6 Sneaky Ways Employers Use "Perks" In Job Offers

The worst job I ever had was with Loomis Armored. They advertised $18.75-20.35 an hour and I had years of banking and cash handling experience for the vault job I applied for. They offered me 18.75 and I asked why my experience wasn't relevant, they said "it was relevant for hire but everyone starts at 18.75". They had a signing bonus that paid out every three months and most people don't make it past two. It was truly that bad..

Unlimited vacation is particularly sinister since it gives the employer so much leeway to claim you're abusing it. Wonder if they try to get out of paying you unemployment benefits this way.

Yes, I had a similar situation with ‘flexible work locations’. Basically the job ad said flexibility in where you work but the reality was we want you in head office 3/4 days a week. No negotiation.

I bet that you have helped thousands of people at this point by exposing employers

It always struck me that perks in general were there to create a disincentive to the employee leaving but at a minimal cost to the employer.

Perks that a friend of mine was offered: The weather here in FL is great and we don't have state income tax!! (justification for offering $20K less than what he was making in IL)

One of my conditions for accepting the last job offer I had was for them to write a double digit percentage pay-rise into my contract after a year to make up for the lower than expected offer - since I knew I wouldn't get one that size in the foreseeable without changing companies again and the project aligned with my values. The recruiter who found me came back with one better and got it for after the probation period instead, so got the rise I wanted within 6 months - which was serendipitously timed to land just as energy prices were ramping up. 😄

Thank you so much for exposing "unlimited" time off that really isn't. Not only do you not get any payout at the end of your employment, but this can turn an illness into a "vacation." If you're offered "unlimited discretionary time off," ask about labor utilization expectations, particularly on client-billable work. This can bite you in a very bait-and-switch way. If you have "unlimited" DTO, but your utilization minimum is 95%, in a work-year of 2080 hours, you can only take off 104 hours or 13 days. This is not just vacation - but also sick days and non-corporate holidays, along with any other time not billable to the client, like corporate-mandated training, or even proposal work. Consider this carefully if you're late-career or you're a caregiver - you may have to work extra billable hours to make up for taking time off.

Gorgeous point about future perks - it’s unbelievable how every individual involved in fulfilling these promises can shrug and say it’s out of their hands after you’re hired and work for it…. Like, who’s hands was it in when you offered it, then?

Unlimited vacation benefit plans are okay IF they come backed with a minimum vacation policy where the company pushes for a minimum of 2-3 weeks or so vacation used per year. Sort of like a mix of traditional and unlimited vacation policies.

My previous employer originally had an accrued PTO policy and a few years in my employment, they switched it over to unlimited PTO to "attract candidates". I was one of the senior technical people so it was a bit 'hard' for me to just take vacations on the fly without having a ton of work waiting for me. Long story short, I ended up losing thousands of dollars because of this change. If your current employer mentions they are thinking of making this change, you should really consider other options if you have them before your PTO hours get obliterated like mine did.

When I started at my current employer (before we were acquired), one of the perks was a 401k with "6% matching". What that means at most companies: They will match your contribution 100% up to 6% of your salary. What that meant at my company: They will match 6% of your contribution. So, I contributed 6% of my salary to my 401k, and my company contributed .36% of my salary. So, my starting salary was $75k and they were going to contribute a whopping $270.

29 day annual leave (includes public holidays). I’ve seen this one so much and it’s so annoying. 20 days is standard and the public holidays are there by law. (I’m in Ireland btw)

Worse 'perk' i ever got: Free food! Catered lunch daily from various restaurant!. All the snacks you can eat, soda, coffee, tea - all free. Downside: you're expected to stay at your desk all day. No getting some fresh air walking to the post office. No midday errands. No checking your email and having a moment to yourself. None of that. Instead, you're trying to eat lunch while your boss or coworkers are talking work and never get a break. 9-12 straight hours without a moment away from your desk. People end up sitting in the bathroom to get some downtime! haha

An excellent point. I used to work for a large entertainment/media company who happens to have several theme parks in the US (y’all know the one). And I had to think about it one day as I was looking at some of their newly posted job descriptions and associated salaries - and it dawned on me that the pay is historically miserable pretty much across the board there partly because of the “perks,” one of which is free theme park admission. When you consider that someone who’s using their free park admission on a regular basis is technically “saving” hundreds of dollars just to get in the place….it puts the hourly wages into a different sort of perspective Not necessarily a good one cuz I’d rather have cash (which is why I’m not there now…) but certainly a different one. Sort of 😅

This is fantastic. To me, these perks are icing. They don't make the decision for me. Perhaps perks may be a tie-breaker, but, as you said the bottom line bas compensation, first and foremost. By the way how about perks like recreation or game rooms. I've always heard to beware on these. They can mean you have no work-life balance. They assume you will be in the office almost all the time. They are just a way to take an occasional break.

If they try to sell me perks I’m immediately turned off

HA. I got a job offer with a big prestigious publisher and the salary was breathtakingly low. I told the HR woman that was barely enough to live on and she told me that is how they do it and it would only be for the first year and then I could expect a substantial raise. After a year, I went back to her and asked for my raise. She looked at me like I had 2 heads and denied she ever said that.

A situation that happened with my brother and a friend. on two separate occasions. They had great per-IPO options. Just prior to an acquisition the founders issued themselves massive additional options, diluting everyone else down to 1% what they originally had.

I get 40 hours of vacation and sick days combined per year. No rollover. No getting paid out if you leave without using it. I promise you, I would not be taking less time off because of unlimited PTO.