Rachel Kiley
Employers will do just about anything under the sun to convince employees they should take or keep a job — short of actually providing raises, of course.
Anyone who has been job hunting in the past decade has surely seen an uptick in advertisements promoting “perks” of the job that are either ultimately irrelevant or should be standard at every similar workplace. It’s an annoying and frustrating practice and is getting to the point where it almost sends more red flags than anything else.
The antiwork subreddit has been rounding up and calling out these so-called perks in a post asking, “What’s the most insulting ‘benefit’ a job has offered you?”
The originator of the thread, u/Chocolat3City, offered up “free parking” as an example, which might sound ridiculous, but considering how many retailers and restaurants refuse to let employees park in spaces that could be taken up by customers, it actually has to be clarified.
But as the OP said, “if it’s something that only helps me access my workplace (which I wouldn’t need but for the job), it’s a ‘benefit’ to my employer, not me.”
With that in mind, others had plenty of examples of their own to offer up.
1.
Windows. (The kind you look through, not the OS.)
2.
Pretending pizza is a 10k salary increase or anything significant.
3.
A space heater that my boss yells at me whenever I turn on.
4.
Overtime. Yes it was listed in the job description as a benefit.
5.
Company sweater (meant as uniform) but given as a new year’s “gift.”
6.
A pinball machine and pool table for use on breaks that people got shamed for using.
7.
Food stamp eligibility. They paid so little that they listed government assistance as a BENEFIT.
8.
Weekend events, xmas parties. Like I want to spend my personal time with work people…?
9.
A mandatory party where we were…aggressively encouraged to participate in activities like dance offs. Who doesn’t love mandatory fun?
10.
PTO as follows: Hired start with zero days. Accrue one day per YEAR up to five days after 5 or more years worked.
11.
We had free reserved parking, close to the building, and they took it away: Changed to monthly pay, or go-find-your-own-good-luck.
12.
In 1994, I worked at a video store for $3.25/hr. Minimum wage was $4.25 at the time but I was told it was legal because I got one free rental per shift.
13.
In a plastics factory where you’re lifting 100+ pound iron molding pieces repetitively, they actually had the balls to point to a gym area that was “open to all employees”. They couldn’t figure out why only the office people ever used it.
14.
[Company] listed “healthcare benefits” in their job description. I was SO excited because I was uninsured at the time. I asked about it at orientation and the manager hands me a pamphlet with a coupon for a reduced cost clinic for uninsured people in a city 60 miles away. Awesome.
15.
I worked as a teacher aide in an elementary school for almost minimum wage. If we wanted to wear jeans one Friday a month, we were required to make a $5 “donation” to go toward Christmas gifts for needy families. I was like, I am the needy family lol
16.
I had an employer that offered discounted tickets (theme parks, sporting events, concerts, etc) through a third-party website. The website charged a service fee that made the tickets the same price or sometimes more expensive than if you bought them through traditional methods.
17.
I worked at McDonald’s as a teen and they only offered a 50% discount so long as you purchased two meals…so basically “you get half off but only if you buy twice as much”. Unless you brought a friend, it wasn’t really a discount. Also, no shift meals despite their food costs being literal pennies.
18.
Free lunch every day… the problem was when I tried to do anything other than sit at my desk and eat. After a couple weeks, I started leaving my place of work for lunch here and there just to run errands, have a phone convo with family/friends/gf, or just eat by myself at a restaurant (the food they ordered wasn’t bad but it got old quick). After having done this a few times, my manager stopped me one day and asked where I was going and why I sometimes leave. I replied “I’m Going on lunch.” He told me that the whole point of them ordering lunch for us was so we could eat at our desks while we continued to work.
