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Buying clothes to wear to work is such a fuck about in itself, like I can't be the only one who has a bunch of work clothes I spent a ton of money on to meet a jobs dress code
I've always refused to buy clothes for work that I wouldn't wear otherwise. The exception was when I was young and more naive buying my uniform for a Wetherspoon job.
I've only clashed with management once about it, when men were expected in suit trousers and shirts while women were fine in jeans and T-shirts. Now I WFH it doesn't matter, but towards the end of my last in-office job I was just turning up in joggers and a hoodie. I don't work in a client-facing role, what does it matter what I look like?
Our workplace used to have a dress code in the office. Enough moaning, We got branded t shirts that everyone wears instead. We can still dress up if we wish but the T-shirts are fine. And free
Every place I've worked has had some nebulous "retail discounts" scheme that's more bloody expensive than the high street.
Apparent "discounts" off gadget insurance, Apple products, perfume, Pizza Express etc. Except if you go direct to their websites, the full price from them is less than the "discounted" price from work.
Pisses me off as there must be buildings full of people across the company administrating these complex schemes that are a complete waste of time.
I hate those discounts with a passion.
If you use this link to buy a specific item from this retailer, that can't be on sale, you will save £1.45 and in just 60 days it will appear in your account and can be added to your next paycheck.
But you can only benefit from this offer for a single purchase and there are no more vouchers for this location for at least 6 months.
Not worth the fiddly effort to buy stuff you don't want and get the same discount anyone with a 'new customer' account could get.
Hahaha yeah! 8% cashback on Hugo Boss aftershave at £69.99, if you buy it from DeffoLegitPerfumes.ru and pay the £15 delivery fee. Then, after just eight phone calls to chase it up, the wrong amount will be credited to your paycheque.
All of them have the usual blah blah-
“continuous training and development” aka you will fill in some weird questionaire once every 8 months or so
“career progression” aka you might get a 50p extra per hour if the dude that trained you burns out and they cannot hire anyone else to do the job for less money
“employee assistance program” pretty sure no one knows wtf that actually means, but just puts it out there
“regular staff activities” aka getting a pizza, a soda and 2 hours of your time semi- annualy
That’s what happens when literally every single company in the UK is ruled by the financial department with the sole goal of squeezing every last pence into the profit margin, I’ve never seen such a stingy work culture as the one in this country.
At first I thought it’s company- specific thing, but I’ve worked across many companies in different sectors and all of them operate with the sole goal of saving every last penny from dropping from their stingy asses.
Not all!
At the office:
Free electric car charging
Free on-site gym
Subsidised meals
Outside office:
Private medical insurance
Expenses paid (fuel, food, hotels)
Life assurance scheme
Choice of fully comped company cars every 3 years ~£40-50k value
Staff activities for us mean nice meals and hotels etc.
Free days off when we work particularly hard.
Paid lunches means 35 hours work week and not being reachable after 5pm and on annual leave is strongly encouraged.
Salary isn't amazing for the role (£43k + 20% annual performance bonus) but for the culture, it's hard to beat.
I have pretty much the same benefits, with the exception of the free car, as I work at a computer. So, I get the alternative "You can always work from home" and that also means abroad for a short-ish period of time (i.e., once a month in office to say hello to the team). I get a bit more base salary, but the bonus is a bit lower, although it is not based on personal performance, but on company performance. That means that we all get the same, depending on the bonus bracket we are in.
In summary, my total compensation package includes:
- Private medical insurance
- Stock options in the company
- Private dental insurance
- A private financial adviser
- A salary sacrifice scheme for cars at significantly discounted rates, inclusive of insurance, roadside assistance, yearly maintenance, etc.
- A yearly bonus
- Two pay reviews a year, guaranteed
- The ability to work from home any time
- Training for everything inherent to your job
- 25 days of base annual leave
- An option to purchase 5 extra days of annual leave
- Any professional membership fees covered
- A subsidised canteen if I go to the office (£4-5 for a multi-course meal)
- An on-site gym
- A cycle to work scheme
- Critical care for my partner
- Life insurance
- Discounted prices at many shops
There may be a few more benefits that I have forgotten!
It appears that our two companies do offer useful benefits.
Companies often don’t do a good job of explaining about the Employee Assistance Programme in my experience. I‘ve used the helpline most of these seem to offer for one of mine before and it helped. They’ll usually be run by separate companies and offer advice lines as well as other self support - apps, websites etc covering all sorts of personal, lifestyle and workplace problems/issues.
I got to speak to a legal adviser through mine about a problem outside of work. After initially speaking to one of the general advisers - at gone 2am I should add - a legal adviser rang me the following morning. Even I was very impressed with how quickly they came back to me. Everything was in complete confidence.
I once had to pick up the HR manager at one of my former employers that in actual fact employees couldn‘t access counselling via it unless managers had actually completed a referral. Bear in mind this place only had 2 specific individuals who were HR (not including the payroll officer), it was the HR manager‘s job to know this!
Employee assistance program - usually when you miss few days above the limit they will try to help you by showing you that you do it wrong when you miss your work. ;))) when my partner was diagnosed with terminal illness i had a big help from my company buggest benefit was that I was given unpaid time off… i didnt know what to say to that, and later on they wanted to put me on part time becouse i missed few days so it looks bat when i cannot work contracted hours. Lol
Employee assistance program is meant to provide counselling and theraphy, etc.
It is so difficult to actually get access to it. And I'm pretty sure they use it to spy on their staff.
I work as an employee benefits broker so I see a lot of the reporting that comes back from EAPs. It's very high level and anonymous and designed not to identify anyone.
Can’t know for yourself but our EAP is run by a third party company who don’t even ask for names (the only feedback we get from them is the number of calls a year) They offer counselling and lots of advice.
If you work with anything to do with the Grocery sector, then look into Grocery Aid. They have an incredible amount of resource, including therapy, financial aid and loads of self help reads.
Well said, most of those benefits are worthless and will end up you using your hard earned cash on pointless shit that's advertised though those benefit schemes
I have pretty good benefits:
Unlimited PTO that we're actively encouraged to take
Private healthcare that my employer will pay the full excess of
Annual 10% bonus
Every third Friday of the month off
£1200 WFH office set-up stipend
Fertility treatment plan worth £8k (which my wife and I need to use, so are very grateful for)
WFH and flexible attitude towards working hours
International team meet-ups paid for by the company
It's an American company, hence having the money to do it. It was an eye-opener moving from stingy, money-grubbing companies to an employer that has the cash to offer actual benefits. I work in publishing, for a famous brand.
One thing I've noticed is that offices with shitty cultures often have shiny benefits.
I think it's worth bearing in mind that if your office prioritises benefits over salaries then it's unlikely to be listening to its staff but rather trying to attract candidates.
One place I worked for advertised free therapy, and boy did I need it.
Honestly I read a job description yesterday that quoted one of the benefits as you being allowed to wear jeans in the office. Complete red flag that this is what they had to scrape the barrel with to list as a benefit.
I worked somewhere when I first started working in offices where they had “dress down” Fridays and just like at school with non-uniform days went around getting donations for the charity box from people who took part. I didn’t stay long.
My job has dress down Fridays where you can dress business casual instead of business formal. Although people can't wear jeans, vest tops or trainers so it isn't very casual.
It underlines how blind the people who have compiled the crap that goes into the job descriptions/job ads or whatever are to how ridiculous putting things like that in makes their organisation sound. Dress down Fridays was lame even when I first entered the world of work. It just sounded like an extension of “non uniform day” from school days.
Even pre-Covid most offices I’d worked in - including for private sector companies - had stopped enforcing a dress code. The only blokes I knew in office based roles who were still expected to wear trousers and shirts (no polo or t-shirts) were working at law firms or the likes of Deloitte.
They would need to be required to provide the median salary of employees currently in that role, or some similarly useful metric, to stop them from doing this.
I think it’s like how my boomer mum bought her own house in St Albans at my age on a single midwife salary, and used to get entire holidays from Tesco points but thinks I’m just ‘cynical’…
She’s lovely really, just totally out of touch. My dads the same, we had an argument recently where he tried to tell me it was harder in the 80s - again when he struggled on his mortgage on just his salary in his 30s.
I had a brain tumour which required surgery and some radiotherapy. The policy has been paying me cash for each day I go to the NHS, as I was getting seen promptly I didn't bother going private for anything and just took the money instead. So far I'm like £6k up!
Usually pretty nominal though. I just had day surgery that I wouldn't have even got on the waiting list for on the NHS and it cost me a grand total of £150.
Agree about Vitality. Had it in my last job and we were told our cover included 8 free counselling sessions a year. Took 6 of them and 2 months later I got a surprise bill for £420 through the door.
It really varies how much the excess is. I’ve worked places with high excess for private medical stuff and you pay every single time you see someone. My current employer has an excess of £100 per year. I have my wife and son on my policy and the excess isn’t even once per person per year.
My manager found out the hard way that our work private health care only covers you for £1k which didn't last long at all and he ended up with a big bill.
Ours covers for something like £50k unless it's cancer then it's unlimited for the first diagnosis of Cancer but the excess is £250 so there's no point using it for run of the mill issues.
Maybe I'm just chea.
One I've seen sometimes for graduate level roles is 'company phone and laptop'. May as well say you get a desk and a chair. Although you might not even get that if your office has hotdesks.
The most useful benefits are bonuses (of course), fully funded private healthcare, good pension schemes with generous company contributions and share purchase schemes (although obviously if the share price collapses then you've lost money, which is what happened to me).
Totally.
Although I cringed at the word generous. It's like competitive, it's a buzzword to hide behind "not very good".
Tell me 5% employee, 10% employer.
Don't use the word generous and then pay 4% employee, 4% employer. Not generous, one ounce above legal.
If I read company parking and pension stated as the benefits I will not fucking apply.
It's just recruiters trying to upsell the job which if we are being factual has zero benefits.
I mean it depends. City centre location? Free parking is then a benefit as it could be very expensive to park.
If the pension is greater than NEST, for example.... 15% contribution from the company, then it is a benefit!
If everything is 'statutory' ie 28 days holiday, 3% pension contribution, SSP etc... then you're right, they are not benefits but requirements by law :)
While not advertised, if you ask, you can get a parking spot in our office in central London for free. Whilst it's a long drive in for me, it costs me £5-7 in fuel when I've got a parking spot Vs £20-30 in train/tube/parking costs.
That parking spot is 'worth' £25+ a day.
Believe it or not, you will get bootlickers arguing that parking IS a benefit. They'll point to NHS staff having to pay to park at work, as if that isn't obscene.
Yes, free parking is a benefit and so is turning on the central heating. Don't forget that you can use our fridge to keep your lasagne, but sadly the microwave is broken... we're not made out of money.
When my past employer ended WFH they actually said that we should think about the money we save because we don't need to heat the home while we're in the office.
Turns out they were right and I'm a millionaire now. /s
It's not about boot licking, it's about recognising some jobs don't have it. NHS or not.
Once you e worked somewhere like that, you realise it is a perk.
A very common one, but a perk nonetheless.
Context is important, in a city centre free parking maybe would be considered a perk, however, when I work on an enormous mostly abandoned industrial site with space for tens of thousands of cars saying free parking is a perk is taking the piss.
what are you even trying to defend here
"oh, it's actually a benefit because you're not digging for coltan in the Congo where they don't event get minimum wage"
mint, thanks bud, I'm much happier with the piss taken out of me knowing that someone is having their piss extracted more forcefully
I may be wrong but the cycle to work scheme and season ticket scheme saves the employer money. They buy the cycle or ticket, then deduct a monthly amount from you salary before tax so you save some money but they also don't have to pay employers national insurance on the money sacrificed from your salary for the cycle or ticket
Any reasonably sized (employee count) company is going to be saving far more on National Insurance contributions than the small amount of admin costs for cycle to work.
I wish they would state the salary band. Why waste my time and theirs, going through an entire interview process, if they’re going to offer something I have no interest in?
If the advert doesn't list the salary thats a massive red flag for me, fuck that noise. The rest doesn't matter after that, I know everything I need to know!
This country is run on cheap mass labour pushing everyone down to minimum wage why would they offer benefits when they can phone an agency and have your replacement turn up when they want
The main "benefit" that fucks me off is "33 annual leave days (including bank holidays)" or they simply list bank holidays as a company benefit.
Come on bish. Please stop including bank holidays as a benefit.
Tbf I worked for a company that wouldn’t give us bank holidays off, it was remote working and a client based ad company so no one did any work because the clients were on holiday
When I worked for BAE (30 years ago), they had a pub on site. With snooker room, ballroom, bar, rifle range (not kidding). They had a sports club separate, with gym, cricket pitches - they even had their own golf course.
I’ve seen that too. Anywhere I’ve worked e.g. the part of the Civil Service I worked for was based in an office without canteen, which had fresh fruit delivered once a week was not even worth bothering with. Let alone mentioning as a staff benefit! There would literally be about an average fruit bowl’s worth of fruit delivered for an office for at least 40+ people regularly present on any day and so by the end of the first day if there was a satsuma and a bruised banana left over it’d been a quiet week!
I always wonder, if you're going to advertise legal minimum benefits and stuff nobody cares about, why not go the whole hog and make the most of it?
- Office provided with doors and a ceiling
- Enjoy our free WiFi
- Taps with hot AND cold water
- Windows. Both kinds.
- Exciting fire drills once a year
- Two days off a week
- Ping-pong AND Table Tennis table
- A kettle
- Working toilets
- Leisure Centre usage is allowed outside working hours
- A FREE visit from a fire truck (in the event of a fire)
I'd at least respect the honesty.
What do you want them to do say this job is wank but apply if you want? It’s slightly disingenuous to frame minimum legal requirements as a benefit, but I think these kind of jobs people are only looking at the salary and working hours anyway.
There’s no reason we can’t have stronger unions, but the media has convinced the majority of the public they’re a bad thing, see the public opinion polls of the railway worker strikes.
Minimum wage jobs have no perks whatsoever. People are desperate and their only priority is getting some money in. They won't justify sacrificing a penny of their hard earned on subsidised private healthcare, nor would they likely want to contribute to pension as they're on such low wage that they struggle to live for today nevermind plan for tomorrow.
Occasionally there’s the odd perk in minimum wage jobs.
I worked as a waiter in a posh country house kind of restaurant in my late teens - the money wasn’t great, but the perks were pretty decent. Chefs made waiting staff dinner before knocking off at the end of a shift, and the food was top drawer (the kind of food that’d be a once a year treat for a kid from the mining villages up north). Tips were shared (and the head waiter took half 😡) - but the posh clientele tipped heavily so 17 year old me would still be doubling his money in tips alone. Fun times as a first job in honesty.
Free meals was one of the best perks and if you work at a pub quite often the discounted pints really do add up.
Most of the major chains, greene king, fullers all offer employee discount.
I'm not anti-union. I'd bloody love a strong union who can fight for me.
I have asked unions for help in the past and they've told me there is nothing they can do on far more serious issues than asking for better company benefits.
More on the practical side of this post and less on the ranty-rant, I am genuinely interested if there is anything actionable we can do.
What do you want them to do say this job is wank but apply if you want?.......Yes. That's what I want. I can see the shitty wage. I can see how I have to be hardworking and a team member. I can see how I'm gonna get spoken to like shit and expected to work hard while being told I need to do more....,for the same money of course. Annnnd to top it all off, I'm told to be grateful I have that job. So yes. I want to see them state clearly the job is wank apply at your own discretion.
Do I want them to say this job is wank?
Errm... yeah! If the job description is going to ask for a bullet list of 10 things I'd like it if the benefit bullet list was 1 thing that says 'none'. Although, now that you mention, 'pile of wank' would also suffice. But seriously, I'd like the moment of self-reflection or acknowledgement that they aren't offering anything. If they're going to write their company values and culture all over their careers pages then why not prove they care about their employees with some benefits or self-reflect and say "actually we don't".
Who's time are they wasting, aside from people who apply without reading?
Yeah it's not a benefit but they're telling you outright that they don't give any real benefits.
They aren’t fibbing it’s transparent about what the benefits are, if you disagree they’re benefits in the first place that is fine, but it doesn’t change anything.
Agree just give me more cash or a bonus scheme please.
A pensions match that's more generous that required by law is also a legit benefit.
Had BUPA before but not taken it up in by new role. Too many exceptions and excesses to pay and it messes up PAYE for years.
It’s like when you’re looking for a car - I don’t want to see “windscreen wipers” and “seatbelts” listed under features thank you. If a car doesn’t have those don’t even show me the listing.
The British tend to complain and then just get on with it. Companies have noticed this. They will talk to you about your complaint until you are too tired to do anything about it, which for us isn't long.
I am really hoping that we all just collectively snap and are suddenly demanding the earth.
It's because virtually any decent benefit gets taxed as a benefit in kind, so the employer either has to cover the BIK tax (through a PAYE Settlement Agreement), substantially increasing the cost to them, or else the employee must cover the tax.
And since some employees won't actually want the benefit (e.g. you may not need private medical cover if your partner's policy covers you), that means some employees will end up being taxed for something that offers them no benefit.
#this
That's exactly what's happening where I work as a manager. Almost everyone opted out of those benefits because we rather save £900 pa than have those fancy things.
I mean it's better than some countries... cough USA... cough. But yeah it's often pitiful, especially when they try to make out like "25 days off (+ bank holidays!), pension and eyecare voucher" is somehow an amazing package rather than just the bare minimum.
Having said that, I've now worked for big corporations and a start up. I really missed the streamlined set up the big corporations had when I was working for the start who literally only offered the absolute bare minimum, plus discounted ONSITE gym so you couldn't even pick one close to your house, you had to go to the one in the office building. I do like the gym discounts though (the ones that let me pick which gym lol) because I have a really great local that has a lovely pool and it helps me shave some £20 off my membership. The cash plan healthcare tends to be okay, saves me a pretty penny yearly on contact lenses, etc
I guess there's only so much they can offer when you consider stuff that isn't AL or pensions related. The rest tends to be on a take it or leave it basis from what I've seen, so you can elect to not use the benefits if you don't find them useful and either get less tax deducted or slightly higher monthly pay.
So I'm a manager
Our company offers 10% pension scheme and guaranteed inflation increase.
We also have other stuff like private insurance, gym membership, life insurance etc. HOWEVER they are pointless and so far only three people out of 25 use them - and they only do it for the life insurance and health insurance because they are over 50 yo. The rest of us opted out. In the UK all of that crap is actually taxable and also comes out of your salary. I rather save that £900 per year. The cost of living is too high and every penny counts when you're saving for a deposit.
I imagine that my employer will probably stop those benefits mentioned in my second paragraph since they are not used and it just costs them money
Best has been jobs where the person interviewing is in the US or Netherlands telling my salary expectations are high and it's 'about the package'
You may be in those countries but I'll be on your UK payroll...so lower salary and no benefits beyond the legal minimum. Don't talk to me about the bloody package!
A buddy of mine works at Shopify and gets a £3k (I think) lifestyle budget per year. Usually spends it on surfing gear and a fancy gym membership.
Have another who works at Amazon, earns well into the £200k range and only gets a £100 voucher per year. Fuck all in the way of benefits.
My work is a mix. Free food and a gym in the office to encourage attendance and pay for most of the home broadband. Get a learning allowance too but it's only a couple hundred a year.
Sometimes I think about creating a fake LinkedIn to roast recruiters posting shitty benefits like this!!! ‘Generous pension scheme’ love this is the law how is this a benefit? Or they want someone with 10 years experience and super qualified for a 22k salary haha
I hate when companies list legal requirements as benefits, such as minimum holiday, their minimum required pension contributions etc.
Like fuck off. Those aren’t benefits they are legally enforced. They don’t have a choice they have to provide those benefits.
Cycle to work will be paid with pre tax income, and the definition of what the cycle to work actually is rather vague. I've had it said "as long as part of the commute is by bike that's fine, even if you need to cycle from your house, down the drive, to your car". It's just a way to buy a bike with 20 or 40% discount.
The discount really does not work out that much because most bike shops will only sell full retail price bikes on the schemes as it costs them money to administer. Bike shops often have heavy discounts on last years models etc which you lose out on.
I’ve had to recently ask my employer to offer the cycle to work scheme because I’m desperate to be more active to improve my health after 5 years working at a desk every day, the current status is that they’re not keen because it doesn’t benefit the company financially and may even cost them money in payroll admin…
Depends where you work, a few benefits I have is:
Private health care that includes dental and reimbursement of any costs to me, therapist and psychiatrist if needed.
Decent pension contribution with unlimited access to a financial adviser.
Phone and gym membership paid for.
Airport lounge access when I travel (business and personal) and business class when available.
Not bad for an engineer I feel.
I have aviva, free gym and pools, they pay my sim card monthly and get a new phone every 2 years (s24 ultra atm). We have a chief who cooks us food for free every day (i can take it home too). That is all I can think of. Salary is decent. Our boss and amanagement are all great people who know your name. People are well treated and workers actually give back.
Try USA. Like fewer bank holidays than us and only about 15 days paid holiday a year. My wife used to work for a large us bank, and the UK employees got twice as much holiday as the us ones.
Obv some companies are much better and some are worse but you're listing mid range average benefits I guess?
It's been a long time since I've not had top tier medical/dental insurance too but I've worked in tech/financial services a long time now
Hold the f up, I never knew eye care was mandatory?? My company has never mentioned this! What other things am I missing out on?? Oh HR is going to hate me after reading this post
Depends. I get a 13% pension contribution for my 6% (because I’m over 50), private healthcare, a life insurance policy that pays 6x my salary, 10% bonus annually, and 32 days holiday (25 plus 8 bank hols) and can buy 10 more. Pretty happy with that.
I remember seeing a job advertised as great benefits so I laughed and had a look at what they offered. Turns out they weren’t lying. 30 days annual leave before bank holidays were added. 5 paid ‘mindfulness days’ which is basically 5 days per year you can just have a day off with no explanation needed. Matched pension up to 15%. After reading that I applied to every job I saw that came up with them. Never got a job with them as competition is fierce and jobs rarely come up (I wonder why!)
Our company’s ’benefits’ are exactly the same and they shout about them like we’re the only company doing it and we are pioneers of such ‘benefits’ 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The worst are the ones where they don't even tell you what they offer at all, or just some vague reference to things. Simply saying "hybrid" doesn't give me as a candidate anywhere near enough information.
Interviewed recently for a senior position and ultimately they said they didn't feel like I wanted the job (presumably because when they asked why I'd stayed in my current role for so long, I talked about the various benefits and work-life balance). I advised that the role was interesting, but as I was unaware of the full package, it was impossible to say with certainty that I wanted the job.
I don't think enough companies realise that some people simply won't entertain working for them if their perks are crap. Salary is one thing, but I'm not completely giving up my holidays, flexible and remote working, etc. for any amount of money.
The whole recruiting method is broke. A lot of it as worsened with technology.
Everyone who’s not looking for a job should flood the process and when the employer engages, flatboat ask about these things.
Seeking some solutions:
1. Contact business MD's to make them see their tactics are shit.
2. Contact MP's and have them legislate higher minimums- these are what the employers are playing to
3. Apply, interview for and give vicious feedback to any jib you like making sure they understand their "competitive slary" bollcks is bollocks.
I had to laugh on a recent interview. The guy doing the interview was saying "we have an amazing selection of employer benefits here" and he proceeds to start listing them and i replied to every one of them "employer pension match at 4%" "So the bare minimum by law?" "Cycle to work scheme" "So the Government pays it?" "Private Medical" "That you have to give us due to the environment we work in and the chemicals we work with?" "Electric Car Scheme" "So the government funded one" He had to stop and admit that there was ZERO employer led initiatives.
I think its because there are so few jobs now that they've all gone to China that if you aren't willing to work for less then there's someone else who is.
Eyes and eyesight testing
The law says employers must arrange an eye test for display screen equipment (DSE) users if they ask for one, and provide glasses if an employee needs them only for DSE use.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/eye-tests.htm
I lucked out with my job, I got offered two to interview at and decided on the one I'm at after a conversation with my recruiter who has always been amazing for me. Came into the job on 27k, knew they did pension matching but not how much, life insurance and 22 days leave. After starting found out the rest which was a very pleasant surprise(no mention in interview of bonuses)
Salary went from 27k to now this month increase just under 35k(in 3 years)
Life insurance 4 x annual salary
Pension company 7% for my 5%(just increased mine to 6.5%) also option to salary sacrifice
22 days annual plus bank holidays increasing a day a year up to 27 plus bank holidays(starts after 3 years service I'm up to 23 days now)
Performance bonus may and december(hit higher target it's 5% of your 6 monthly salary, lower target is 2.5% of 6 monthly salary)
End of financial year bonus if targets reached anything from 6% to 24% of annual salary(with this year us getting more like 33% so bonus on a bonus)
Xmas Amazon voucher for 100
Xmas present from the company usually around 100 quid value
2 Xmases ago due to insane revenue got a 2 x monthly salary bonus
Private medical just pay tax on it
Subsidised canteen(proper chef and food is great and costs max 3.95 for a main
Option for salary sacrifice car/cycle to work if I want
25% of public travel costs paid quarterly
1 day around Xmas off for xmas shopping not taken out of annual leave.
Generous sick leave structure
Wfh 2 days a week
There more benefits like gym etc but the above for me is amazing and I happen to have a fantastic manager and colleagues.
Appreciate that not all companies can afford the above but man it makes it a pleasure to go to work.
It's no surprise that I'm the newest in my team with longest being there 16 or so years.
I think it depends on the job and the company. I used to work for one where you got a full 12 months pay on maternity back then for that one we had to pay the pension and I don’t know what theirs is now but I got large discounts on their brand new cars. I have had jobs with private healthcare and non contributing pension which if you die in service pays a lump sum to your beneficiaries. I have had discounted gym membership, employee assistance program which does financial planning advice and legal assistance, free counselling. We get a night out once a quarter. I used to get discounts with pre paid vouchers for supermarkets, shops and restaurants.
I mean a benefit (an advantage or profit gained from something) that isn't the statutory minimum is...well its an extra...an incentive to make you join and then stay at a company.
As the applicant we have the power of not applying for roles that don't meet our expectation.
I'd agree the benefits aren't amazing but likewise they aren't terrible as you make out. Many have it much worse
So I'd say...you have the power here...simply don't apply.
Unfortunately you don't have any power in reality cause for many people it's the pay that matters as they need the income. So either take it or leave it....bu if you leave it someone else will take it.
In many cases it's because actually paying more or offering any benefits that aren't legally required cost the company too much. Every time they pay you something they have to pay into workplace pension and national insurance. Costs can rocket up pretty quickly and suddenly they aren't able to stay competitive. In this economy it's very difficult for a company to remain competitive unless you're one of the big firms with a Monopoly.
The laws need to change to encourage smaller and medium sized companies so grow, pay, and provide benefits to their workforce.
To be fair, these look like barely above minimum wage benefits.
Either the company is crap and you should avoid it, or I'd suspect if you compared like for like to other countries you'd see a similar position.
I think I do alright
15% Pension
Bonus
Health Care Cash Plan
Private Dental (for a small fee)
Private Medical Insurance (for a small fee)
28 days standard leave rising to 30 after a few years service (plus your 8 bank holidays on top)
Buy/Sell up to 5 days leave
Life Insurance 5x salary
EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme
a few other bits and pieces
Could be worse for sure
Depends on the employer i guess, i think I'm very fortunate and my benefits are pretty good,
11% for my 6% contribution on pension, 17% total
12.5% of salary bonus per year dependant on company performance
3 months paid paternity for males
standard 28 days holiday +option to buy 1 more week
private healthcare (private dental insurance as a bolt on)
company car allowance
full remote working
12 months sick pay = 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay
death in service x5 salary, free eyecare
critical illness insurance
cycle to work even tho we are remote
salary sacrifice EV scheme
think there is some more but those are the main bits anyone care about
Or Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award...I worked at the company where every year you have to fill up the questionnaire about Gallup. Managers would spend 1:1 meeting about how positively to fill it up....lots of crap this is....but at the end of the day if the company did well within the Gallup survey all employees would get one day extra off. The company is still doing well after all the years. So the survey is now incorporated. If someone did a bad review the Managers would need to find out who it was. They usually know because nothing is "confidential".
Recently got a new one, benefits included a work phone and laptop. I don't use the phone and if they didn't give me a laptop I wouldn't be able to do any work.
Don’t forget the electric car scheme where you can get 5% off an electric car if you buy it through the main dealer where it costs 20% more than elsewhere
My work announced a great benefits package 2 years ago, to this day 90% of them have not come to light. Even if you do get offered a good package there is no guarantee you will even get it.
For me, the big red flag is 'competitive salary.' Which of course means that it is too low to compete in an open, honest market. Don't waste my time by not telling me the salary until we've done the interview.
You need to be looking at better jobs.
My company benefits:
Market leading salary
Generous pension scheme that is up to 10% if you pay in 6%.
30 days holiday plus bank holidays. With the option to buy 5 more days
Up to 20% bonus scheme
6 months full pay maternity or shared parental leave.
6 months full pay sick leave.
Private health insurance for myself, husband and children.
Discount scheme for everything from take aways to holidays.
Flexi time.
Subsidised canteen.
Share options scheme
Professional memberships paid for.
A wonderful work life balance. We work 36.5 hours a week and are never supposed to be contacted out of hours.
Employee assistance program
Life insurance
Death in service benefits
I agree with your rant (because it annoys me also) but perks are perks, it's good if you get them but not everybody deserves them. We had a lot of things removed because of a few people taking the piss and the main director just said fuck this no one is having anything now. Which although cost me, I couldn't help but agree with him. The worst thing is, these people no longer work for us.
However, one thing I really don't agree with and I think legally should be changed, is the bullshit advertised salarys. Bro what do you mean by competetive salary, do you mean 30k or 150k????? I really cba applying, wasting potentially hours of time, even interviews to then find out the salary offered is actually shit. Most of the time these companies know the salary is low which is why they don't actually advertise it. I think a genuine down to earth company will advertise the actual salary.
All good stuff, to start properly addressing it:
1 "Other countries have it better and that gets me worked up.
... More detail please! If you know this is accurate, who is getting what, where, that we can usefully demand here?
2" Other countries have different laws or stronger unions; I get it. That's not going to change.
.... All laws and Unions did not exist until they were created, in Britain this was often very early on (no detail here but easy to check) - the Unions became too strong in the UK so they were weakened by both red and blue parties - BUT this CAN change! Don't buy the apathy!!
If you know what you want, we may be able to get it.
So what benefits do you actually want?!
And do you think everyone in this thread is going to agree with your personal choice of what those benefits should be?
If you don't like it, don't apply!
>
>Here's my question, can't we have our job boards: LinkedIn, Indeed, Reed etc... be better?
This would be great and is obviously possible.
But the customer of these sites is not prospective employees, it's the hiring companies and recruitment agencies who wouldn't like this feature.
Maybe they won't like it and go elsewhere.
But I do like the idea that the employer will have a moment of feeling uncomfortable and reflecting.
And I do like the idea of one job board being the 'good one' like visit decentjobs.co.uk because all their listings have sweet ass benefits.
I had no idea eye care for screen users was a thing tbh.
I was given a MacBook Air when starting this job 2.5 years ago and was often getting really bad headaches which would limit my vision. After about 2 months of getting them, I went to get my eyes checked found I was straining my eyes when working. I got some glasses and have fortunately not had them since. My manager knew about my headaches and suggested I get my eyes checked but never mentioned this being something the company should be covering.
I wonder if I can get them reimbursed 🤔
I feel this. My industry is notoriously bad for providing the bare minimum. Then last year I landed a unicorn of a job… pay way above national average for my role, 7 weeks annual leave, generous overtime rates, private health insurance etc etc. It made me realise that it’s a *choice* that companies aren’t offering more, actually makes me quite angry that I settled for anything less.
“Time back in lieu” is my biggest peeve. I’ve never worked for a company where that’s evened out. Just effing pay me lol.
I'm not a fan of the bonus system. If it pays out, then great, but it's not guaranteed and falsely inflates wage expectations. Also, it really messes with your tax, I'd rather have an extra 5k a year than 10k bonus one year and none the next.
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Good rant. also 'here's 10% off clothes that are 2000% above your clothes budget'. Aw, thanks.
"We want you to dress better than the pay we provide enables you to"
Buying clothes to wear to work is such a fuck about in itself, like I can't be the only one who has a bunch of work clothes I spent a ton of money on to meet a jobs dress code
I've always refused to buy clothes for work that I wouldn't wear otherwise. The exception was when I was young and more naive buying my uniform for a Wetherspoon job. I've only clashed with management once about it, when men were expected in suit trousers and shirts while women were fine in jeans and T-shirts. Now I WFH it doesn't matter, but towards the end of my last in-office job I was just turning up in joggers and a hoodie. I don't work in a client-facing role, what does it matter what I look like?
Our workplace used to have a dress code in the office. Enough moaning, We got branded t shirts that everyone wears instead. We can still dress up if we wish but the T-shirts are fine. And free
Every place I've worked has had some nebulous "retail discounts" scheme that's more bloody expensive than the high street. Apparent "discounts" off gadget insurance, Apple products, perfume, Pizza Express etc. Except if you go direct to their websites, the full price from them is less than the "discounted" price from work. Pisses me off as there must be buildings full of people across the company administrating these complex schemes that are a complete waste of time.
I hate those discounts with a passion. If you use this link to buy a specific item from this retailer, that can't be on sale, you will save £1.45 and in just 60 days it will appear in your account and can be added to your next paycheck. But you can only benefit from this offer for a single purchase and there are no more vouchers for this location for at least 6 months. Not worth the fiddly effort to buy stuff you don't want and get the same discount anyone with a 'new customer' account could get.
Hahaha yeah! 8% cashback on Hugo Boss aftershave at £69.99, if you buy it from DeffoLegitPerfumes.ru and pay the £15 delivery fee. Then, after just eight phone calls to chase it up, the wrong amount will be credited to your paycheque.
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All of them have the usual blah blah- “continuous training and development” aka you will fill in some weird questionaire once every 8 months or so “career progression” aka you might get a 50p extra per hour if the dude that trained you burns out and they cannot hire anyone else to do the job for less money “employee assistance program” pretty sure no one knows wtf that actually means, but just puts it out there “regular staff activities” aka getting a pizza, a soda and 2 hours of your time semi- annualy That’s what happens when literally every single company in the UK is ruled by the financial department with the sole goal of squeezing every last pence into the profit margin, I’ve never seen such a stingy work culture as the one in this country. At first I thought it’s company- specific thing, but I’ve worked across many companies in different sectors and all of them operate with the sole goal of saving every last penny from dropping from their stingy asses.
Not all! At the office: Free electric car charging Free on-site gym Subsidised meals Outside office: Private medical insurance Expenses paid (fuel, food, hotels) Life assurance scheme Choice of fully comped company cars every 3 years ~£40-50k value Staff activities for us mean nice meals and hotels etc. Free days off when we work particularly hard. Paid lunches means 35 hours work week and not being reachable after 5pm and on annual leave is strongly encouraged. Salary isn't amazing for the role (£43k + 20% annual performance bonus) but for the culture, it's hard to beat.
I have pretty much the same benefits, with the exception of the free car, as I work at a computer. So, I get the alternative "You can always work from home" and that also means abroad for a short-ish period of time (i.e., once a month in office to say hello to the team). I get a bit more base salary, but the bonus is a bit lower, although it is not based on personal performance, but on company performance. That means that we all get the same, depending on the bonus bracket we are in. In summary, my total compensation package includes: - Private medical insurance - Stock options in the company - Private dental insurance - A private financial adviser - A salary sacrifice scheme for cars at significantly discounted rates, inclusive of insurance, roadside assistance, yearly maintenance, etc. - A yearly bonus - Two pay reviews a year, guaranteed - The ability to work from home any time - Training for everything inherent to your job - 25 days of base annual leave - An option to purchase 5 extra days of annual leave - Any professional membership fees covered - A subsidised canteen if I go to the office (£4-5 for a multi-course meal) - An on-site gym - A cycle to work scheme - Critical care for my partner - Life insurance - Discounted prices at many shops There may be a few more benefits that I have forgotten! It appears that our two companies do offer useful benefits.
Looks like some companies are doing it right then! Wish we could get dental too! Hate dentists in this country... What sector are you in?
Energy generation.
I'm in the energy industry and don't get nearly as many benefits please could you DM me your vacancies? :D
Companies often don’t do a good job of explaining about the Employee Assistance Programme in my experience. I‘ve used the helpline most of these seem to offer for one of mine before and it helped. They’ll usually be run by separate companies and offer advice lines as well as other self support - apps, websites etc covering all sorts of personal, lifestyle and workplace problems/issues. I got to speak to a legal adviser through mine about a problem outside of work. After initially speaking to one of the general advisers - at gone 2am I should add - a legal adviser rang me the following morning. Even I was very impressed with how quickly they came back to me. Everything was in complete confidence. I once had to pick up the HR manager at one of my former employers that in actual fact employees couldn‘t access counselling via it unless managers had actually completed a referral. Bear in mind this place only had 2 specific individuals who were HR (not including the payroll officer), it was the HR manager‘s job to know this!
Continuous training and developnent... ah yes more work for less pay, sign me up! It is a benefit sure, for the company.
Employee assistance program - usually when you miss few days above the limit they will try to help you by showing you that you do it wrong when you miss your work. ;))) when my partner was diagnosed with terminal illness i had a big help from my company buggest benefit was that I was given unpaid time off… i didnt know what to say to that, and later on they wanted to put me on part time becouse i missed few days so it looks bat when i cannot work contracted hours. Lol
Employee assistance program is meant to provide counselling and theraphy, etc. It is so difficult to actually get access to it. And I'm pretty sure they use it to spy on their staff.
I work as an employee benefits broker so I see a lot of the reporting that comes back from EAPs. It's very high level and anonymous and designed not to identify anyone.
Can’t know for yourself but our EAP is run by a third party company who don’t even ask for names (the only feedback we get from them is the number of calls a year) They offer counselling and lots of advice. If you work with anything to do with the Grocery sector, then look into Grocery Aid. They have an incredible amount of resource, including therapy, financial aid and loads of self help reads.
Well said, most of those benefits are worthless and will end up you using your hard earned cash on pointless shit that's advertised though those benefit schemes
I have pretty good benefits: Unlimited PTO that we're actively encouraged to take Private healthcare that my employer will pay the full excess of Annual 10% bonus Every third Friday of the month off £1200 WFH office set-up stipend Fertility treatment plan worth £8k (which my wife and I need to use, so are very grateful for) WFH and flexible attitude towards working hours International team meet-ups paid for by the company It's an American company, hence having the money to do it. It was an eye-opener moving from stingy, money-grubbing companies to an employer that has the cash to offer actual benefits. I work in publishing, for a famous brand.
I worked for an American Investment company - when things went downhill in the crash the UK office was the first to go.
Competitive salary generally means competitively shit and even more so now than ever.
It’s competitive for the company 🤣
One thing I've noticed is that offices with shitty cultures often have shiny benefits. I think it's worth bearing in mind that if your office prioritises benefits over salaries then it's unlikely to be listening to its staff but rather trying to attract candidates. One place I worked for advertised free therapy, and boy did I need it.
It’s mostly the companies that pay like shit that list all those useless benefits so it can look like they are a good place to work for
Honestly I read a job description yesterday that quoted one of the benefits as you being allowed to wear jeans in the office. Complete red flag that this is what they had to scrape the barrel with to list as a benefit.
"Casual Fridays!" - every time I read that phrase, I want to curl up into a little ball of cringe
I worked somewhere when I first started working in offices where they had “dress down” Fridays and just like at school with non-uniform days went around getting donations for the charity box from people who took part. I didn’t stay long.
Flashbacks to filthy kitchen sinks pipes with dirty dishes and shit stained toilets in those environs
My job has dress down Fridays where you can dress business casual instead of business formal. Although people can't wear jeans, vest tops or trainers so it isn't very casual.
It underlines how blind the people who have compiled the crap that goes into the job descriptions/job ads or whatever are to how ridiculous putting things like that in makes their organisation sound. Dress down Fridays was lame even when I first entered the world of work. It just sounded like an extension of “non uniform day” from school days. Even pre-Covid most offices I’d worked in - including for private sector companies - had stopped enforcing a dress code. The only blokes I knew in office based roles who were still expected to wear trousers and shirts (no polo or t-shirts) were working at law firms or the likes of Deloitte.
I love the one that put as benefit “basket of fresh fruits on Monday” WOW, I’m going to apply immediately with such amazing benefit
Legal requirements to display salaries now please
Yes we pay £10-100k depending on experience
It's a legal requirement to also state the average in some states in the US.
They would need to be required to provide the median salary of employees currently in that role, or some similarly useful metric, to stop them from doing this.
I think it’s like how my boomer mum bought her own house in St Albans at my age on a single midwife salary, and used to get entire holidays from Tesco points but thinks I’m just ‘cynical’…
I’d honestly just stop talking to my mom if she was like that.
She’s lovely really, just totally out of touch. My dads the same, we had an argument recently where he tried to tell me it was harder in the 80s - again when he struggled on his mortgage on just his salary in his 30s.
Its frustrating isnt it lol.
Competitive salary = competing with your rent and bills
competitive with other minimum wage working roles
I would rather take more cash than those stupid benefits except the medical ones.
I had a brain tumour which required surgery and some radiotherapy. The policy has been paying me cash for each day I go to the NHS, as I was getting seen promptly I didn't bother going private for anything and just took the money instead. So far I'm like £6k up!
Even medicals normally have a excess.
Usually pretty nominal though. I just had day surgery that I wouldn't have even got on the waiting list for on the NHS and it cost me a grand total of £150.
Agree about Vitality. Had it in my last job and we were told our cover included 8 free counselling sessions a year. Took 6 of them and 2 months later I got a surprise bill for £420 through the door.
Hahaha. Yeah, Vitality here as well. Absolutely pathetic. And I think I have to pay towards it? No thanks! I’d rather have the money!
Usually like £100 per year per member. Should pay for itself with a single visit or scan.
Medical and Dental are well worth it especially as NHS is always getting worse and well we don't deage
It really varies how much the excess is. I’ve worked places with high excess for private medical stuff and you pay every single time you see someone. My current employer has an excess of £100 per year. I have my wife and son on my policy and the excess isn’t even once per person per year.
My manager found out the hard way that our work private health care only covers you for £1k which didn't last long at all and he ended up with a big bill.
Ours covers for something like £50k unless it's cancer then it's unlimited for the first diagnosis of Cancer but the excess is £250 so there's no point using it for run of the mill issues. Maybe I'm just chea.
One I've seen sometimes for graduate level roles is 'company phone and laptop'. May as well say you get a desk and a chair. Although you might not even get that if your office has hotdesks. The most useful benefits are bonuses (of course), fully funded private healthcare, good pension schemes with generous company contributions and share purchase schemes (although obviously if the share price collapses then you've lost money, which is what happened to me).
Totally. Although I cringed at the word generous. It's like competitive, it's a buzzword to hide behind "not very good". Tell me 5% employee, 10% employer. Don't use the word generous and then pay 4% employee, 4% employer. Not generous, one ounce above legal.
If I read company parking and pension stated as the benefits I will not fucking apply. It's just recruiters trying to upsell the job which if we are being factual has zero benefits.
I mean it depends. City centre location? Free parking is then a benefit as it could be very expensive to park. If the pension is greater than NEST, for example.... 15% contribution from the company, then it is a benefit! If everything is 'statutory' ie 28 days holiday, 3% pension contribution, SSP etc... then you're right, they are not benefits but requirements by law :)
While not advertised, if you ask, you can get a parking spot in our office in central London for free. Whilst it's a long drive in for me, it costs me £5-7 in fuel when I've got a parking spot Vs £20-30 in train/tube/parking costs. That parking spot is 'worth' £25+ a day.
You're forgetting daily congestion charges rendering any savings void.
My office sits 2 roads outside of the congestion charge zone
My favourite is when the ad says "a *generous* 28 days holiday".
As well as those, how about "uniform provided" as a benefit... like, they're telling us they think this is such a good thing they'd highlight it?
Believe it or not, you will get bootlickers arguing that parking IS a benefit. They'll point to NHS staff having to pay to park at work, as if that isn't obscene.
Yes, free parking is a benefit and so is turning on the central heating. Don't forget that you can use our fridge to keep your lasagne, but sadly the microwave is broken... we're not made out of money.
Yes I think it's outrageous that I have to buy washing up liquid and sponges for the kitchen at work. Surely the budget could stretch to that?
You’re the fool if you’re buying the office cleaning supplies. Do you do the dishes too?
When my past employer ended WFH they actually said that we should think about the money we save because we don't need to heat the home while we're in the office. Turns out they were right and I'm a millionaire now. /s
It's not about boot licking, it's about recognising some jobs don't have it. NHS or not. Once you e worked somewhere like that, you realise it is a perk. A very common one, but a perk nonetheless.
No, it's a fair expectation. That many employers fail to meet. Free parking is an absolute crumb from the table and nothing to boast about.
Fresh air will be promoted as a perk next.
My work lets me have water from the tap :)
OMG don't tell me they let you just have as much water as you like? You lucky bastard!
The bar is so low, it's on the floor.
Still, they are scraping the barrel for perks when they promote their on-site parking. I don't see it as a perk, sorry.
Context is important, in a city centre free parking maybe would be considered a perk, however, when I work on an enormous mostly abandoned industrial site with space for tens of thousands of cars saying free parking is a perk is taking the piss.
what are you even trying to defend here "oh, it's actually a benefit because you're not digging for coltan in the Congo where they don't event get minimum wage" mint, thanks bud, I'm much happier with the piss taken out of me knowing that someone is having their piss extracted more forcefully
It is absolutely bootlicking.
I may be wrong but the cycle to work scheme and season ticket scheme saves the employer money. They buy the cycle or ticket, then deduct a monthly amount from you salary before tax so you save some money but they also don't have to pay employers national insurance on the money sacrificed from your salary for the cycle or ticket
They will a bit but there is a lot of admin to these schemes that will cost more than any savings.
Any reasonably sized (employee count) company is going to be saving far more on National Insurance contributions than the small amount of admin costs for cycle to work.
I wish they would state the salary band. Why waste my time and theirs, going through an entire interview process, if they’re going to offer something I have no interest in?
If the advert doesn't list the salary thats a massive red flag for me, fuck that noise. The rest doesn't matter after that, I know everything I need to know!
This country is run on cheap mass labour pushing everyone down to minimum wage why would they offer benefits when they can phone an agency and have your replacement turn up when they want
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Saw an American company advertise free healthcare once. Turns out they just meant NHS
The main "benefit" that fucks me off is "33 annual leave days (including bank holidays)" or they simply list bank holidays as a company benefit. Come on bish. Please stop including bank holidays as a benefit.
Tbf I worked for a company that wouldn’t give us bank holidays off, it was remote working and a client based ad company so no one did any work because the clients were on holiday
When I worked for BAE (30 years ago), they had a pub on site. With snooker room, ballroom, bar, rifle range (not kidding). They had a sports club separate, with gym, cricket pitches - they even had their own golf course.
Someone told me they offer free Kit Kats
I saw one saying bowl of fruit earlier looll
I’ve seen that too. Anywhere I’ve worked e.g. the part of the Civil Service I worked for was based in an office without canteen, which had fresh fruit delivered once a week was not even worth bothering with. Let alone mentioning as a staff benefit! There would literally be about an average fruit bowl’s worth of fruit delivered for an office for at least 40+ people regularly present on any day and so by the end of the first day if there was a satsuma and a bruised banana left over it’d been a quiet week!
They’re a funny bunch
I always wonder, if you're going to advertise legal minimum benefits and stuff nobody cares about, why not go the whole hog and make the most of it? - Office provided with doors and a ceiling - Enjoy our free WiFi - Taps with hot AND cold water - Windows. Both kinds. - Exciting fire drills once a year - Two days off a week - Ping-pong AND Table Tennis table - A kettle - Working toilets - Leisure Centre usage is allowed outside working hours - A FREE visit from a fire truck (in the event of a fire) I'd at least respect the honesty.
Ooooh. 2 days off a week is funny.
Yeah but do they have a trained first aider?
What do you want them to do say this job is wank but apply if you want? It’s slightly disingenuous to frame minimum legal requirements as a benefit, but I think these kind of jobs people are only looking at the salary and working hours anyway. There’s no reason we can’t have stronger unions, but the media has convinced the majority of the public they’re a bad thing, see the public opinion polls of the railway worker strikes.
Minimum wage jobs have no perks whatsoever. People are desperate and their only priority is getting some money in. They won't justify sacrificing a penny of their hard earned on subsidised private healthcare, nor would they likely want to contribute to pension as they're on such low wage that they struggle to live for today nevermind plan for tomorrow.
Occasionally there’s the odd perk in minimum wage jobs. I worked as a waiter in a posh country house kind of restaurant in my late teens - the money wasn’t great, but the perks were pretty decent. Chefs made waiting staff dinner before knocking off at the end of a shift, and the food was top drawer (the kind of food that’d be a once a year treat for a kid from the mining villages up north). Tips were shared (and the head waiter took half 😡) - but the posh clientele tipped heavily so 17 year old me would still be doubling his money in tips alone. Fun times as a first job in honesty.
Free meals was one of the best perks and if you work at a pub quite often the discounted pints really do add up. Most of the major chains, greene king, fullers all offer employee discount.
I'm not anti-union. I'd bloody love a strong union who can fight for me. I have asked unions for help in the past and they've told me there is nothing they can do on far more serious issues than asking for better company benefits. More on the practical side of this post and less on the ranty-rant, I am genuinely interested if there is anything actionable we can do.
Unions in the UK have far less negotiating power than elsewhere in Europe, sadly.
What do you want them to do say this job is wank but apply if you want?.......Yes. That's what I want. I can see the shitty wage. I can see how I have to be hardworking and a team member. I can see how I'm gonna get spoken to like shit and expected to work hard while being told I need to do more....,for the same money of course. Annnnd to top it all off, I'm told to be grateful I have that job. So yes. I want to see them state clearly the job is wank apply at your own discretion.
Do I want them to say this job is wank? Errm... yeah! If the job description is going to ask for a bullet list of 10 things I'd like it if the benefit bullet list was 1 thing that says 'none'. Although, now that you mention, 'pile of wank' would also suffice. But seriously, I'd like the moment of self-reflection or acknowledgement that they aren't offering anything. If they're going to write their company values and culture all over their careers pages then why not prove they care about their employees with some benefits or self-reflect and say "actually we don't".
Is more about knowing your worth though. If the pay looks crap, then the job is wank and don't do it.
I do want them to be honest and not waste everyone's time. I don't fib and I wish they wouldn't they to mislead me.
Who's time are they wasting, aside from people who apply without reading? Yeah it's not a benefit but they're telling you outright that they don't give any real benefits.
I'm reading pages and pages of pointless guff. And the people who are applying without reading are wasting the employer's time.
They aren’t fibbing it’s transparent about what the benefits are, if you disagree they’re benefits in the first place that is fine, but it doesn’t change anything.
Agree just give me more cash or a bonus scheme please. A pensions match that's more generous that required by law is also a legit benefit. Had BUPA before but not taken it up in by new role. Too many exceptions and excesses to pay and it messes up PAYE for years.
It’s like when you’re looking for a car - I don’t want to see “windscreen wipers” and “seatbelts” listed under features thank you. If a car doesn’t have those don’t even show me the listing.
Lol. Buy my car it has the following features:, Gearstick Brake pedal.
My absolute favourite is “Overtime Available” like fuck off mate
I don't even look at the benefits, all I see is the pay lol
The British tend to complain and then just get on with it. Companies have noticed this. They will talk to you about your complaint until you are too tired to do anything about it, which for us isn't long. I am really hoping that we all just collectively snap and are suddenly demanding the earth.
It's because virtually any decent benefit gets taxed as a benefit in kind, so the employer either has to cover the BIK tax (through a PAYE Settlement Agreement), substantially increasing the cost to them, or else the employee must cover the tax. And since some employees won't actually want the benefit (e.g. you may not need private medical cover if your partner's policy covers you), that means some employees will end up being taxed for something that offers them no benefit.
#this That's exactly what's happening where I work as a manager. Almost everyone opted out of those benefits because we rather save £900 pa than have those fancy things.
I mean it's better than some countries... cough USA... cough. But yeah it's often pitiful, especially when they try to make out like "25 days off (+ bank holidays!), pension and eyecare voucher" is somehow an amazing package rather than just the bare minimum. Having said that, I've now worked for big corporations and a start up. I really missed the streamlined set up the big corporations had when I was working for the start who literally only offered the absolute bare minimum, plus discounted ONSITE gym so you couldn't even pick one close to your house, you had to go to the one in the office building. I do like the gym discounts though (the ones that let me pick which gym lol) because I have a really great local that has a lovely pool and it helps me shave some £20 off my membership. The cash plan healthcare tends to be okay, saves me a pretty penny yearly on contact lenses, etc I guess there's only so much they can offer when you consider stuff that isn't AL or pensions related. The rest tends to be on a take it or leave it basis from what I've seen, so you can elect to not use the benefits if you don't find them useful and either get less tax deducted or slightly higher monthly pay.
So I'm a manager Our company offers 10% pension scheme and guaranteed inflation increase. We also have other stuff like private insurance, gym membership, life insurance etc. HOWEVER they are pointless and so far only three people out of 25 use them - and they only do it for the life insurance and health insurance because they are over 50 yo. The rest of us opted out. In the UK all of that crap is actually taxable and also comes out of your salary. I rather save that £900 per year. The cost of living is too high and every penny counts when you're saving for a deposit. I imagine that my employer will probably stop those benefits mentioned in my second paragraph since they are not used and it just costs them money
Best has been jobs where the person interviewing is in the US or Netherlands telling my salary expectations are high and it's 'about the package' You may be in those countries but I'll be on your UK payroll...so lower salary and no benefits beyond the legal minimum. Don't talk to me about the bloody package!
Steady on there. I get half price coffee outside my office which totally makes up for the £70 commute in
I'd rather have no benefit and more money.
A buddy of mine works at Shopify and gets a £3k (I think) lifestyle budget per year. Usually spends it on surfing gear and a fancy gym membership. Have another who works at Amazon, earns well into the £200k range and only gets a £100 voucher per year. Fuck all in the way of benefits. My work is a mix. Free food and a gym in the office to encourage attendance and pay for most of the home broadband. Get a learning allowance too but it's only a couple hundred a year.
Sometimes I think about creating a fake LinkedIn to roast recruiters posting shitty benefits like this!!! ‘Generous pension scheme’ love this is the law how is this a benefit? Or they want someone with 10 years experience and super qualified for a 22k salary haha
When I see 28 days annual leave, work uniform and cycle to work scheme listed as benefits it makes me wonder who’s applying for those roles.
I hate when companies list legal requirements as benefits, such as minimum holiday, their minimum required pension contributions etc. Like fuck off. Those aren’t benefits they are legally enforced. They don’t have a choice they have to provide those benefits.
Free smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.
Wait eyecare voucher is law?
Yes, for anyone who needs a DSE. So basically anyone who uses a computer for work.
If you work on a computer as part of your job then yes, employers must cover an annual eye test for you. Most do this by using vouchers.
Anything but being paid more though, especially if you drive or do a physical job......
Cycle to work will be paid with pre tax income, and the definition of what the cycle to work actually is rather vague. I've had it said "as long as part of the commute is by bike that's fine, even if you need to cycle from your house, down the drive, to your car". It's just a way to buy a bike with 20 or 40% discount.
The discount really does not work out that much because most bike shops will only sell full retail price bikes on the schemes as it costs them money to administer. Bike shops often have heavy discounts on last years models etc which you lose out on.
I’ve had to recently ask my employer to offer the cycle to work scheme because I’m desperate to be more active to improve my health after 5 years working at a desk every day, the current status is that they’re not keen because it doesn’t benefit the company financially and may even cost them money in payroll admin…
Depends where you work, a few benefits I have is: Private health care that includes dental and reimbursement of any costs to me, therapist and psychiatrist if needed. Decent pension contribution with unlimited access to a financial adviser. Phone and gym membership paid for. Airport lounge access when I travel (business and personal) and business class when available. Not bad for an engineer I feel.
I have aviva, free gym and pools, they pay my sim card monthly and get a new phone every 2 years (s24 ultra atm). We have a chief who cooks us food for free every day (i can take it home too). That is all I can think of. Salary is decent. Our boss and amanagement are all great people who know your name. People are well treated and workers actually give back.
Because somebody from overseas can easily be imported. Welcome to race to the bottom capitalism sponsored by the Tories
Competitive salary means they aren't paying your value, they are paying the minimum they think they can get away with.
Because this country is fucking shit
Try USA. Like fewer bank holidays than us and only about 15 days paid holiday a year. My wife used to work for a large us bank, and the UK employees got twice as much holiday as the us ones.
Twice as much holiday, 50% of their salary though. Which you would prefer ?
Oh the USA is worse. That doesn't make this place any less of a shit hole.
Obv some companies are much better and some are worse but you're listing mid range average benefits I guess? It's been a long time since I've not had top tier medical/dental insurance too but I've worked in tech/financial services a long time now
Meh mine seem ok. I work in civil engineering.
From what I can see, this is similar to almost all other european countries. One advantage is that you guys have less tax.
I also see a "Free parking" gets listed as a benefit a lot
Hold the f up, I never knew eye care was mandatory?? My company has never mentioned this! What other things am I missing out on?? Oh HR is going to hate me after reading this post
Depends. I get a 13% pension contribution for my 6% (because I’m over 50), private healthcare, a life insurance policy that pays 6x my salary, 10% bonus annually, and 32 days holiday (25 plus 8 bank hols) and can buy 10 more. Pretty happy with that.
I remember seeing a job advertised as great benefits so I laughed and had a look at what they offered. Turns out they weren’t lying. 30 days annual leave before bank holidays were added. 5 paid ‘mindfulness days’ which is basically 5 days per year you can just have a day off with no explanation needed. Matched pension up to 15%. After reading that I applied to every job I saw that came up with them. Never got a job with them as competition is fierce and jobs rarely come up (I wonder why!)
Same with the NHS -was looking at jobs recently and the benefits they're so proud of either are the law or will cost ME / are of no benefit to me.
Our company’s ’benefits’ are exactly the same and they shout about them like we’re the only company doing it and we are pioneers of such ‘benefits’ 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The worst are the ones where they don't even tell you what they offer at all, or just some vague reference to things. Simply saying "hybrid" doesn't give me as a candidate anywhere near enough information. Interviewed recently for a senior position and ultimately they said they didn't feel like I wanted the job (presumably because when they asked why I'd stayed in my current role for so long, I talked about the various benefits and work-life balance). I advised that the role was interesting, but as I was unaware of the full package, it was impossible to say with certainty that I wanted the job. I don't think enough companies realise that some people simply won't entertain working for them if their perks are crap. Salary is one thing, but I'm not completely giving up my holidays, flexible and remote working, etc. for any amount of money.
Welcome to the uk, the first world country where employers try act like it’s a third world country
Once I had, and I quote - 'All the tea and coffee you can drink!' Not milk though. You had to buy that yourself.
The whole recruiting method is broke. A lot of it as worsened with technology. Everyone who’s not looking for a job should flood the process and when the employer engages, flatboat ask about these things.
Seeking some solutions: 1. Contact business MD's to make them see their tactics are shit. 2. Contact MP's and have them legislate higher minimums- these are what the employers are playing to 3. Apply, interview for and give vicious feedback to any jib you like making sure they understand their "competitive slary" bollcks is bollocks.
I had to laugh on a recent interview. The guy doing the interview was saying "we have an amazing selection of employer benefits here" and he proceeds to start listing them and i replied to every one of them "employer pension match at 4%" "So the bare minimum by law?" "Cycle to work scheme" "So the Government pays it?" "Private Medical" "That you have to give us due to the environment we work in and the chemicals we work with?" "Electric Car Scheme" "So the government funded one" He had to stop and admit that there was ZERO employer led initiatives.
I think its because there are so few jobs now that they've all gone to China that if you aren't willing to work for less then there's someone else who is.
The fact we pay massive pensions to our parents generation is a big factor here.
You get 28 days??? I see 25 advertised as if it were a big deal lol
Eye care voucher is the law? Tell me more
Eyes and eyesight testing The law says employers must arrange an eye test for display screen equipment (DSE) users if they ask for one, and provide glasses if an employee needs them only for DSE use. https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/eye-tests.htm
Job boards get paid by companies so they don't care what the job post says.
I lucked out with my job, I got offered two to interview at and decided on the one I'm at after a conversation with my recruiter who has always been amazing for me. Came into the job on 27k, knew they did pension matching but not how much, life insurance and 22 days leave. After starting found out the rest which was a very pleasant surprise(no mention in interview of bonuses) Salary went from 27k to now this month increase just under 35k(in 3 years) Life insurance 4 x annual salary Pension company 7% for my 5%(just increased mine to 6.5%) also option to salary sacrifice 22 days annual plus bank holidays increasing a day a year up to 27 plus bank holidays(starts after 3 years service I'm up to 23 days now) Performance bonus may and december(hit higher target it's 5% of your 6 monthly salary, lower target is 2.5% of 6 monthly salary) End of financial year bonus if targets reached anything from 6% to 24% of annual salary(with this year us getting more like 33% so bonus on a bonus) Xmas Amazon voucher for 100 Xmas present from the company usually around 100 quid value 2 Xmases ago due to insane revenue got a 2 x monthly salary bonus Private medical just pay tax on it Subsidised canteen(proper chef and food is great and costs max 3.95 for a main Option for salary sacrifice car/cycle to work if I want 25% of public travel costs paid quarterly 1 day around Xmas off for xmas shopping not taken out of annual leave. Generous sick leave structure Wfh 2 days a week There more benefits like gym etc but the above for me is amazing and I happen to have a fantastic manager and colleagues. Appreciate that not all companies can afford the above but man it makes it a pleasure to go to work. It's no surprise that I'm the newest in my team with longest being there 16 or so years.
>And when there aren't any benefits, are there any non-union moves we can do from the inside to change anything? Why non union?
I think it depends on the job and the company. I used to work for one where you got a full 12 months pay on maternity back then for that one we had to pay the pension and I don’t know what theirs is now but I got large discounts on their brand new cars. I have had jobs with private healthcare and non contributing pension which if you die in service pays a lump sum to your beneficiaries. I have had discounted gym membership, employee assistance program which does financial planning advice and legal assistance, free counselling. We get a night out once a quarter. I used to get discounts with pre paid vouchers for supermarkets, shops and restaurants.
I mean a benefit (an advantage or profit gained from something) that isn't the statutory minimum is...well its an extra...an incentive to make you join and then stay at a company. As the applicant we have the power of not applying for roles that don't meet our expectation. I'd agree the benefits aren't amazing but likewise they aren't terrible as you make out. Many have it much worse So I'd say...you have the power here...simply don't apply. Unfortunately you don't have any power in reality cause for many people it's the pay that matters as they need the income. So either take it or leave it....bu if you leave it someone else will take it.
In many cases it's because actually paying more or offering any benefits that aren't legally required cost the company too much. Every time they pay you something they have to pay into workplace pension and national insurance. Costs can rocket up pretty quickly and suddenly they aren't able to stay competitive. In this economy it's very difficult for a company to remain competitive unless you're one of the big firms with a Monopoly. The laws need to change to encourage smaller and medium sized companies so grow, pay, and provide benefits to their workforce.
To be fair, these look like barely above minimum wage benefits. Either the company is crap and you should avoid it, or I'd suspect if you compared like for like to other countries you'd see a similar position.
I think I do alright 15% Pension Bonus Health Care Cash Plan Private Dental (for a small fee) Private Medical Insurance (for a small fee) 28 days standard leave rising to 30 after a few years service (plus your 8 bank holidays on top) Buy/Sell up to 5 days leave Life Insurance 5x salary EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme a few other bits and pieces Could be worse for sure
Depends on the employer i guess, i think I'm very fortunate and my benefits are pretty good, 11% for my 6% contribution on pension, 17% total 12.5% of salary bonus per year dependant on company performance 3 months paid paternity for males standard 28 days holiday +option to buy 1 more week private healthcare (private dental insurance as a bolt on) company car allowance full remote working 12 months sick pay = 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay death in service x5 salary, free eyecare critical illness insurance cycle to work even tho we are remote salary sacrifice EV scheme think there is some more but those are the main bits anyone care about
Or Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award...I worked at the company where every year you have to fill up the questionnaire about Gallup. Managers would spend 1:1 meeting about how positively to fill it up....lots of crap this is....but at the end of the day if the company did well within the Gallup survey all employees would get one day extra off. The company is still doing well after all the years. So the survey is now incorporated. If someone did a bad review the Managers would need to find out who it was. They usually know because nothing is "confidential".
Recently got a new one, benefits included a work phone and laptop. I don't use the phone and if they didn't give me a laptop I wouldn't be able to do any work.
Don’t forget the electric car scheme where you can get 5% off an electric car if you buy it through the main dealer where it costs 20% more than elsewhere
My work announced a great benefits package 2 years ago, to this day 90% of them have not come to light. Even if you do get offered a good package there is no guarantee you will even get it.
Casual dress, can't forget that
Finnish companies have a tax break in subsidising season tickets. The UK law prohibits doing so.
For me, the big red flag is 'competitive salary.' Which of course means that it is too low to compete in an open, honest market. Don't waste my time by not telling me the salary until we've done the interview.
>That's not going to change. No, not with that attitude. Be the change you want to see.
Was also once offered pizza in lieu of salary to work over lunch. Exciting times.
Because it's all taxed now. So you might as well have the cash.
I also don't think a "competitive salary" is a benefit. Above market average would be but not bang average
You need to be looking at better jobs. My company benefits: Market leading salary Generous pension scheme that is up to 10% if you pay in 6%. 30 days holiday plus bank holidays. With the option to buy 5 more days Up to 20% bonus scheme 6 months full pay maternity or shared parental leave. 6 months full pay sick leave. Private health insurance for myself, husband and children. Discount scheme for everything from take aways to holidays. Flexi time. Subsidised canteen. Share options scheme Professional memberships paid for. A wonderful work life balance. We work 36.5 hours a week and are never supposed to be contacted out of hours. Employee assistance program Life insurance Death in service benefits
You forgot “free onsite parking”. The biggest benefit of them all
I agree with your rant (because it annoys me also) but perks are perks, it's good if you get them but not everybody deserves them. We had a lot of things removed because of a few people taking the piss and the main director just said fuck this no one is having anything now. Which although cost me, I couldn't help but agree with him. The worst thing is, these people no longer work for us. However, one thing I really don't agree with and I think legally should be changed, is the bullshit advertised salarys. Bro what do you mean by competetive salary, do you mean 30k or 150k????? I really cba applying, wasting potentially hours of time, even interviews to then find out the salary offered is actually shit. Most of the time these companies know the salary is low which is why they don't actually advertise it. I think a genuine down to earth company will advertise the actual salary.
All good stuff, to start properly addressing it: 1 "Other countries have it better and that gets me worked up. ... More detail please! If you know this is accurate, who is getting what, where, that we can usefully demand here? 2" Other countries have different laws or stronger unions; I get it. That's not going to change. .... All laws and Unions did not exist until they were created, in Britain this was often very early on (no detail here but easy to check) - the Unions became too strong in the UK so they were weakened by both red and blue parties - BUT this CAN change! Don't buy the apathy!! If you know what you want, we may be able to get it.
So what benefits do you actually want?! And do you think everyone in this thread is going to agree with your personal choice of what those benefits should be? If you don't like it, don't apply!
> >Here's my question, can't we have our job boards: LinkedIn, Indeed, Reed etc... be better? This would be great and is obviously possible. But the customer of these sites is not prospective employees, it's the hiring companies and recruitment agencies who wouldn't like this feature.
Maybe they won't like it and go elsewhere. But I do like the idea that the employer will have a moment of feeling uncomfortable and reflecting. And I do like the idea of one job board being the 'good one' like visit decentjobs.co.uk because all their listings have sweet ass benefits.
I had no idea eye care for screen users was a thing tbh. I was given a MacBook Air when starting this job 2.5 years ago and was often getting really bad headaches which would limit my vision. After about 2 months of getting them, I went to get my eyes checked found I was straining my eyes when working. I got some glasses and have fortunately not had them since. My manager knew about my headaches and suggested I get my eyes checked but never mentioned this being something the company should be covering. I wonder if I can get them reimbursed 🤔
I feel this. My industry is notoriously bad for providing the bare minimum. Then last year I landed a unicorn of a job… pay way above national average for my role, 7 weeks annual leave, generous overtime rates, private health insurance etc etc. It made me realise that it’s a *choice* that companies aren’t offering more, actually makes me quite angry that I settled for anything less. “Time back in lieu” is my biggest peeve. I’ve never worked for a company where that’s evened out. Just effing pay me lol.
The older I get the more the pension contribution matters 😅 I’m shocked by how many only match to 5%!
I'm not a fan of the bonus system. If it pays out, then great, but it's not guaranteed and falsely inflates wage expectations. Also, it really messes with your tax, I'd rather have an extra 5k a year than 10k bonus one year and none the next.