A Cool Perk
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Years ago I made an effort to ride my bike to work in Virginia. I had a nice 12 mile ride from the house down back roads that weren't too heavily traveled. However with rain, kid emergencies, etc., I didn't want to be stuck at work with my bike. So I decided to take a week's worth of clothes and my bike in the back of my Trooper. I then drove to work Monday morning and rode my bike home. Each day I'd ride to work, change, then ride home. On Friday afternoon I'd drive home and repeat the next week.
This worked pretty well, giving me the chance to run errands, go to lunch, or drive home if there was bad weather. However, that's not for everyone. Many people couldn't, or wouldn't want to, leave their cars overnight.
I think this is a very cool perk by Google that solves some of the issues I was trying to avoid, shared cars at work, provided by the company, just for employees to use running errands. So, since it's Friday, here's the poll:
What would be a cool, useful perk where you work?
I don't mean more personal benefits, but rather something that's shared by employees and useful to make your job easier. Is it oil changes/car washes, someone to pickup/drop off dry cleaning? Could it be meals brought onsite? A gym? What's the perk that would make your job easier and more enjoyable?
For me? I could use a stable boy 🙂
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At my work we have a gym, the option to meet with a personal trainer once per week for personal or group classes. Breakfast catered once per month with other meals/cocktail hours every once in a while. We have delivery dry cleaning, on-site car washes once/week (a little expensive, however). Also health club reimbursement and free snacks/sodas.
Buuuuttt... you're unofficially expected to work a high number of hours and there are some pretty major infrastructure frustrations from an IT perspective. So there's a fairly high rate of burnout. I could probably do with a few fewer perks in exchange for some improvements which would better the overall quality of my actual work experience.
- Well every few weeks we are offered a 'Trigger Point Massage' which is not a gun hand massage. It is a upper back and shoulders massage done by a health care person. It really helps reduce muscle tiredness. Then there is a selection of top quality fresh fruits kept in the lunch room, which is popular, great covered parking, Friday night drinks, various healthly snacks in the lunch room. Pleasant people to work with which is always great.Graham
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I am in the middle of the city in Brisbane (Australia) where the road networks and many other public-funded facilities are 50 years behind the times [hey - the poms shipped a few hundred convicts here back in the penal colony days whereupon they somehow became politicians and the place has been run by crooks since....
].With a crap public transport infrastructure and a road network designed by having a drunk chook (with ink on it's feet) wander over a contour map of an earthen vomit, the choice is to drive and sit in traffic or to catch a bus that is packed like a sardine tin - or catch a train that is... packed like a sardine tin (John West does not always pack the best! :rolleyes
, I've taken to riding a motorbike to work. The building I am in is right beside the river and subsequently was not able to be built perfectly square so that every square inch can be used to park cars. This means there are little holes all over the place where a motorbike can be put without risk of damage to a car or damage from a car. I consider this to be an excellent little perk considering that I've been told that the cheapest parking in the city runs at about $20 a day - and I get it for free 
Of course, coming from government, I think that being supplied coffee & milk is a great perk as that was taken off us years ago while management still shouted themselves the best of everything
(and still do).I really like the company I work for and they do think of many things to help out. Earlier this year, the company says that it will arrange & pay for flu shots for anyone on staff who wants them. What a cost-effective idea - not only does it save having to pay out on sick leave but it also helps prevent the illnesses from spreading in the office if someone comes in anyway!
Another company I interviewed for put on breakfast every morning for the staff. An IT shop of a hundred people or so (I think). A bloke I know who worked there said it was great and that he didn't eat breakfast at home anymore as the food was paid for by work and it really added to the morale of the staff. They did a fair bit of extra time though so it must have been like a plan to feed the troops up in the morning so that they could work longer
My current job also gives me a window seat where I can see the hordes of legal secretaries coming and going each day dressed up in their business suits and such.... *sigh*
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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Tricky balance between a nice perk and a perk which just forces you to work more. Good, fresh, espresso coffee counts as a great perk, even better when served by a tasty Barista. Bit worried about Steve's desire for a stable boy though....
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<<For me? I could use a stable boy
>>My colleague told me that the boys at the local school here are pretty stable, before he was arrested!
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden -
My kids are past the age now but a Crèche would have been wonderful.
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I live and work in Chester in North-West England. It's only a small place and my home is about 800 metres from my work so a nice perk for me would be the option to work from home via a VPN.
It takes less than 10 minutes to walk to work so I could be 'on call' easily... If only I could convince the boss!
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Good lord Adrian that's cushy! I'm living in Reading and contracting in Surbiton, two hours each way (3 trains) - they gave me a lappy set up for vpn, wednesdays only!
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden -
Chris,
I nearly ended up buying a house in the street behind work, but thought that would be a bit too close for comfort!!
I don't envy your journey at all, sorry!
Ade
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BTW Ade, isn't living on the set of the esteemed soap Hollyoaks sufficent perk already?
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden -
I wish that was true!
They film most of it in Liverpool these days with about two minutes footage of Chester thrown in about once a month. My brother was recently disappointed when he visited and found this out...
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A company concierage service for running errands...
Dry cleaning, oil changes, trips to DMV for stickers, loaf of bread/bottle of milk...
...somebody to handle non-family stuff that interrupts the normal workday....stuff you MUST get done outside of work but during normal business hours...stuff you MUST get done but you would really prefer not to.
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More vacation time. I only have 10 days/year with my most recent job whereas before I had 15. It is a great job with excellent people to work for. But I do miss those extra five days. Of course that's America for you. As I understand it, the average vacation allotment in the EU is about 25 days/year. And that's for starters.
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The best perk of all would be for "corporate management" to understand and value what their IT departments CAN do for them, for their organization and, most importantly, for the organization's bottom line. In most organizations I have worked over the past forty years, IT is a cost center instead of a profit center. This implies that management sees IT as a necessary evil, not as key contributer. Just this "sea change" , and the resulting re-alignment of my job function, would be the best perk possible.
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