Work culture has changed drastically but also the offered job perks by remote organizations. I want to present you with a list of common and uncommon remote job perks. Not every company offers the same job benefits, yet, use it as a source of inspiration.
Onboarding mentor
Unlimited paid vacation
All tech you need
Open source donations
Set up your home office
Personal development
Mental health
Company retreats
3-day weekends
Relieve household chores
Self-organize your day
1. Onboarding mentor
You’re starting a new job and need direction. Startups offer an onboarding mentor who becomes your first point of contact. This person helps you to get started, learn the team, educate you on processes, and assists you with all of your questions. An onboarding mentor smoothens the onboarding process to make it a more enjoyable experience. This person is also in charge of assisting you with all basic onboarding tasks, such as setting up an email account or providing you access to the various tools you need.
2. Unlimited paid vacation
I love this one! Instead of giving a fixed number of vacation days, why not give your employees freedom to decide how many vacation days they need? Many employees see their vacation days as a scarce resource. Yet, at the end of the year, they suddenly realize they’ve plenty of vacation days left. Therefore, companies often go into crisis mode because most of their employees have to consume their vacation days quickly.
For that reason, companies provide their employees with the choice to decide how many vacation days they need. It will rarely happen that someone abuses this benefit. Make sure you take the minimum number of vacation days per year. For most countries, this is ten days.
3. All tech you need
It’s great to get access to popular productivity tools, such as:
1Password
Notion
Todoist
Trello
Some organizations take this to another level by including subscriptions for popular services, such as Spotify, Audible, or Netflix.
You’ll likely receive a company laptop and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones on top of that. These headphones can be a great gift when you live together with a noisy partner who’s in meetings all day long.
4. Donations
I haven’t seen this job benefit that often, but it exists. You are allowed to pick a couple of open source projects you like and help them out with a company-sponsored donation. That’s nice, right!
5. Set up your home office
When I first started working remotely, I worked at my kitchen table using my 7-year old external monitor. I think many people have experienced a similar situation.
Luckily, companies offer you a budget to build your home office. Common home offices items include:
Standing desk
External monitor
Office chair
Feet support
6. Personal development
Meanwhile, a personal development budget has become a popular job perk, not only for tech jobs. A personal development budget allows you to educate yourself, buy books, participate in webinars, or level up your skills via certification programs.
Most people don’t want to get stuck in their job. A personal development budget allows you to improve your skills cost-free.
Some companies go a step beyond offering a budget. Instead, they offer “learning days” which you can dedicate to learning a new skill.
Why would a company do this? It’s not only a benefit for you. Upskilling employees benefits the company as well. For instance, a marketing employee interested in becoming a team manager can attend a course to improve their management skills. In other words, your company can fill up an open position at a relatively low cost.
7. Mental health
During the pandemic, there’s never been such a strong focus on mental health. As Kay VanAntwerpen mentions, “the inverse of belonging—loneliness—can quickly strangle corporate productivity. Especially if an employee lacks a strong social circle outside of the workplace, working from home can cause immense loneliness.”
On top of that, a study by Go Remotely uncovered that 19 percent of remote workers found loneliness the most significant struggle when working from home.
For that reason, many organizations have included mental health-related benefits in their job perks. Here are two mental health-related perks to consider.
Mental health applications
Provide access to popular mental health applications: Headspace, Calm, or Breethe.
“I’m not feeling great” days
Offer “I’m not feeling great” days. In other words, you receive the freedom to take a day off when you don’t feel great.
Do you know the feeling of getting up and knowing it’s not going to be your day? Well, instead of dragging yourself to your desk, making a miserable attempt at being productive - say no! Take a day off to recharge. There’s nothing wrong with that. Employers can’t expect you to turn up like a fresh frog day after day.
8. Company retreats
When working remotely all the time, especially for international teams, you need yearly company retreats. I would even argue that you need more than one company retreat per year. A whole year is a long time not to see your colleagues!
A company retreat allows you to meet your colleagues and create that physical bond. Furthermore, it’s a great moment to sit together and discuss future company plans in a relaxed environment.
9. 3-day weekends
Are you looking forward to the weekend? But once the weekend comes, it passes by so quickly. I think everyone can resemble this feeling. Ghost.org offers 3-day long weekends on the last Friday of every single month. I can assure you that an extra-long weekend will have a positive impact on your work-life balance!
10. Relieve household chores
Managing your household can become a major distraction when working from home. Organizations offer several solutions to increase your focus by relieving household chores:
Offer a laundry service
Provide a meal delivery service to spend less time on cooking
Offer a gardening service
Offer a cleaning service
11. Self-organize your day
I’m a sporty person who enjoys a sunny run or bike ride during the day. Yet, when working from 9 to 5, there’s not much room to schedule a 1-hour bike ride. Remote companies understand these needs and understand the importance of working out. A healthy body translates into a healthy mind.
Therefore, look for a company that offers you the freedom to self-organize your day and trusts you to finish your work when expected. There’s nothing wrong with going for a 2-hour bike ride on Tuesday and working a bit longer on Wednesday to finish your task.
Look for a company that offers this type of flexibility. On top of that, you’ll feel happier in an organization that offers you this level of trust.
Conclusion
Don’t forget to organize virtual company events to build a strong company culture. I enjoy playing games with colleagues while enjoying a drink, whether it’s a beer or a mocktail.
When working in a physical office, Friday evenings were the most fun day of the week. All software engineers would come together to get a beer and play some ping pong or table football. They are great for building a bond between colleagues. So, why not replicate them remotely?
This list showed you different remote job perks for tech jobs to look out for. Make sure to grab that virtual “Friday evening beer”. Cheers!
