Tag Archives: perks

Closing the deal

I am self-employed. I’m my own boss.

So do I complain to me that my company doesn’t offer outrageous perks to keep me on the payroll?

Even in these tough times, employers are getting more and more creative in the perks they offer to attract — and keep — top talent.

Remember when we used to get excited about free soda in the break room?  Child’s play.

Take a look at some of the fun stuff that CNN & Forbes report is out there now:

  • Abercrombie & Fitch offers employees electric scooters to travel around the corporate campus.
  • Google offers employees free breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks at 16 gourmet cafes on its campus.
  • American Century Investments covers employee adoption expenses and fertility treatments up to $10,000 per year.
  • Cliff Bar has a 40-foot bouldering wall, fitness center, dance studio, two massage rooms and a staff of certified trainers and nutritionists.
  • S.C. Johnson gives retired employees lifetime memberships in its fitness center.
  • Smucker grants employees a 100 percent college tuition reimbursement, with no ceiling.
  • Genentech sends ergonomics specialists to examine employees’ work desk and gear.

Wow.

Well…there’s always Diet Snapple in my frig!

First class

You can’t put a price on friendship.

But let’s face it — a friend whose brother is a writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is inherently worth more.

I was in the audience for yesterday’s taping of the The Daily Show.  It’s not the first time I’ve been at the show; that’s one of the perks of living in New York City.

It was the first time I was considered a VIP guest and entered through the appropriately-named VIP entrance.  The first time I got to hang out in the staff lounge before the show instead of outside in the rain with the ‘regular audience.’

The first time I sat in the front row in the seats closest to Jon Stewart and guest Al Sharpton.  The first time I got to take a tour of backstage and the The Daily Show offices.

Yeah, it was the first time I was in the same room with the head writer and Samantha Bee and John Oliver.  And the second time I met staff writer Kevin Bleyer, who I sat next to on a very delayed flight from North Carolina many years ago.  

(I remembered way more about our meeting than he did — imagine.)

And I imagine I will remember yesterday in vivid detail for years to come.