Nearly 1 in 5 job ads promote at least one legal or baseline entitlement as a “perk”, according to a recent survey by Reward Gateway, an employee engagement platform. The most common one is water, listed as a perk in 1,009 out of nearly 10,000 job adverts analyzed.
On LinkedIn, it’s common to see posts from people expressing outrage over absurd or supposedly funny perks, such as “access to the owner’s pet.” Last year, the South China Morning Post reported on a job ad that sparked controversy in the country. Among the perks, it mentioned “free toilet use,” “no electricity charges for overtime,” and “free use of the lifts.”
Employers should think carefully before presenting basic rights or questionable conditions as “perks,” as it can hurt their employer brand and deter strong candidates.
Here are 10 of the worst “perks” we’ve come across on Reddit and elsewhere across the internet:
1. “24/7 access to the office”
2. “We pay on time”
3. “Decorate your workspace however you want!”
4. Not-so-flexible hours
“‘Of course, we support flexible working options! You’re free to work from home nights and weekends.’ Said with absolutely no hint of irony nor awareness.”
“Contact stated ‘flexible hours’, but I was pulled aside and rinsed by a colleague and one of the company directors when I turned up at 9.30 am on my second day. It turned out that their interpretation of ‘flexible’ went the other direction — you had to be in the office 9-5 plus at least 2 hours a day to ‘show your commitment’.”
5. Permission to turn cameras off during video meetings on Fridays
6. “French, Italian, and Spanish female junior developers.”
Was this an attempt to promote team diversity and gender balance? The wording made it sound creepy.
7. Three hours of free time between 5 pm/6 pm and 8 pm/9 pm
Btw, the feats of strength competitions are pretty bad, too.
8. “Food stamp eligibility. They paid so little that they listed government assistance as a BENEFIT.”
9. A ‘wobble room’
“Basically, a room where it was okay to go and have a little cry/freak out/meltdown if you got overwhelmed at work. Instead of, you know, attempting to address the reasons why people were crying/freaking out/melting down at work…and then you were expected back front and center for the rest of your shift.”
10. Free lunch supposed to be eaten at the computer
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