Bring your dog to work, consult a nutritionist, take paternity leave: Philly CEOs crow about their employees’ fave workplace benefits
Consider finance company FS Investments in the Navy Yard. The firm provides access to an on-site fitness facility offering group fitness classes and one-on-one coaching with one of three full-time trainers. In addition, the cafeteria serves up customized portion sizes based on each employee's activity levels and individual goals, along with advice from an on-site dietitian, if desired.
"The result is that 86 percent of our colleagues in our
FS Investments, which is an investment firm, wants to make its workplace more family-friendly, offering mothers' rooms on every floor and three paid days off annually for volunteer work, plus
Finally, there are the "convenience" perks, although employees pay the costs: medical concierge services, dry cleaning, shoe shine valet, and on-site car cleaning. FS Investments manages or comanages
Benefits can ebb and flow with the economy. And although the economy is strong currently, employers are offering perks and benefits that can easily be cut back in a recession, noted
"There's not a general interest in committing to something that's immobile or can't be changed, such as retiree health plans," said Luedtke, who also is managing director of Navigator Benefit Solutions. "Student debt assistance is measurable and generally it ends. It's a benefit that has a short tail on it, and in a recession, that could go away easily."
More frequently, hiring older workers has become popular in a growing economy, while perks for younger workers such as on-site concierge, dry cleaning, and shoe shines are "a throwback to the big corporations of the 1950s."
Another trend: Millennials and other younger workers want portable benefits, such as a retirement plan that follows them from job to job.
"How do companies deal with the gig economy, the Uberization of work, from a benefits perspective?" Luedtke said. "The younger generations aren't seeing themselves as working for one company forever. That's not new. But they're increasingly moving toward short-term engagements, such as project work."
What about other
Sagefrog this year took the notion of work-life "balance" up a notch, with meditation classes designed to improve the marketing agency employees' mental health, clarity, and stress levels. Big retailer
PwC, the accounting firm formerly known as
We asked workers and their CEOs to crow a little about their best benefits in the workplace, the ones that are most popular among employees. Did the on-site nutritionist or chef help you retain your execs? Or did helping millennial workers pay off their student loans earn their undying loyalty?
What's your best benefit at work and how has it paid off? Let us know.
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