8 unbelievable work perks

For most employees, an early Friday finish, free food or paid charity day is enough to get them grinning, but some businesses really have gone the extra mile when it comes to job perks – as you’ll soon see, the big guns in America are leading the way…

Warning: you might not want your employees to see this list. There’s a very high chance your business’ perks will pale in comparison.

1. Annual holiday galore

Virgin employees can take holidays when they want, for as long as they want, and without giving a return date or asking for approval. What?!

2. Goodbye wedding worries

For most, tying the knot comes hand in hand with money worries. But not for Boxed Wholesale employees, because they’ve vowed to reimburse up to $20,000 of wedding costs to their full-time employees.

3. The best things in life are free

Airbnb employees benefit from an annual allowance of $2,000 to splash on exploring. One slight unproblematic clause, they’ve got to stay in an Airbnb listing. It’s a hard life, isn’t it?

4. Bye-bye 9-5

Netflix doesn’t believe in 9-5, or even tracking employees’ work hours, for that matter! As long as employees get their work done, it doesn’t matter what time they get in the office or how long they hang around for.

5. Get rich from referrals

It’s not unheard of for businesses to offer cash to employees for referring someone they know, but software development company Atlassian have gone and trumped the norm. They offer an impressive $2,000 referral bonus to any employee who refers someone for a permanent, full-time position.

6. Give back

Salesforce employees can give back and get paid while doing it. Every employee is given seven volunteer days a year and, every fiscal year, each of the company’s top 100 volunteers are given a whopping $10,000 to donate to a charity of their choice.

7. Paid breaks

Adobe shuts up shop for one week, twice a year – one break in the winter and one in the summer, giving its employees an extra two weeks of paid holiday a year.

8. Baby funds

If you’re on Facebook’s payroll and you have a new-born, you’ll benefit from a nice cash injection into your baby fund. How much? Oh, you know, just a mere $4,000.

Don’t despair

Now, it goes without saying that not many business can be quite so lavish with their perks. And you don’t need to either!

The old saying ‘it’s the thought that counts’ still stands, and it’s no different for your workplace perks. Don’t worry, we practise what we preach! Check out our workplace perks for some inspiration.