Show me the “Perks”!

These days, it seems that more employers are offering “perks” in lieu of higher salaries in order to keep employees happy and content. After all, “perks” are much more cost-effective than the cost involved with hiring and training new workers. Instead of employees leaving their current places of work for “greener pastures” so to speak, these same employees receive perks and other incentives as rewards. Some of the perks that are currently offered at various organizations include:

Free Career-related Development and Training Perk

Besides personally enriching each employee, this educational “freebie” also creates a more educated workforce – which can only help the company’s bottom-line in the long run. Along similar lines, mentor programs are also offered by many organizations. Again, both employee and employer benefit from this type of arrangement as an employee will most likely learn new skills and tips from a mentor - that will likely benefit both the employee and the employer.

Flexible Schedule Perk

One of the more popular perks that employers offer employees is flexibility over their work schedules- in situations where this perk is feasible. For instance, employers can offer work-from-home days, flexible work hours and other related work-life balance incentives.

Volunteer Service Days Perk

Some progressive workplaces allow employees to volunteer – with pay – with local organizations of their choosing. As employees may not otherwise have this type of opportunity to volunteer due to family obligations and time constraints, these volunteer service days are quite popular as it allows these workers to give back to their community.

Free Lunch Perk

Yes, there “sometimes” is such a thing as a free lunch! For instance, select companies make it a policy to buy lunch for their employees once a week or once a month – depending on the organization. Similarly, other companies buy their employees a continental breakfast – complete with muffins, bagels, coffee, juice and other popular breakfast items on certain designated days.

Discounts Perk

While larger companies are in a better position to give substantial discounts to their employees, small to mid level businesses also offer this type of perk. Some group discounts include good deals on computer and technology equipment and a reduced cost gym membership for instance.

Overall then, as employers realize the benefits that perks bring to a workforce, an increasing number of organizations utilize these types of incentives.

Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues for PhillyJobsBlog.com and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines. Please visit her other blogs at PhillyJobsBlog.com and view job posting at PhillyJobs.com.