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“Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

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Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#111

Post by ecshafer »

Endy wrote: post #63
MarkCole wrote: post #56

Something that stuck out for me: > "Don’t get me wrong — Even has plenty of perks. Our team is offered paid vacation time (with a minimum number of days off)" Is paid vacation time really a perk? Is vacation time usually unpaid in the US or something? Or maybe the perk is the minimum number of days off?

It's a major perk in the US. Vacation time is basically reserved for management or C-Suite folks, especially if it's paid.

This is categorically false. While there are no federal requirements, and many hourly workers do not get paid time off, most salaried and professional workers do. It is extremely common for us workers to get paid time off.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#112

Post by objectivetruth »

scarface74 wrote: post #110
romanovcode wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow unbelievable, I never knew that. For someone who works in EU this sounds ridiculous.

It’s not true for white collar work. For the most part, salaried and even non salaried full time workers get at least 20 days of paid time off a year.

Nope, average is 10. And this is gross: "A remarkable 23 percent of Americans have no paid vacations and no paid holidays."

https://gusto.com/framework/health-benefits/paid-vacation-ti...

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#113

Post by greenyoda »

djhworld wrote: post #80
stefco_ wrote: post #21

> But as we grow in size, we also plan to grow in the diversity of our perspectives and backgrounds — which is even more reason not to add a bunch of extraneous or overly specific perks. Especially as our team diversifies, we can’t (and shouldn’t) strive to have a one-size-fits-all office or benefits package. This is a great point about bringing in diverse hires. If you optimize your perks to appeal to you, then you'…

> One of my friends is in an office environment where they play Quake III for an hour a day. This perk is actually a mandatory bonding session I've been a gamer for most of my life, but this would horrify me as a perk as it's completely exclusionary (which backs up your point) Imagine being the employee that doesn't play games, it's like mandatory doing office sports

"Imagine being the employee that doesn't play games..."

Even worse, imagine being the employee who is a veteran with PTSD, or the employee who was a refugee from a war zone like Bosnia who associates the sound of gunfire with their parents being killed.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#114

Post by DrScump »

Endy wrote: post #63
MarkCole wrote: post #56

Something that stuck out for me: > "Don’t get me wrong — Even has plenty of perks. Our team is offered paid vacation time (with a minimum number of days off)" Is paid vacation time really a perk? Is vacation time usually unpaid in the US or something? Or maybe the perk is the minimum number of days off?

It's a major perk in the US. Vacation time is basically reserved for management or C-Suite folks, especially if it's paid.

False.

Heck, I even received a week's paid vacation as a crew chief (not even a manager) at a McDonalds when I was 17.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#115

Post by xiphias »

bpicolo wrote: post #77
balls187 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty much a standard perk for any tech company worth their salt. The minimum number of days off is pretty much a BS perk too.

> The minimum number of days off is pretty much a BS perk too. I wouldn't call it a perk, but it's in the interest of the business to help prevent burnout.

8+ hours of working per day pretty much guarantees a burnout for most people

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#116

Post by lancewiggs »

watwut wrote: post #101
derefr wrote: post #95

I'm someone who has mostly worked for startups, but I just came off a stint working for IBM (Canada), and the difference in the "office culture" at IBM from the startups I had worked at kind of blew me away. IBM's office culture was basically built around two ideas: 1. that everyone working on a team would be spread around the globe (not necessarily at first, but certainly as IBM had to send them around to do sales e…

I like everything about it except no perfume policy. People during summer smell.

Then they should wash. Perfume + odour is even worse than one alone.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#117

Post by edanm »

balls187 wrote: post #68
kylec wrote: post #36

Thank you for not allowing pets. I both dislike and am allergic to dogs, and it annoys me when people think it's no big deal to bring their dog into the office. This is not your home, this is a professional workspace that we all share.

Tangentially unrelated, with all the kids with strong peanut alergies, what's going to happen in 10 years--will offices ban peanuts and peanut based foods? We informally had a dog policy at our old office, which was an offshoot location. I'd bring my dogs in, until we hired a woman who had grown up in an area of the world where wild dogs were a real problem, and was deathly afraid of them. My co-workers loved having…

I think that usually, peanut/other allergies are only dangerous if the person is eating peanuts, which that person can avoid (or other food provided for him/her if the office provides food).

If you're talking about a dog though, it is usually impossible for the person to avoid the dog.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#118

Post by edanm »

I like a lot of these. I especially connected with "going out for lunch" vs. "catered lunches". I totally get why companies prefer catered lunches, and am surprised more companies don't realize the benefits, but I really enjoy leaving the office for a bit and getting some sun.

That said, one thing I have an issue with is this: "“Mandatory fun” office events".

If we're talking a once-a-week thing, then yes, that's way over the top.

But if we're talking a company day out or something similar every half year or so, I think it's incredibly important. I think the bonding effect is good, but more importantly, if it's not coordinated, then there are people who will miss it. For one thing, for people married with children, going to a random "people in the office decided to go out today" is usually much harder than going to a "scheduled 2 months in advance mandatory event". For another thing, it is easy for this to devolve into some people bonding and everyone else not being part of it. So I think it is beneficial to have a once-in-a-few-months bonding experience.

(I also think lighter forms of this, like an in-office "happy hour" once a week, is a pretty good idea too).

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#119

Post by kilotaras »

geofft wrote: post #107
TylerE wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing that high minded. You are simply taxed on income. Money the company spends isn't personal income.

But that interpretation has ridiculously easy loopholes - why not just reduce my salary by $10K and give me a $10K company-managed Amazon budget for personal expenses? Why not just let the company book my personal vacation travel via payroll deduction? Why not have the company rent my apartment and sublet it to me? etc. I'm coming at this from the position that the law must say, if you're giving a person access to a…

Only some of the benefits are excluded from income, food and health insurance being the most popular. The rest have their value added to income and taxed accordingly.

Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office

#120

Post by geofft »

kilotaras wrote: post #119
geofft wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that interpretation has ridiculously easy loopholes - why not just reduce my salary by $10K and give me a $10K company-managed Amazon budget for personal expenses? Why not just let the company book my personal vacation travel via payroll deduction? Why not have the company rent my apartment and sublet it to me? etc. I'm coming at this from the position that the law must say, if you're giving a person access to a…

Only some of the benefits are excluded from income, food and health insurance being the most popular. The rest have their value added to income and taxed accordingly.

So why doesn't every employer give me a food FSA or something? Pretty much everyone spends some of their salary on food....
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