What were your best ever work perks?

StupidLikeAFox

During and after shortly after college I worked in the warehouse of a greengrocer/supermarket. I could always pick up groceries before finishing work and also covered about 10km in a typic day. This meant I didn't need to make time for exercise or grocery shoping, always got the freshest produce, never had to worry about doing a big shop or meal planning or stuff going off in the fridge. Shite money, but probably one of best jobs I ever had due to these little perks

What kind of perks have you enjoyed in your line of work?

Tails142

Vending machine in work that gave out free soup, there was soft drinks and bottles of water but it was the soup that is most memorable.

highdef

With my current employer over 22 years. In those 22 years I've not had to pay for my health insurance. I've also a very good pension. I'm in my current role for 14 years and since then I've had a company vehicle so no cost of buying a new car every few years, no running costs......no tax to pay, no insurance to pay, no fuel to buy. Have neither had my own phone nor have paid a phone bill in 14 years. Have access to free TV, landline phone and broadband internet.

Mister Vain

Eating all the reject biscuits in the biscuit factory. Turned me into a fat fúck though.

irelandrover

41 days holidays a year.

jester77

About 20 years ago, worked for a major European airline in IT and had access to their booking DB. Could fly anywhere on standby for 10% on the ID90 card, would finish up early on Friday, look in the database for destinations that were less than 110% booked, and head there for the weekend or longer for further destinations. Bangkok return for €100, and down to the full moon party, was probably my best deal. Although the return flight the morning after the party is not recommended!

KaneToad

Worked in BOI for a short while. Free pastries in the morning. Man that was good. Most ppl nibbled on a single croissant, while I took one of everything. Apparently it was a practice that started during the bank strike and the manager thought it would be churlish to stop it when all staff returned. I ate half my wages worth on a daily basis!

Thelonious Monk

Free beer whenever we wanted, actual draught beer in the canteen, free all kinds of food, a free Zone 1-3 travel pass, all when I worked for a tech startup in London. Also the boss used to put his card behind the bar about twice a week after work, it was quite the party.

Mr. CooL ICE

Free drinks and snacks all day and luxury 10c lunches (minimal charge to avoid beneficiary tax) cooked by an angry Michelin star chef.

It was a certain online game company that was otherwise crap to work for and had a high staff turnover rate, so there's probably loads reading this that worked there at some point.

MarkR

We used to have dinners brought into us every Monday from a local Italian restaurant. Also had scones on Friday, and free proper coffee every day.

I miss the coffee the most.

NeVeR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117931975#Comment_117931975

Ya, I think I worked there as well :D

Gregor Samsa

Currently the company pays for full health insurance, mobile phone upgrade every 2 years and phone bill paid. I’ve never been called for work once on the phone, so there’s no downside. I work for an e-commerce company, and we get employee discounts (20-40%) on the online stores of many of our clients. When we upgraded our work laptops the year before last, we got to buy our old ones for the nominal amount of €1 (for tax reasons), the proceeds of which went to charity. 30 days holidays, full hybrid home/office working and 4 hours a week every week we can use for “personal time”. Every now and then the company decides to have an extra day off for everyone (happens about twice a year), and we get sent hampers (wine/cheese/crackers) or vouchers a few times a year. From next year we’re getting Martin Luther King day (whenever that is) off every year

When we were in the office, there was free pastries every Friday morning, but Covid/WFH put a stop to that for the moment. We used to have an inter-office soccer tournament every year, where we’d all be flown off for 2 days to the UK or Germany (or they would be flown here) to play/watch 7-a-side and have a big party, but that ended a few years ago.

Many years ago I built a website for GlaxoSmithKline, and they sent us a huge crate of Lucozade Sport and various branded goodies. That was the only time I ever got any loot from a client.

I remember one time being jealous that some of my colleagues got sent MP3 players by a client. But it turned out that they were pre-loaded with 10 “corporate songs” that you couldn’t delete nor could you upload any more music to it. Why the client thought anyone would want this is beyond me.

The One Doctor

Free money in my current job, along with free wood for the stove. (Not the most, uh... stringent of companies)

Worked in Microsoft for a while, was grand, nobody knew where anyone was or what they did so I just went to the pub most days.

Next job's benefits will be some nice commission, and an 8 hour day.

notAMember

Performance bonuses paid in shares. I think that's my favourite.

seamus

Never had any perks that I'd say made it hard to leave a job, but one heavily unionised place had a mandatory mid-morning break around 10am. It was supposed to be 15 minutes, but in reality everyone converged on the canteen - where they sold a full Irish breakfast for €1 - and sat there for about half an hour.

It was pretty chill. There were days I turned up to work just in time to go on the breakfast break.

I've been in two places with permanently stocked beer fridges, but no particularly strong socialising culture. So the odd Friday people might have a beer or two at their desk before going home, but midweek trips to the pub or whatever, basically never happened.

blackbox

Back in the 80s I worked as a middle manager in the drinks industry and used to get three bottles of wine (premium wines) and three bottles of spirits every month. We could swap each bottle of spirits for 2 bottles of wine if we wished. We also got a restaurant meal voucher once a month, but it had to be used in a restaurant that stocked our products.

When BIK came in they used it as an excuse to stop it all.

Obviously, senior managers were getting way more...

black & white

Besides the VHI being paid for etc, one I loved was when I worked in a 5 star hotel as Night Auditor 30 years ago. During the off season the Night Porter was laid off so I had to cover room service and checkouts so got more than my weekly wage in tips each week. On a quite night about 2am, I used to heat up a bowl of Irish Stew or make a club sandwich, pull a pint of Guinness from the bar and took a very pleasant hours break.

L1011

Worked in a field role where I basically had zero costs of going to work. Clothes paid for once they were from a safetywear supplier, breakfast/lunch/dinner if out at the right time, phone, laptop, vehicle, fuel.

Changed jobs to an office role and got surprised by how much I spent on shirts / transport / lunch etc. Entire difference in salary and then some evaporated

griffin100

I worked for a company for a couple of years that paid 'bonuses' in holidays via the company's travel agent. I got a week in Lanzarote once for working all day Easter Sunday when I was called to deal with a major chemical leak in the midlands. When I got married they paid for my honeymoon as a gift (2 weeks in Cuba).

FatherTed

Used to work for a cigarette company in the late 90's.

We would get a free carton of cigarettes every 2 weeks. I didn't smoke but one of the janitors there used to collect them from people and sell them near where he lived. I used to save the cash for holidays.

For a cigarette company they had great perks for example an in-house gym, great healthcare, subsidized dry cleaners onsite and a barber who would come twice a week for free haircuts. Yep.

thunderdog

Worked for an old school local cinema back in the day-as a projectionist (Old reel types that you cellotape together) I had keys to the place. Owner of the place was very relaxed-after a night out on the beer head back to the cinema with friends and stick a film on at 2 or 3 in the morning while soaking up the beer with a load of popcorn and sweets. Great times-also a good thing to have in the back pocket when trying to pull on a night out ;)

maccored

i worked in Ericssons and they used to insist you went to Sweden for a week once every month to keep up with head office. On paper you might have one meeting for the whole week. in reality you had one 30 min meeting and the rest of the time was a vacation.

AndyBoBandy

I spent 7 years travelling around (mostly Europe) as a field engineer.

I got a salary that was decent enough, flights, hotels/apartments, rental cars, fuel & meals were all covered on the company credit card, but if I didn't expense meals for the day, I got €45 daily per diem, tax free. The last 3-4 years I was in the field, I was on long term assignments so would rent nice apartments, so €315 per week goes a long way when you're grocery shopping and feeding yourself for 5-6 days per week... restaurants/beers at the weekends were always covered too out of the €315. I got to save 100% of my salary, which helped no end when it came time to buy a house.

In an earlier job as a Mechanical Fitter, I got to work out in Cadbury's from time to time, and on the production floor, they have loads of these 'bins' where bars/chocolate that didn't pass quality control would be dumped, and the deal was eat as much as you want, but just don't take any outside the front gate...

Strumms

An airline, the only regular perks were some quite generous discounts with the industry but it involved a lot of paperwork and hassle, it wasn’t worth the time or effort when you could grab a Ryanair flight there and then for féck all, instead of waiting for management to ok it, kick it upstairs etc.. the discount on flights was only for an employee so you lose more or your travel companions would waiting for you to confirm.

dont know if it’s considered a perk or freebie just but a free ready to go decent mobile and a few quid credit every about 3-4 months from the mobile company we were doing work for, Eircell at the time...they’d send in thank you cards with a credit voucher for each of us...the phone was an Ericsson T28 which I incidentally just found again earlier this year...about 270 quids worth back then, great reception and a small phone for back of those times....

Free playboys in the canteen. I'm not joking.

When my father worked at Irish Distillers, he had an allowance of a litre of Jameson a month.

ShatterAlan

Most jobs/companies I worked in had some kind of perk. Worked in a country club on Long Island in 3 capacities when in college. Waiter, barman and valet car parker. Got free food and if you were working as a waiter inside and it rained in the morning then nobody would come to play golf so there was no work to do so we just sat around stuffing our faces from the breakfast buffet. Valet parking was great too. Got to sit in a nice little wood cabin with a TV and watch movies. The waitresses would bring us down cans of cola and hot-dogs. Also got to drive nice cars, BMW, Mercs, Porsches, Cadillacs. there was even a De Lorean. No REALLY exotic stuff like Lamborghinis or Ferraris though.

After I graduated and got an IT job in New York I worked for a large publishing company. Lots of the editors and promoters there knew people in other publising and record companies si I could get pretty much any book or music CD I wanted for free. I'd go into tower records and find out what label a certain album was on and then just asked one of the guys at work and he'd call up his friend at EMI, Polydor, Decca, Virgin, whatever and I'd have the CD in a couple of days sent to the office. My collection was pretty impressive. Also could take any obsolete computer equipmemt home. Had half a dozen PC and Macs at home with printers scanners, CD-ROM burners, etc.

Moved to Europe and got a job in an ISP during the dot.com boom. Could basically order any food you wanted to the office. Of course after the dot.com bust that kinda dried up. All good things come to an end.

corner of hells

I served part of an apprenticeship in Gateaux in Finglas years , you could each as much as you wanted in the factory but God help you if took anything out.

Also worked in Baldonnel airbase , same again , you could eat as much as you wanted but often it was unidentifiable, tasty though.

FintanMcluskey

Car, fuel, phone, laptop, health insurance & pension all paid for by company

Mostly work across Ireland but occasional trips abroad. Hotels of choice and meals paid for

Best perk is that there is usually no official start time

smurfjed

Where do I start.

40 vacation days a year

Awesome food when on duty (lobster / wagyu /caviar sort of thing)

lots and lots of chocolates :)

Unlimited reduced rate airline travel up to First Class.

Hotel suites when on duty

beautiful office views

Free housing including gas and electricity

Free medical coverage, health insurance and loss of qualification insurance

Tax free salary.

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117936941#Comment_117936941

Kinahan gang member?

MrCostington

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934340#Comment_117934340

I was just lurking and read about Cadburys! My next door neighbor, a lovely lady, used to work there when I was a child and always took home sweets for me, no I deal how I'm not a 20 stone diabetic now lol

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117932705#Comment_117932705

Forgot: lots of hotel stays so got piles of loyalty points which paid for hotels on holiday. Got loads of points in Subway/boots/supermarkets on lunches that were expensed. Got points and more importantly status on hire car firms which helped holidays be cheaper / more comfortable.

Job was horrible but the insulation from the cost of living was nice!

elperello

Without doubt the nice shiny new company car every two years and everything paid for is the best work perk I ever had.

MrCostington

Anyway, since I'm here. I worked in Guinness for about a year back in the early 90's Free canteen and at the checkout (you showed your Id and it was allocated to your dept I guess, but free to us) there was a couple of fridges stocked with all their products, you got to take 2 a day and your were allowed to consume with your lunch, but very very few did.

It seemed every middle manager up had company car, Jags, Mercs, BMWs etc. There was a team of guys, in brown lab coat like jackets, whose only job was to valet the cars. I was just their on an agency contract so I can only imagine the other perks for the directly employed staff.

Next job was Stena Line, I was on the ships a lot traveling between ports. 40% off duty free! This was when there was proper duty free.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937186#Comment_117937186

Cadbury's had a factory shop where stuff was sold cheaply. Bars that failed QC were packed in generic bags and sold in batches.

Your neighbour paid for the chocolate she gave you.

Work for the state and your pension is the perk.

generic_throwaway

double post

Kerry25x

Worked in a bar when I was younger that gave a free knocking off drink at the end of every shift, you didn't have to take it on the day though so you could stockpile them for a free night out every week or two. Same bar also gave a free dinner every shift. We could drink as many free soft drinks as we wanted while working too.

In my current job I just get boring grown up perks like pension, 7 weeks annual leave and paid maternity.

endacl

I work 9 months of the year for 12 months pay. Pretty much unfireable. Gilt edged index-linked defined benefit pension when I hit 60. Might retire earlier though, because I can. Doesn’t get any perkier than that!

Guess what I do?

generic_throwaway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937223#Comment_117937223

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117931469#Comment_117931469

But you are paying benefit in kind on the cars I guess? Is it really a perk if you're paying for it?

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937316#Comment_117937316

It's actually a car derived van (Focus) so BIK is based on it being a commercial vehicle. Net cost of it to me is about €40 a month.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117938303#Comment_117938303

Mine were very nice cars and even though you pay BIK it is still a considerable perk.

No trade in worries, no pay out for tax, insurance, service or fuel.

Just a brand new car handed to you every two years.

Dr Turk Turkelton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117936941#Comment_117936941

Except for only 40 days a year vacation it reads like a list of benefits for being on the dole.

Padre_Pio

Free health insurance.

10% matched pension contributions.

Subsidised food in work.

Flexible hours.

Free international travel to US and Europe about once very 6 weeks. When travelling I have a 200euro a night hotel limit and 140 euro a day food limit, so the hotels and dinners are usually pretty good. I get airline/hotel/car rental points for my own holidays too.

lisasimpson

1st job out of uni pastries left in the kitchen every morning, health insurance, a pension where you were automatically enrolled without having to contribute too. Discounted canteen lunch.

Last employeer was with about 10 years. Again they contributed to pension as long as you put in something, decent health insurance cover (could claimmback more than policy used by my current employer), discounted cinema tickets, in my last year there would have boxes of ceral left in the kitchen in the mornings. And a fruit bowl twice a week but you had to be quick of the mark in the morning for the fruit.Was handy having free breakfast at work when trying to save money.

smurfjed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117938388#Comment_117938388

No wonder people try to stay on the dole for life. :)

Signore Fancy Pants

First job, lounge boy. Free toasted sandwich for my lunch break. It was 1997 and they were the ones in clear bags that you put in the toaster. Hhhmmmm ham, cheese, tomato and onion, loadsa mayo on the side.

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117938388#Comment_117938388

Aviation I believe

silverharp

Summer job in Guiness in College , 2 bottles of beer a day

YellowFeather

Haven't paid rent or a mortgage in over seven years. Approx €50 a day for food and whatever. Taxis everywhere, or else a company car charged to the clients - legitimately might I add! :)

Minus side is never knowing where you will be the next day or week, so I’ve actually just left this job as of yesterday.

Kinda regretting it now reading my own perks in the last place!!

Signore Fancy Pants

@YellowFeather, vacancy huh? Where do I sign up?