Main image of article Companies' Best (and Most Unusual) Perks
Lots of tech companies offer perks as a way to keep employees motivated. But not all perks are created equal, and not all employees respond to them in the same way. For example, a mid-level manager with three kids (and another on the way) might leap at the chance to work for a company that offers a paid year of maternity leave, while a much younger developer might hunger for on-site dry cleaning and dog care. Glassdoor recently crunched its in-house data and generated a list of the top 20 employee benefits and perks. Many of these perks are offered by tech companies, which have a desperate need to attract the top talent in a highly competitive industry. Here’s the top 10; you can view the rest on Glassdoor’s site:
  • Netflix The streaming-media company offers one paid year of maternity and paternity leave. In addition, parents can schedule their off-time throughout the year, coming back in a full- or part-time capacity as needed.
  • REI REI offers two paid days off for outdoor activities.
  • Salesforce Employees at the cloud-based CRM firm receive six days of paid volunteer time off per year. They also receive cash to donate to charity.
  • Spotify In addition to six months of paid paternal leave, the company will pay for egg freezing and fertility assistance.
  • World Wildlife Fund Employees get every other Friday off.
  • Airbnb In keeping with its mission of providing people all over the world with places to stay, Airbnb offers its employees an annual stipend to travel and stay someplace.
  • PwC The consulting and services conglomerate helps employees pay off their student loan debt.
  • Pinterest The social network gives employees three paid months of maternity or paternity leave, in addition to another month of part-time hours.
  • Burton If you like to ski, the company gives employees ski passes and “snow days.”
  • Twilio This company wants you to read: perks include a Kindle plus a small stipend every month to purchase books.
While these sorts of perks allow companies to differentiate themselves in a competitive environment, Glassdoor found that most employees prefer to have the basics, including healthcare, vacation time, performance bonuses, paid sick days, and some sort of retirement plan.