Main image of article Netflix Shows Perks Matter as Much as Pay

Perks and benefits keep employees happy.[/caption] Being happy at work is important. A new study from Blind shines some light on where tech employees are happiest, and the results are a bit surprising. Blind attempted to discover the relative happiness of employees at major tech companies. Netflix had the highest number of employees satisfied with their pay, at over 80 percent. Second place went to Dropbox, with Facebook checking in third. NerdWallet, a financial planning company, took fourth place. Streaming service Twitch rounded out the top five. Pay is a major element in workplace happiness, but not the only factor. Blink also asked its 4,174 respondents if they were interested in moving to a new company. Netflix ranked lowest here, but over half of Dropbox’s employee base said they were open to leaving. NerdWallet ranked lowest, with over 90 percent saying they were interested in leaving. In the Venn diagram of being paid well and looking to leave, Netflix employees fared best: some 90 percent say the company pays them fairly, and under 30 percent are open to leaving. Facebook was second with an 85/35 split (paid well versus open-to-leaving), and LinkedIn was third with a 60/40 ratio. Things get a bit tighter when it comes to traditional ‘big tech.' Google’s workforce is almost split between those ready to leave and those who feel they’re being paid fairly. With Lyft and Uber, the situation is even more tenuous, and Amazon and Apple are upside-down with regard to the ratio. The worst offender seems to be Microsoft, where only 40 percent say they’re paid fairly and 75 percent say they’d like to leave. While factors leading to employee dissatisfaction are easy to identify, it's harder to determine what's afflicting a particular company. We can point to things such as a negative culture as a reason why large numbers of people may want to jump ship, but that’s subjective. A SHRM report notes engagement could be to blame in employee dissatisfaction, and a recent Gallup poll says 51 percent of U.S. employees feel no connection to their jobs. Employees who are actively disengaged quickly become resentful, and contribute to low office morale. The next thing you know, a substantial portion of a given workforce has no more respect for their jobs or employers. Burnout may prove another factor in low morale. Jodi Chavez, president of Atlanta-based Randstad Professionals, a segment of Randstad US, told SHRM: “Some employers may see checking social media a few times a day as a small offense, while napping on the job or watching Netflix could be considered serious safety hazards for other employers. Really, we found that these results are part of a bigger story—a trend of burnout and job dissatisfaction." Burnout, Chavez added, "is a natural human reaction to stressful environments, or long workdays, but it may also be a sign that an employee isn't the right fit for a position. It's important for employers to be aware of these habits, evaluate if they're a sign of a larger issue and identify what they can do to help employees feel appreciated." Netflix is a great example of a company checking all the right boxes when it comes to employees. It pays well in a competitive landscape, and offers unique benefits to attract employees, such as a movie theater and a lenient pet policy. It has class-leading family leave rules; Glassdoor feedback highlights the unlimited time off policy and bountiful stock options. Such benefits are critical to employee retention, something also underscored by the Dice Salary Survey.