The Best Employee Perks at These Top Companies

The streaming service has an “anti-rules pro-freedom philosophy” toward working that most of us could only dream of. Netflix employees enjoy up to one year of paid parental leave, and unlimited vacation days. There are no official work hours, so employees come and go as they please as long as they’re meeting deadlines. They can invest as much of their salary as they want in stocks, and free lunch is served every day. These policies—or lack thereof—are meant to encourage self-discipline, foster creativity and increase productivity, according to the Netflix company culture description.

By now, you’ve likely heard about the jaw-dropping perks of working at Facebook, or at least whispers of them. The rumors are true—as one Facebook employee wrote on Glassdoor, “too many benefits to list, and sometimes too many to take advantage of!” There’s free food, free valet parking and on-site amenities like dry cleaning, laundry, health care, dental care and haircuts. They offer financial assistance toward egg freezing, paid bereavement leave, and $4,000 in baby cash for new or expecting parents. Employees can enter a wellness reimbursement program to cover their gym membership, and receive a month-long sabbatical every five years. To top it all off, there’s shuttles to and from work, as well as free housing for interns.

PwC offers a wide range of benefits to its employees, such as free phone bills and extensive family support. Its student loan paydown benefit, however, stands out as the best educational reimbursement program in the audit industry. The company pays up to $1,200 a year toward employees’ student loans, helping lower their debt as much as $10,000 over time. In May, PwC announced that it has paid $25 million of employees’ student loan debt since launching the program in 2015. Not a bad recruiting tool for new hires.

While other tech companies boast luxury perks, Salesforce emphasizes service to create a mission-driven culture. That’s why the company offers so many incentives for giving back. At Salesforce, you can take up to seven days of paid time off a year to volunteer. The top 100 volunteers receive $10,000 grants to donate to a charity of their choice, and the company matches nonprofit donations up to $5,000 a year. Employees can also participate in volunteer trips around the world with service groups. 

This Boston-based consulting firm is ranked #1 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work year after year, and one look at their benefits package reveals why. Bain & Co. offers work-from-home options, free lunches and snacks, paid time off to volunteer, tuition assistance and generous time off regardless of tenure, just to start. One employee even reported automatic contributions to your 401k, so there’s no need to match. As an added bonus, the firm holds a “Bain World Cup” each year as a way of bringing together employees from different cities around the world. The company’s efforts to build an inspiring culture seems to have paid off. Ninety-six percent of employees said they would recommend Bain & Co. to a friend.

Snowboarders, rejoice. Burton is a family-run company from Burlington, VT that shares your values: community, the environment, and chasing snow. That means lots of enviable perks for riders, including free season passes, discounted lift tickets, free lessons and free demo gear. The company offers flexible hours during the winter so you can snowboard before work, as well as summer Fridays. You can also wear jeans and sneakers in the office, and bring your dog along every day. And of course, all employees receive a generous discount on Burton products.

The airline is known for its remarkable company culture and it recently revealed some of the perks that get employees excited about coming to work every day. First, Southwest offers a profit-sharing plan that offers employees extra compensation on top of salary and bonuses. The airline also offers a program called Tickets for Time, where for every 40 hours of volunteering, the nonprofit of your choice receives a complimentary, roundtrip ticket. They also host Free Beer Mondays every week to welcome new employees, and you can win free prizes for perfect attendance. Last but not least, the best perk of all—employees and their families can fly standby for free.

Related: 7 Office Hacks to Help You Crush It at Work

Related: These Universities Now Offer Classes in Cannabis