What Makes a Good Office Perk? Navigating the World of Employee Benefits in Good Times and Bad

 

What Makes a Good Office Perk?

 Navigating the World of Employee Benefits in Good Times and Bad

I.               Lead-in. Discuss the questions with other students.

A.             Have you ever had a bonus at work?

B.             How important do you think bonuses are to employee satisfaction?

C.             Can you think of any perks or bonuses that your company offers that you particularly appreciate?

D.             How do you think the pandemic has affected what people consider to be good office perks?

E.              Do you think companies should prioritize offering perks or bonuses to their employees, especially in uncertain economic times? Why or why not?

 II. Match the words to their definitions.

1.	to tighten belt	A.	a person who works in an office
2.	discretionary spending	B.	to weaken or damage the effectiveness of something
3.	in-house	C.	to produce results
4.	to axe	D.	a mental state of awareness and focus
5.	perk	E.	contributing to obesity
6.	dispensability	F.	to reduce expenses
7.	to grasp	G.	the act of assigning   resources
8.	white-collar worker	H.	to promote in an exaggerated way
9.	by the same token	I.	to distribute in a controlled manner
10.	to yield	J.	to leave work early
11.	allocation	K.	for the same reason
12.	to undermine	L.	the quality of being able to be cut without significant impact
13.	to tout	M.	a reward offered to encourage a certain behavior
14.	mindfulness	N.	accustomed to something
15.	obesogenic	O.	money owed from borrowing to finance education
16.	big-ticket item	P.	non-essential spending or expenses that can be cut back during difficult financial times
17.	incentive	Q.	to understand
18.	student-loan debt	R.	provided within a company
19.	habituated	S.	an extra benefit or privilege provided to employees
20.	to knock off	T.	to cut  abruptly or without warning
21.	to dole out	U.	an expensive item

 

 

III. Interactive vocabulary. Follow the link. Study the words using flashcards, check your understanding, practise spelling new words. Play matching vocabulary game and solve the crossword puzzle. Take a test to check your knowledge.    

 https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-3844170

 

IV. Use the words and phrases form Task II to complete the sentences, but keep in mind that you may need to change the form of the word.  

 

1.    The government is providing tax ______ to companies that invest in renewable energy.

2.    The burden of ______has become a major issue for young adults entering the workforce.

3.    As more companies shift to remote work, ______are finding themselves adapting to new work-from-home routines.

4.    The purchase of a new laptop can be a ______for many individuals, especially students.

5.    The government's ______of funds towards technology infrastructure is expected to boost the IT industry in the coming years.

6.    Many countries are investing in renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions; ______, these investments are also creating new job opportunities in the green energy sector.

7.    When companies need to tighten their budgets, they usually start by looking at ______before cutting essential expenses.

8.    The recent cyber attack has ______the security of many organizations' computer systems.

9.    The government planned ______ financial aid to small businesses affected by the pandemic.

10.Many people are turning to ______apps to alleviate stress and anxiety in their daily lives.

11.______massage therapists were among the 27 employees that Google fired in January.

12.As technology advances, it's important ______new concepts and skills in order to stay relevant in the IT industry.

13.Flexible work arrangements, such as the ability ______early, can help increase employee productivity and job satisfaction.

14.Employees who are ______to long work hours may experience burnout and decreased productivity.

15.The CEO of the struggling tech firm announced plans ______non-essential projects in an effort to save costs.

16.Despite initial resistance from some employees, the implementation of new software has ______significant productivity gains for the company.

17.The removal of office ______like free snacks and gym memberships has been a common cost-cutting measure during the pandemic.

18.Many fast food chains are criticized for promoting ______eating habits through their menus and marketing strategies, which often feature high-calorie, low-nutrient options.

19.Due to the economic downturn, many companies have had _________ and cut costs.

20.The rise of automation and artificial intelligence has led to concerns about the ______of certain job roles.

21.Tech companies often ______their products as revolutionary, but sometimes fail to deliver on their promises, leading to disappointment among consumers.

 

 IV. Look at the article. Six sentences have been removed. Read the article and choose from the sentence and sentence fragments (A-I) the one which fits each gap (1-6). There are three sentences which you do not need to use.

A.   From a stay-cation that includes a professional massage to a new experience on their next vacation,

B.    because attendance patterns had changed

C.    make team members separated by distance feel closer and more connected.

D.   Time-limited seasonal benefits are a good answer to this:

E.    set up a productive and comfortable home office space.

F.    The chopping of such benefits has been christened the “perkcession”

G.   Snack cupboards filled with calorific goodies are some people’s version of a sugary paradise

H.   Perks that sound great in theory may not work out that well in practice

I.      Research into what workers value most reveals the same priorities:

  

When companies tighten their belts, they look first to discretionary spending. Meta got rid of free laundry for its workers last year. In January Google announced a round of layoffs that included 27 in-house massage therapists. Salesforce, another tech firm, has axed its contract with a Californian “wellness retreat”. 1) __________. But just as perks get cut in bad times, so they return in the good. Eventually you can expect to read articles about a “perkcovery”. What makes a good perk?

Dispensability is part of the point. This is not like a salary or a healthcare plan; if it cannot be cut, it is not a perk. Views on what counts as a discretionary benefit can shift over time. Before the pandemic being allowed to work from home every so often was seen as a perk. Anyone who still describes it that way has failed to grasp how much the world has changed for white-collar workers. By the same token many of the perks that are now being cut were designed for a pre-pandemic world of long weeks in full offices. Last month Google warned that services at snack bars and cafeterias were being reviewed 2) __________.

Working out which perks are valuable to workers is hard. Asking employees may not always yield good answers. A poll conducted last year for Trusaic, a software firm, asked American workers what perks they would like to see introduced: the top answer was hangover leave. 3) __________. Several firms, Goldman Sachs and Netflix among them, tout the fact that they offer members of staff  unlimited holidays. But other companies have abandoned the policy because the absence of clear rules leaves employees unsure how much time they can really take off; some take less than they did under a fixed allocation of vacation days.

Perks should reinforce a culture, not be undermined by it. Firms should not be offering employees access to advice on financial wellbeing if they pay worse than everyone else. They should not be touting mindfulness courses if they expect employees to work until they drop from exhaustion. And perks should be motivating to the widest possible group. 4) __________, and others’ idea of obesogenic hell. If your perk is a source of controversy, it’s probably not right.

The framing of a perk matters, too. Mental accounting is a concept that was coined by Richard Thaler, a behavioural economist, to describe how people put different values on money depending on context. A discount on a small purchase feels more significant than the same amount off a big-ticket item, for example. Helping people with things they resent paying for can also be more effective than doling out treats.

In “Mixed Signals”, an enjoyable new book on incentives, Uri Gneezy describes an experiment he conducted with three academics in Singapore, in which taxi drivers there were rewarded if they did a certain amount of exercise. Some drivers were given $100 in cash and others were given a credit equal to the value of a much-disliked rental fee they had to pay to the firm that owned the taxi. The rental credit proved much more motivating to drivers. Employers who offer help with pet insurance or student-loan debt repayments may be onto something.

Perks also work best if they are noticed. Employees can quickly become habituated to something that is unvaryingly available. Ben and Jerry’s offers its staff three pints of ice cream and frozen yogurt a day; that risks being a benefit which fades into the background, even if its employees are less likely to. 5) __________ some firms let their people knock off early on Friday afternoons during the summer, for example.

By the time the days lengthen and the weather warms, that perk might help to keep good employees in their posts.

No employer should mistake perks for the things that really matter to their staff. 6) __________stimulating work, being recognised by their managers, good wages. When it  comes to office environments, too, basics like natural light count for more than a massage. But perks can help at the margins. If you are going to dole them out, the trick is to find something that is both discretionary and meaningful.

 

V. OVER TO YOU. Get ready to discuss the use of perks in the workplace. Use the questions below to organize your ideas:

A.   How do companies decide which perks to offer to their employees?

B.   Why is it important for perks to reinforce a company's culture?

C.   Can asking employees what perks they want backfire? Why or why not?

D.   What should employers prioritize over perks when it comes to keeping their employees happy and motivated?

E.    Have you noticed any changes in the perks offered by companies in your local area or industry? If so, what are some examples?

F.    How do you think the perkcession and potential perkcovery will impact the job market in your country? Will companies that offer more perks be more competitive in attracting top talent?

G.   Are there any perks that you think are particularly valuable or meaningful for employees in your culture or region? How do they differ from the examples mentioned in the article?