Community Chat

[terrier3]

I just read about a company that gives each employee $3,000 a year to pay for their vacations. They HAVE to use the money for vacations...no excuses.

I worked at a health company that had a gym, private trainers, subsidized healthy food, bikes to rent, lots of perks. Company morale is sky high!

Anyone else work somewhere with a great company benefit?

“Our biggest (and in my opinion, best) perk is our paid vacation?policy,” one Mozemployee told me. “To encourage the staff to use their vacation?time (21 days is standard for all employees), the company gives us a bonus?$3,000 in vacation reimbursements for food, lodging, entertainment, and?transportation. Our team has gone everywhere from Iceland to India using?that bonus!” The CEO believes these perks are essential to keeping amazing people on his team.

[Lila Belle]

That is really cool !

[occasionalrain]

The cost of these perks are passed along to the consumer, no wonder health care is unaffordable for so many.

[terrier3]

On 3/19/2015 occasional rain said: The cost of these perks are passed along to the consumer, no wonder health care is unaffordable for so many.

The company where I worked believed that a healthy staff SAVED them money - fewer sick days, hospitalizations, etc. They believed that being active is important - even before doctors started saying that sitting all day was as bad as smoking. Workers all had company insurance - so keeping workers healthy SAVED the company a lot of money and helped keep them competitive.

It's similar to the Silver Sneakers program - it costs the insurance company money to provide it for their members, but active seniors have better health overall and SAVE the carrier in the long run.

The company is a non-profit, BTW.

[Blahblahvampemer]

Some companies/fields have a harder time retaining employees so they do this to prevent turnover. In the rest of the real world, it wouldn't be economically feasible, and we all pay for this largesse in the end.

[HollyDays]

I'd rather see them invest that money for retirement or to pay of loans and bills. Nobody should be forced to take a vacation. What good is a vacay if you're laying on the beach worrying if your car's transmission needs to be replaced.

[Blahblahvampemer]

On 3/19/2015 terrier3 said:

On 3/19/2015 occasional rain said: The cost of these perks are passed along to the consumer, no wonder health care is unaffordable for so many.

The company where I worked believed that a healthy staff SAVED them money - fewer sick days, hospitalizations, etc. They believed that being active is important - even before doctors started saying that sitting all day was as bad as smoking. Workers all had company insurance - so keeping workers healthy SAVED the company a lot of money and helped keep them competitive.

It's similar to the Silver Sneakers program - it costs the insurance company money to provide it for their members, but active seniors have better health overall and SAVE the carrier in the long run.

The company is a non-profit, BTW.

The type of business doesn't matter as it still has to be paid for.

[Blahblahvampemer]

On 3/19/2015 HollyDays said:

I'd rather see them invest that money for retirement or to pay of loans and bills. Nobody should be forced to take a vacation. What good is a vacay if you're laying on the beach worrying if your car's transmission needs to be replaced.

Good point, and it does take away someone's choices.

[terrier3]

On 3/19/2015 blahblahvampemerblah said: Some companies/fields have a harder time retaining employees so they do this to prevent turnover. In the rest of the real world, it wouldn't be economically feasible, and we all pay for this largesse in the end.

With the job market tightening, more companies will be providing perks to hire and retain good employees.

Ex.: Wegmans is privately owned, but they have an extensive college scholarship program and affordable insurance for their employees. Wegmans people STICK with Wegmans. It's less money for the Wegman family bottom line - but it pays off for them with happy, healthy employees who are proud of their company and love their product.

[sidsmom]

Had a friend that worked for an Internet company back in the heyday, so I have a little experience with this.

Her company didn't offer paid vacation, but had the other bells-whistles companies like this offer...catered hot lunches/dinners, free gym membership, free transportation, Segways, arcade room, free this, free that.

What I discovered, from my friend, it's not these companies are so awesome....it's because they work 24/7/365. The creative industry encourages this type of spontaneity. She was an admin & was expected to be on call ALL the time. She had a blast working there...the energy was GREAT....but she drew the line when her manager called her @ 2AM to go get breakfast @ Denny's for the creative team. =:0

It's much like deciphering real estate codes..."cozy" means small, "charming" means old, "conveniently located" means next to noisy retail/buses. Reading company benefits is much the same...free this, free that means you'll never have a personal life 'cuz you're working 24/7/365. $3,000 is a small price to pay for sanity! =:0. No thanks.