Having a pool of perks (to avoid dissent)
July 2nd, 2009A few people messaged me yesterday when I mentioned if I hired someone here is what I would do (Obsess about your employees).
A common thread is that there can be a lot of dissent amongst employees, especially those that receive extra perks because they have a family vs those that don’t. When some people put off having a family to have a career or unable to, bringing up these kind of issues would be very very difficult.
My idea would be to have a pool of perks (kind of an employee loyalty style programme) over time you receive these perks, you can swap as you please. Thus if you choose something like day care you are giving up something else. Not a be all end all solution but would allow employees to fairly allocate their own rewards.
(Oh and also you can get employees to make up their own perks or provide them within the scheme…)
Tags: discrimination, dissent, hiring, perks, resentment
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 pm. 
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 am
Sounds good. The perks are almost like the Fly Buys of the company. They can become a kind of currency.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:49 am
Should work. Care needs to be made when selecting the perks available, but the submission process should help that, and it the cost to the company is the same it should be equal.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I am intrigued by this concept of a Perk Currency. There is absolutely something valuable in this concept. However it requires further exploration. The first issue is the availability of perks for employees. Do they get more perks as their pay-grade increases? What about seniority? Are they fungible? Can I convert them to cash instead? On the flip side, can I buy more perks?
Thanks for the great food for thought Ben!
July 5th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Thanks for your feedback, everything is up for discussion, maybe this over-engineers the problem? The idea is fair allocation (whilst still creating an attractive environment).