> Our team tends to work long days, and if we don’t walk to lunch, we’ll likely be sitting in a chair for a minimum of eight hours a day.
Nice perk of working 8h+ per day! Love perks like these!
“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
#52"I’m sure having a pet visit the office once would be a treat, but every day quickly can become a burden on the team." Would people who are burdened by an office dog please share your experiences?
A dog running around the open office can be very distracting.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#53I wonder if they allow employees to expense lunch on the town, as opposed to paying for catering. I believe Snap Inc. works with local eateries to provide free food for employees, e.g.
Why can't they just pay more? I feel like one of the primary things I want a salary for is meals.
Payroll tax. And cutting perks is easier than cutting salaries.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#54"I’m sure having a pet visit the office once would be a treat, but every day quickly can become a burden on the team." Would people who are burdened by an office dog please share your experiences?
Not me personally, but some people are allergic. I'm allergic enough to cats that if my employer forced me to work around them, I would just leave. Some people are that allergic to dogs.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#55I'm not sure I've ever had whiplash as extreme as the point of this article where I thought to myself, "Well finally, someone pushing back against the excesses of VC-funded culture" and the line "we will compensate our employees for a dog-sitter (via a flexible health and wellness stipend)."
Actually, it could address an interesting issue depending on how it is implemented. If you gave team members a 'perks' stipend you could tax it appropriately, and you could have your employee spend it on the things that were important to them. Then create a way to scan your badge to access a perk and voila, custom perks. No, I don't actually think it is workable, the two arguments that will pop up immediately are : 1…
The nice thing about perks is that they come out as company expenses--- so they don't get hit by payroll taxes or personal income taxes. Which potentially means that you get to double money spent on perks.
You're right that it would be cool if we could customize it. Give people "perks cards", which come out of company expenses (takes advantage of the above avoiding-income-tax multiplier) and let them spend it on whatever.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#56Something 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?
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#57Extremely surprised not to see "open-office" on the list. I guess they consider it a perk!
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Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#58I think the pet thing is more balanced than a straight up anti-perk, because in situations where everyone is happy with it, it can be very nice to have. But it's certainly not for everyone, and you don't want to make someone feel like they're the "spoiler" if everyone else is ok with it.
If I were runnning a similar company I would try to find out if a balance could be struck with structured "pet days" and "no pet days" ... I wonder if even that would be too uncomfortable though, for people who really fear/despise pets.
I find that bringing your pet to work doesn't just impact the other employees but also the pet owner.
I love my dog, but tend not to bring her to the office unless I absolutely need to (maybe we're getting some work done at home or something). The dog loves it but my productivity tends to nosedive since I'm keeping an eye on her to make sure she's not pooping under someones desk or something!
Maybe a "Bring your dog to work" day once a year/quarter, but more frequent I feel just becomes problematic.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I were runnning a similar company I would try to find out if a balance could be struck with structured "pet days" and "no pet days" ... I wonder if even that would be too uncomfortable though, for people who really fear/despise pets.
It's not just "fear" or "despise" - if you're allergic to pets, you're mandating that some of your employees work from home on those days. If you're okay with that, might as well let the pet owners work from home, no?
Fear is a very real concern. I know someone so afraid of dogs that being forced to work near one could easily cause a panic attack.
Re: “Anti-perks”: what our startup doesn't want in our office
#60this place sounds like a nightmare to work at. no drinking, anti dog policies, no thanks.
Imagine how normal work places feel like to people who don't drink, are introverts and don't like to be greeted by dogs all the time.
How do you mean normal? Outside of startup land, a pet policy and free booze at work is kind of unusual.