Perks are a must for 60% of workers — but not just free beer Fridays
Earlier this month, UK hospitality firm Loungers (which runs the Brightsides, Lounges and Cosy Clubs chains) closed for a day to host a festival for its 7,000 staff.
LoungeFest featured street food stalls, music, fairground rides and bars, with teams from across the country throwing off their aprons and letting their hair down.
On Instagram, attendees described the event as a ‘blast’, but there’s a deeper reason behind companies offering perks like this – and marketing prompting jobseekers to apply to Loungers in order to ‘join the party next year’ might just give you a clue.
In research by Open Study College, 60% of workers said perks were make or break when accepting a new job, while one in five of those surveyed by Beamery claimed they were considering leaving their current role due to limited benefits or perks.
Commenting on the current landscape, Peter Duris, the CEO and co-founder of Kickresume, says ‘some perks and benefits are important enough to applicants that they are almost as important a consideration as the salary.’
He tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Companies are offering some very appealing perks, ranging from prizes as incentives for high performance to private health insurance.
‘In some employers’ efforts to bring their team back into the office, they have started introducing perks that are only available on-site, like free fitness classes and/or catered meals at work. However, with the popularity of flexible and home working, for many employees this wouldn’t be enough to make coming into the office five days a week appealing!”
It’s largely an issue of recouping the money spent on being present in the office, as 58% of respondents in a Yonder and MoreySmith poll admitted they’d only go to the office full time if the amenities were worth more than the cost of the commute (a figure which rises to 68% for the 25-to-34 age group).
When it came down to the most popular perks that could be offered to entice workers back into the office, early finishes came out on top with nearly half (49.5%) of those surveyed by Office Freedom favouring the option, followed by subsidised lunches in second place at 39.2% and subsidised travel third at 38.8%.
Some of these benefits include things like gym memberships, on-site baristas, massages, parties, or free food or drink, but others are targeted more towards making life a little easier, particularly for parents.
Rob, 30, from East Lothian, was in the process of interviewing for a new job in January 2023 when his partner found out she was pregnant.
Although the move was initially speculative, to find a more challenging role with better progression opportunities, Rob says his mind was made up by the company he now works for offering enhanced paternity leave.
‘I get 12 weeks fully paid currently, which I can use flexibly until my child turns one, compared to my old work who provided the statutory two weeks – one of which is unpaid,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.
‘Having the enhanced paternity has saved us thousands of pounds in childcare costs and has allowed my partner to go back to work earlier (where many mums don’t get this option).’
In addition to this, he has access to private healthcare, a bonus plan, and a compressed working week, while his role is fully remote with a work from home stipend.
For Rob, these tangible advantages that actually improve his family’s life are far more useful than what he’s experienced in the past.
He adds: ‘I previously worked at a startup which was all pizza parties and a fully stocked beer fridge. It was great, however I definitely prefer a fair salary and actual benefits over this.’
There’s a fine line between light-hearted rewards and perkwashing, when employers inflate the benefits they offer to get new hires through the door; like advertising ‘flexible working’ but really expecting staff to be available at all hours, or talking up the ‘fun’ company culture (and of course the obligatory ping pong table) despite unmanageable workloads that mean employees have no time to actually socialise with each other.
The term can also describe businesses focusing on surface-level perks but neglecting to support staff when it comes to areas such as wages, job progression, and staff wellbeing – both in and out of work.
While not all employers who offer perks are guilty of perkwashing (including Loungers, which is generally a well regarded place to work according to staff reviews) when they’re used as part of a flimsy ploy to placate people, it often leads to high turnover and an unhappy workforce who feel misled.
The most important workplace perks for UK employees
- The option for hybrid or flexible working
- Subsidised parking
- A good pension scheme
- Extra holidays for long service
- Training and development
- Friday early finish
- Extended maternity/ paternity leave
- Optional schemes (Cycle to work, Sharesave, etc)
- Subsidised gym memberships
- Discounts for local activities/restaurants, etc
Via Open Study College.
‘Things like free snacks and laundry services can be offered to hide deeper issues with company culture,’ Khyati Sundaram, CEO of ethical hiring experts, Applied, tells Metro.co.uk. ‘So if companies are shouting about their perks, but don’t offer meaningful initiatives which give all candidates and current employees an equal opportunity to succeed in the hiring process and beyond, it’s worth steering clear.’
It seems people are heeding that advice in growing numbers too, as data from Flexa shows that remote and hybrid roles, along with enhanced parental leave, fertility benefits and mental health support are the top priorities for employees in 2024.
And the younger generation are especially discerning, as over a third (35%) of workers aged 21 to 30 expressed a preference for roles offering mental health support, compared to just 30% of workers from all other age brackets.
The flexible working site’s CEO, Molly Johnson Jones, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Free snacks and beer socials may have once been enough to curry favour with workers, but they certainly aren’t enough to attract job seekers in 2024.
‘It’s no surprise why jobseekers are prioritising flexible working over fluffy “work perks” like free coffee during their job search. Your working environment is crucial to ensuring you’re happy, healthy and able to thrive at work.’
So what do you do to weed out perkwashing firms in your job hunt?
According to Molly, it’s all to do with specifics in ads and company websites.
‘Employers who are genuinely flexible and offer hybrid working will give a clear indication of the number of days employees are expected to be in the office,’ she says. ‘They won’t just make vague claims of being “open to flexible working”, which they then fail to accommodate in reality.’
She also recommends finding out more about a workplace from current or former employees, either through good old fashioned networking or using review sites like Flexa and Glassdoor.
When in doubt, questions are key to choosing the right employer for you.
‘Jobseekers shouldn’t be shy about asking for clarification about office perks when they have their interview,’ says Peter. ‘If there’s a particular benefit that the employer offers that could be very beneficial to you, ask about it!’
He adds: ‘Think carefully about which perks will contribute most to your wellbeing and to a positive working environment – and think about which perks might be too good to be true.’
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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
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