The best companies to work for with unbelievable perks
lovemoney staff
08 March 2017
Incredible benefits
Forget casual Fridays… these firms offer their hard-working employees everything from massages to a tattoo parlor. Check out 27 companies that offer their employees unusual and incredible perks.
Skyscanner
Holiday comparison website Skyscanner has offices all over the world, and it's pretty generous to its employees. The company has negotiated employee discounts at the local pub and beauty salon and, appropriately enough for a travel firm, offers employees the opportunity to spend up to 30 days working from another Skyscanner office.
Money.co.uk
We spend most of our lives at work, so what better perk is there than an office environment as cool as this? All inside a Grade-II listed castle, too. The founder of financial website Money.co.uk recently arranged for an office renovation worth $3.65 million (£3m), designed by flamboyant UK designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Inside, employees get to enjoy their own cinema, gym, games space and meeting rooms with themes such as an 'ice cave'.
LinkedIn employees are inundated with great opportunities, but one of the biggest perks is the time given to employees to allow them to work on special projects and grants designed to allow them to 'transform themselves'. For example, in 2013, an employee got a $3,000 (£2,460) grant to go to Indonesia and teach scuba diving skills to young people there so they could become professional divers.
Missing Link
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Missing Link is one seriously cool company largely thanks to its epic office space. Not only does it have a treehouse, fireman’s pole, shooting range and deli caravan but staff are encouraged to embrace their inner ‘rock stars’ and get a free tattoo at the in-house parlor called, wait for it, Missing Ink.
Hootsuite
With offices in San Francisco, Singapore and São Paulo, this social media management company is growing fast. Hootsuite’s head office in Vancouver, Canada looks more like a cozy log cabin or ski lodge than a stuffy office. It features a nap room, yoga studio and tents instead of meeting rooms. Dogs are welcome in the office, so you’ll often see staff working alongside their furry four-legged friends.
Campbell Soup Company
At the food company’s giant head office in New Jersey staff can work out in fitness centers, better their kitchen skills with healthy cooking lessons and drop their kids off at the company kindergarten – there’s also an after school care program for kids aged six to 12 years.
Dropbox
Dropbox, which has offices from Sydney to San Francisco, knows how to keep its staff happy. As well as offering free gourmet breakfasts, lunch and dinner, on-site haircuts and gym access, the file-sharing company has a seriously impressive games room and fully-stocked music studio for staff to jam in when they need to step away from their customized, ergonomically-reviewed desks.
Peer 1 Hosting
While they work hard, the crew at IT company Peer 1 Hosting, based in Southampton, England, like to play hard too. Its office features a giant helter-skelter slide, an indoor putting green, yoga classes, a treehouse, swings to hold meetings on and even an in-house pub. The company is so sure staff will love working there that it bets new employees $1,200 (£1,000) they won’t want to leave after two weeks on the job.
Visa
Staff at Visa enjoy discounted concert tickets, as well as cheap trips to amusement parks and sporting events. They also have the opportunity to do free group exercise classes as well as join sports teams and clubs. It's also big on volunteering and offers staff rewards for getting involved.
The digital giant has offices all around the world, each with their own unique perks. All offices have a quirky layout and a rule that no employee is ever more than 150 feet away from food – they get free lunch and unlimited snacks. Some have on-site doctors, hairdressers and offer wellness services like massage and chiropractic. They also have rock climbing walls, scooters to get around the office, dry cleaning facilities, and free shuttle buses to work.
Epic Systems
When staff at this healthcare tech company based in Wisconsin reach the five-year employment mark they’re given a month-long vacation as a thank you for their loyalty. And even better, they’re encouraged to think big with the company helping to foot the bill for them and a friend if they visit a country they’ve never been to before.
Opus Professional Services
This professional services group specializes in recruitment, so it comes as no huge surprise they are armed with great benefits for their employees. But one of the company's biggest perks is its villa in Italy, which employees can use free of charge whenever they want. We imagine there's a pretty big rush for summer months though.
Yahoo
Staffers at Yahoo are treated to free breakfast, lunch and unlimited snacks. And they can work it off in the company fitness center with kickboxing, Pilates or golf classes, or on the basketball and sand volleyball courts. Forget boring meetings; if you work at the Yahoo office in
California you’ll get to listen to talks from the likes of Tom Cruise or Deepak Chopra as part of its Influential Speakers Series.
Boeing
Aside from offering great health care plans and a friendly and diverse working environment, Boeing is big on education. Here employees are encouraged to further their learning by enrolling in university or taking courses at a high-quality school, all paid for by the company.
AOL
The tech company says it takes fun seriously and with offices featuring ping pong, foosball, roaming beer carts, nap rooms and happy hour Thursdays we believe them. It also looks after working mothers through the company’s Well Baby program, which gives first-time mothers support as well as on-site daycare facilities.
Mattel
It’s a company that’s all about making kids happy so it’s no surprise Mattel looks after staff with children, offering parents 16 hours of paid time off for school-related events. It also offers a program that helps with the cost of adopting a child. Many of the offices have flexible work hours, funky office fit outs and an on-site toyshop where staff can buy toys with a generous discount.
Airbnb
The home-renting company, perhaps unsurprisingly, encourages its staff to get out there and see the world by providing them with a $2,000 (£1,645) annual stipend to travel anywhere in the world. As well as cool offices, Airbnb is dog friendly, encourages paid volunteer time and provides three healthy meals a day.
Microsoft
There are a bunch of great perks at Microsoft’s HQ in Seattle. Aside from having a couple of soccer fields and basketball courts to play on in your lunch break there are also pinball machines and pool tables spread throughout the office. Hungry? Not a problem; there are 11 different restaurants on site, as well as dry cleaning facilities and retail stores so you can pick up an outfit on your lunch break.
It’s often voted one of the best places to work for and when you check out Facebook’s HQ in California it’s not hard to see why. There are free vending machines dolling out computer accessories, plus a video arcade, on-site barbershop, treadmill desks and tons of restaurants and cafes that are either super cheap or free.
Deloitte
Staff at finance consultancy company Deloitte are actually encouraged to go on long holidays – yes we’re serious. They’re offered two options: the first allows employees an unpaid one-month sabbatical that they can take for any reason, at any time; or they can take up to six months off to volunteer or pursue personal or professional growth opportunities and still receive 40% of their salary.
Hallmark
Hallmark employees based at the company’s Missouri HQ don’t even have to leave the office to get their chores done with dry cleaning services, a fitness center, on-site banking and postal center all available on site. And don’t worry about cooking dinner for your family as the employee cafeteria is stocked with meals for staff to take home.
Netflix
Aside from getting free access to Netflix – natch – the digital movie and TV company’s staff get stock options worth 5% of their monthly salary. Best of all Netflix doesn’t keep track of vacation days, letting staff take off as much time as they want. And most recently it launched a ground-breaking benefit of one year’s paid parental leave.
New Belgium
This brewing company based in Colorado rewards staff loyalty with an educational trip – sort of. After five years with the company, employees are taken on a week-long trip to Belgium to experience and learn about the country’s food, and of course its beer too!
iCracked
iCracked, which repairs everything from your broken iPhone to iPad, features many of the typical start-up company perks like catered lunches, dinners, a kitchen stocked with snacks, fun team outings and a wellness stipend to keep you healthy. But one of its best perks is allowing staff at its California HQ full use of the company yacht, which is docked nearby.
MTV
With its various offices around the world kitted out with movie and game rooms, MTV staff are also treated to surprise gigs, with famous bands and DJs popping by for impromptu shows. Some offices offer half days on Fridays in the summer and monthly out of office days where the team gives back to the local community.
Bloomberg
Forget an open door policy, at Bloomberg there are no doors. No matter which office around the world you’re in – it could be Paris, London or San Francisco – you’ll find an open plan to encourage interaction. Even the CEO doesn’t have a private office! There’s also free food on tap 24 hours a day, fitness centers, meditation classes and wellness coaching.
EA Electronic Arts
It’s not surprising that a company like EA, which created games such as The Sims, would have a headquarters fit for a gaming pro. Its HQ in California has a game lab where staff can test out the latest products. There’s also a gym on-site and a childcare center so staff can eat lunch with their kids in the company’s cafeterias. And twice a week staff can get their vehicles washed and repaired.
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