Perquisite

Don't you love it when you learn something new?  I do, and I did!  Just learned that the word perk is actually an abbreviation of the title of this post.  Kinda remind me of the word tip, which is actually an acronym of To Insure Promptness.  Bet you already knew that.  But have you ever thought that it’s actually a misnomer?  You actually give tips at the end of a service, so you're not actually insuring promptness but rewarding it.  So it should actually be trep, To REward Promptness.  Or maybe tregs, To REward Good Service.  Maybe I should submit these to Merriam Webster.

ANYWAY, here are 10 of our company perks that I truly appreciate:

1.  Pay me while I sip pinacoladas.  In other words, paid time off.  They give us 25 days when you join the company and it becomes 28 days after 5 years of service.  My wife and I take full advantage of this one, especially when we take long vacations to the Philippines, which we plan to do this year.

2.   Angry lobster.  No, this is not the actual name of the perk.  It’s actually business travel.  From time to time, we get the opportunity to attend conferences and the company pays for everything including the airfare, car rental, hotel accommodations and food.  Which brings us to angry lobster.  One time we went to Chicago for the company’s yearly outing.  We went to a restaurant called Smith’s and Wellenski and ordered a dish called angry lobster (there were 4 of us and all of us ordered the same thing).  When our orders arrived, we each had a steamed 2-pound lobster staring at us with the fiercest eyes a lobster could muster!  All the other customers were also staring at us with mouths agape in disbelief.   It doesn’t end there…the bill came to $75 apiece.  We went out the restaurant worried that we will have angry bosses when they see the charges.

3.  Sharpen the saw and climb the ladder.  I’m not talking about basic carpentry here (although it might be a useful thing to learn), but about furthering your education.  The company subsidizes higher education or other courses related to your field.  The percentage they contribute towards the tuition fee depends on the grades you get on the course.  The higher your grade, the less you pay out of pocket.

4.  Wanna do Italian or Chinese today?  We usually have team lunches every month.  Our managers always take us to nice restaurants (read expensive) and sample their menus.  Good thing cause I would never go to those places if I am gonna pay.  I have seen the bill several times and almost have a stroke every time.

5.  Staying connected.  We have access to high speed internet here at work.  I use it mainly for checking news and posts of my blog buddies.  Those of you with the same privilege, try to limit your web surfing.  You don’t want your boss to see you on the net every time he passes by your cube.  Unless you have very fast fingers to switch to other windows.

6.  Stockpiling some stocks.  We receive a 15% discount on our stocks and you can set up an automatic payroll deduction so you can avail of the bargain with ease.  After two years, you can sell those stocks without incurring a penalty.  My wife usually gets her Philippine vacation fund from this.

7.  Catching up some needed sleep.  We have flextime and if you arrive late, you can just make it up by staying late.  This perk is great if your kid has a doctor’s appointment or if you need to take your car to the mechanic….Or if you are a night owl like me and hit the snooze button 5 times every morning.

8.  The help-me-pay-jenny’s-bra ces fund.  Otherwise known as the Flexible Spending Account or FSA.  This tax-deductible fund can be used to pay for things that your health insurance doesn’t cover, like over the counter meds, co-pay fees, and yes, your kids’ braces.

9.   There’s nothing certain in life but death….The company will give a lump sum of $50,000 to your family if you die.  You can also buy supplemental life insurance for a lot less when you buy it from insurance companies.  If an immediate family dies, they give you  extra 5 days paid time off to bereave the loss.

10.  ….and taxes.  The company provides a wide array of investment options for our 401K plan.  That’s a major advantage because people’s risk tolerance widely varies.  I’m an extremely conservative guy so most of my stock is in stable value (which gives me a not too shabby 5% a year).  Add the tax benefit, the compounded interest, the company match and you should have enough stashed for your golden years. 

If you think our company perks are cool, check out this link: http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/culture/0" title="http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/culture/0" target="_blank"http://wired-vig.wired.com/ne...,1284,20972,00.html