m on maternity leave, so I’m not at the office currently. My neighbor was friends with his wife and is making Easter baskets for the kids and suggested I contribute. I plan to, but I’m not sure what to add — general Easter basket stuff or something more meaningful?

    Any suggestions? Thank you. <3

    1. Can you just contribute some money to offset the costs of the baskets. The neighbor may already have them curated.

    2. contribute money to easter baskets, again not sure of industry/how senior your boss is compared to you etc. but gift card for local restaurant, donation to cancer charity in wife’s name. send a card at minimum

  7. I work in higher ed so I don’t have any “cool” perks like food or spas or business class travel (ha!) but we have incredible PTO by American standards – 6 weeks vacation, a nearly two week winter holiday shutdown and unlimited sick leave that can be used for family members. I love to travel and use all of my vacation time, and I used a lot of sick leave during the daycare years and expect to use more as my parents age. I’m getting my wisdom teeth out soon and am taking a full week off work without reducing the number of vacations I can take. I can’t see myself ever leaving because the PTO would be so tough to match.

    1. i work in higher ed and have similar pto and sick time but i have to say it isn’t as unusual or as tough to match as it used to be. anecdotally most high salaried white collar people i know have more and more time. I think with an expectation that one is online and available it becomes easier to give more time.

      1. Huh, that’s interesting. I know some people who have 5 or 6 weeks of combined PTO, but that would result in a lot less than 6 weeks of vacation if you use a fair amount of sick leave, which I do. I don’t know anyone in the US corporate world who has 6+ weeks of vacation and separate sick leave, and when I’ve looked at corporate jobs I’ve mostly seen 3 or 4 weeks vacation if the sick leave is separate. I know some companies have unlimited PTO but I’m very wary of that because it can be hard to use.

    2. PTO is definitely one of the reasons why I haven’t left. During my kids’ school years, it’s such a good benefit.

    3. PTO is definitely one of the reasons why I haven’t left. During my kids’ school years, it’s such a good benefit.

      1. Ugh I hate one bucket. Even if the total amount is very generous, it’s just frustrating to feel like every sick day is a vacation you can’t take.

    4. I work in higher ed, also, with separate sick leave and generous vacation leave. It would be great, except there is no way I can use it and do my job, and the norm here is clearly to lose two or three weeks each year.

      1. The norm in my dept is to not take most of it either. Most people use a couple weeks per year and we have a big boss who brags about not having taken a vacation in a decade (ugh). I take it anyway. It’s a set benefit, and not taking earned leave isn’t any different than offering to return part of your salary which no one would ever do. Another good thing about higher ed… it’s hard to get fired. If they’re not happy with you there’s much they can do other than give you stingy raises and the raises are so bad to begin with it doesn’t matter that much.

  8. My favorite perk is unlimited PTO and I once had a company that covered all of the co-pays for children’s doctor visits. It was nice to take kiddo to the doc and never need to pay a co-pay.

    1. hard disagree on unlimited PTO – great in theory but in practice it means everyone is trying to figure out what the actual expectation is. It’s just $ benefit to the company (they don’t have to accrue) disguised as a perk.

      1. Yeah I’ve always thought that’s something the company does so they don’t have to pay out accrued PTO when people leave.

      2. From my perspective, it means that I don’t have to count days and try to see if I have time available to take kiddo to doc appointments, take the whole week off for multiple holidays, or worry about sick days counting toward my total. I get that on the back end I won’t be reimbursed for those not used – but I feel the freedom to actually use days instead of hoarding them to save ‘just in case.’

      3. I think it’s department dependent in a larger company. If people in your department take vacation days routinely, it probably is a little more flexible, although we just kept taking around the previous number of contracted days. I’ve heard in other departments, that were low WLB and didn’t take vacation, that they take even less vacation.

      4. Yeah, I would never want this. We get three weeks PTO (vacation time only, not inclusive of sick leave) and that’s more than enough for me. At every job I’ve been at I get paid out at the end anyway because I never use it all.

  9. Own-occupation LTD. Most plans use own-occupation for a set period, usually one or two years, and then any occupation (with some qualifiers), but ours goes through age 65. I do not want to retrain in my late 50s or lose my benefits because I can work an unskilled job that pays $12/hour.

  10. While I don’t need it any more since I am done having kids, I have to say that our very generous paid maternity/parental leave is one of my favorite benefits at my current job. Birth moms get 5 months 100% paid time off, dads get 3 months.

    When I had my kids around 20 years ago, I got 6 weeks at 60% pay. The rest of the time I took off was unpaid FMLA. And then if you pumped when you went back to work you had to do it in the bathroom stall, sitting on the edge of the seat. I get so sad thinking about how awful that all was and I am thankful women today, at least at my company, do not need to deal with this.

  11. The only thing I miss about my former job is the fact that they covered all insurance premiums and if you opted for the high deductible plan, they fully-funded your HSA to the maximum allowable limit each year.

  12. i’m in government — there aren’t any cool perks, but the benefits are excellent when it comes to the things that really matter to me. i’m on a nominally hybrid schedule, but i work from home on most days. the retirement options are great as well; our defined contribution plan tends to favor older employees, but it’s still a good deal for those planning a decent stretch in public service (and you can pair it with a 401(k) as well). our PTO accrual formula is pretty great, and there’s a culture of actually using vacation time.

    1. I work for the state govt as an attorney. The pay is ok, and you get pretty regular raises as long as you’re doing good work. The legislative raises have been good lately- got 5% and another $5k last year, the budget proposal has a 3% this year. The state puts in 9.67% of my monthly salary into my investment account (I chose that instead of a pension). Health insurance for me and spouse is $80/mo pre-tax. About 3.5-4 weeks of paid vacation a year, which increases after you’ve been there 5 years. About 2.5 weeks paid sick leave/year, they roll over also. 13 paid holidays with a few “admin” half days before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Free tuition at state schools, which I’ve used to take dance, photography, and Spanish classes! Travel reimbursement for distant courthouses or jail. And currently 1 WFH day, but advocating for more! No weekends, work 8-430 M-F.

  13. I’m in academic medicine, so my employer is a major university. I don’t have kids, but I know that one of the most popular perks for parents are the tuition benefits. Children of employees get 100% tuition remission if they go to the university, and 50% of tuition paid by university if they go elsewhere. I’ve seen parents stay with jobs that made them crazy for the tuition!

    1. I think that’s good even by academic standards. Our state university gives us 50% off tuition for our kids, but only at our home institution. It doesn’t even work at other state universities in the state, and I want my kids to leave home for college, so I doubt we’ll take advantage of it. In-state tuition is also pretty reasonable to begin with and the benefit doesn’t extend to room and board, so it’s only worth about $20k per kid even if we did use it.

      I know of someone who got his private university to pay >$300k for private school tuition AND room and board (at other private institutions) for each of his three kids. I’m not sure if it was a standard benefit or negotiated as part of a retention package, but the total was nearly $1M and this was a few years ago now.

  15. Fully-paid medical and dental insurance premiums for employees and their families. We have a high-deductible plan, so every employee also has an employer-funded HRA for the full deductible amount, so I don’t pay a dime beyond copays. We also have very generous profit-sharing contributions to our 401ks, usually around 7-8% per year.

    I’ve worked with places that have lots of different “wellness” benefits, but this is worth thousands and thousands of dollars to me each year. I can pay for my own gym membership!

  16. I’ve been considering a new job but work in education (private preK-12) and one of the things making me pause is the vacation time. I have four weeks to use when I want to take it and another five weeks of time off that everyone gets (holiday breaks, a few long weekends, etc.). I live in the US and by American standards this is wicked generous.

Comments are closed.