When it comes to your ideal job or career, what do you look for? Surely, salary is a factor but it shouldn’t be the only one. When you’re considering a job offer, it’s important to take a company’s culture in mind, which includes employee benefits and perks because these aspects can make a huge impact on your quality of life.
In fact, Glassdoor reports that employee benefits and perks are one of the top considerations nearly 3 in 5, or 57 percent, of job seekers consider before accepting a job offer. Additionally, 4 in 5 people indicate they’d prefer a job with additional or new perks over receiving a pay raise.
When it comes to what matters most to employees, Glassdoor’s 2015 Employment Confidence Survey found that employees tend to value similar perks. The top five most valued employee benefits included:
• 40% - healthcare/insurance benefits (like medical, dental, etc.)
• 37% - vacation/paid time off
• 35% - performance bonuses
• 32% - paid sick days/leave
• 31% - 401(k) plan, retirement plan and/or pension
As a result of this emphasis on the importance of employee perks and benefits, companies work to develop and create unique benefits for employees and remain competitive within the marketplace. While free coffee and time off are great, some companies go above and beyond the standard, adding value to their employees’ lives through benefits. More specifically, the following companies take this aspect to a completely new level. Glassdoor compiled some of the most unique benefits at various companies offered, based on employees’ feedback on the site.
Check out top 20 companies, ranked by Glassdoor, that are unparalleled when it comes to the added benefits offered to employees, along with Glassdoor users’ benefits ranking:
Unique Benefit: Netflix workers are offered a full paid year of maternity/paternity leave to new parents. Plus, their policies allow parents to return full- or part-time and are encouraged to take time off, as needed, for family obligations.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 3.7/5
Unique Benefit: REI employees are allotted two paid days off called “Yay Days” annually, which are paid days off that employees are encouraged to utilize to enjoy a favorite outdoor activity.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: Salesforce employees are encouraged to make a difference in their communities with six paid volunteer days off per year. When an employee utilizes all six volunteer days, the company awards the individual a $1,000 grant donation to the employee’s choice charity.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
Unique Benefit: Employees receive tons of parental perks at Spotify. New parents enjoy six months of paid parental leave, in addition to flexible work options when they return to the office. Plus, the company’s benefits includes covering wannabe-parents’ costs for fertility assistance and egg freezing!
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.2/5
Unique Benefit: If you’re lucky enough to work at this nonprofit, you’ll develop a new appreciation for the panda. The company hosts “Panda Fridays,” which gives the company’s employees every other Friday off.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
Unique Benefit: With each employee given a yearly $2,000 stipend to travel and take advantage of Airbnb listings around the globe, it’s no wonder this company was ranked as Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2016.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
Unique Benefit: PwC employees are given up to $1,200 per year to help reimburse their student loan debt, which surely comes in handy if you’re in debt, like the majority of college graduates in America.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: Pinterest employees benefit from the company’s unique parent policy. They’re given four paid months off, with an additional month on top to work part-time hours. Plus, parents can develop a comprehensive plan to re-enter the workplace confidently with the help of two counseling sessions.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.7/5
Unique Benefit: Burton employees receive seasonal ski passes and, in the event of a snowball, “snow days” that allow them to skip work and hit the slopes, instead.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: At Twilio, employees are encouraged to read to their heart’s content. The company gives each employee a Kindle, along with $30 per month toward the purchase of books.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: In addition to providing employee perks like three catered meals daily, Twitter takes benefits to the next level. Employees also enjoy benefits like taking improv classes and relaxing with on-site acupuncture.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
Unique Benefit: As part of a strong commitment to both LGBTQ rights and diversity, Accenture will foot the bill for gender reassignment surgery for its employees.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: The “Happiest Place on Earth” strives to have the happiest employees on earth, too. Employees of the Walt Disney Company, along with employee friends and family, enjoy free admission to its theme parks, plus discounts on hotels and merchandise.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
Unique Benefit: Facebooks recognizes that babies are expensive and gives $4,000 in “Baby Cash” to employees with a new baby.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.7/5
Unique Benefit: Employees at Evernote can take advantage of “Evernote Academy,” which hosts cool classes, like macaroon baking, that employees can take that promote team-building.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
Unique Benefit: Once an employee hits the 5-year mark at Epic Systems Corporation, they’re rewarded with a paid, four-week sabbatical from work to “pursue their creative talents.”
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
Unique Benefit: Adobe employees can take advantage of two weeks off when the company shuts down twice a year: one week each winter and one over the summer.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
Unique Benefit: Asana offers its employees access to outside executive and life coaching services.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.9/5
Unique Benefit: If Zillow employees happen to be traveling while breast feeding, the company offers an oddly unique benefit: they’ll pay for employees to ship breast milk.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
Unique Benefit: Google cares about employees – and their families. If a Google employee passes away, Google will pay the surviving spouse/partner 50 percent of the deceased person’s income for ten years.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
• 37% - vacation/paid time off
• 35% - performance bonuses
• 32% - paid sick days/leave
As a result of this emphasis on the importance of employee perks and benefits, companies work to develop and create unique benefits for employees and remain competitive within the marketplace. While free coffee and time off are great, some companies go above and beyond the standard, adding value to their employees’ lives through benefits. More specifically, the following companies take this aspect to a completely new level. Glassdoor compiled some of the most unique benefits at various companies offered, based on employees’ feedback on the site.
1. Netflix
Unique Benefit: Netflix workers are offered a full paid year of maternity/paternity leave to new parents. Plus, their policies allow parents to return full- or part-time and are encouraged to take time off, as needed, for family obligations.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 3.7/5
2. REI
Unique Benefit: REI employees are allotted two paid days off called “Yay Days” annually, which are paid days off that employees are encouraged to utilize to enjoy a favorite outdoor activity.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
3. Salesforce
Unique Benefit: Salesforce employees are encouraged to make a difference in their communities with six paid volunteer days off per year. When an employee utilizes all six volunteer days, the company awards the individual a $1,000 grant donation to the employee’s choice charity.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
4. Spotify
Unique Benefit: Employees receive tons of parental perks at Spotify. New parents enjoy six months of paid parental leave, in addition to flexible work options when they return to the office. Plus, the company’s benefits includes covering wannabe-parents’ costs for fertility assistance and egg freezing!
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.2/5
5. World Wildlife Fund
Unique Benefit: If you’re lucky enough to work at this nonprofit, you’ll develop a new appreciation for the panda. The company hosts “Panda Fridays,” which gives the company’s employees every other Friday off.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
6. Airbnb
Unique Benefit: With each employee given a yearly $2,000 stipend to travel and take advantage of Airbnb listings around the globe, it’s no wonder this company was ranked as Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2016.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
7. PwC
Unique Benefit: PwC employees are given up to $1,200 per year to help reimburse their student loan debt, which surely comes in handy if you’re in debt, like the majority of college graduates in America.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
8. Pinterest
Unique Benefit: Pinterest employees benefit from the company’s unique parent policy. They’re given four paid months off, with an additional month on top to work part-time hours. Plus, parents can develop a comprehensive plan to re-enter the workplace confidently with the help of two counseling sessions.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.7/5
9. Burton
Unique Benefit: Burton employees receive seasonal ski passes and, in the event of a snowball, “snow days” that allow them to skip work and hit the slopes, instead.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
10. Twilio
Unique Benefit: At Twilio, employees are encouraged to read to their heart’s content. The company gives each employee a Kindle, along with $30 per month toward the purchase of books.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
11. Twitter
Unique Benefit: In addition to providing employee perks like three catered meals daily, Twitter takes benefits to the next level. Employees also enjoy benefits like taking improv classes and relaxing with on-site acupuncture.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
12. Accenture
Unique Benefit: As part of a strong commitment to both LGBTQ rights and diversity, Accenture will foot the bill for gender reassignment surgery for its employees.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
13. Walt Disney Company
Unique Benefit: The “Happiest Place on Earth” strives to have the happiest employees on earth, too. Employees of the Walt Disney Company, along with employee friends and family, enjoy free admission to its theme parks, plus discounts on hotels and merchandise.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.0/5
14. Facebook
Unique Benefit: Facebooks recognizes that babies are expensive and gives $4,000 in “Baby Cash” to employees with a new baby.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.7/5
15. Evernote
Unique Benefit: Employees at Evernote can take advantage of “Evernote Academy,” which hosts cool classes, like macaroon baking, that employees can take that promote team-building.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
16. Epic Systems Corporation
Unique Benefit: Once an employee hits the 5-year mark at Epic Systems Corporation, they’re rewarded with a paid, four-week sabbatical from work to “pursue their creative talents.”
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.3/5
17. Adobe
Unique Benefit: Adobe employees can take advantage of two weeks off when the company shuts down twice a year: one week each winter and one over the summer.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
18. Asana
Unique Benefit: Asana offers its employees access to outside executive and life coaching services.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.9/5
19. Zillow
Unique Benefit: If Zillow employees happen to be traveling while breast feeding, the company offers an oddly unique benefit: they’ll pay for employees to ship breast milk.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.5/5
20. Google
Unique Benefit: Google cares about employees – and their families. If a Google employee passes away, Google will pay the surviving spouse/partner 50 percent of the deceased person’s income for ten years.
Glassdoor’s Overall Benefits Ranking: 4.6/5
