THE PERK-FECT JOB
Employers are gifting everything from Seamless stipends to Equinox memberships to woo millennials
CAPTURING and banding birds in the depths of the Brazilian rain forest isn’t part of Jack Hanley’s job description. Still, the 27-year-old Upper East Sider — who earns his paycheck advising companies about mergers and acquisitions — did exactly that this past May. And not only did his employer, Midtownbased professionalservices firm EY, foot the trip’s entire bill, but it kept him on the payroll the entire time.
“I’m passionate about the environment,” says Hanley, who went on the trip as part of EY’s Earthwatch Ambassadors program, which sends interested employees on one-week expeditions to Brazil and Mexico to do field research and community service.
The program was part of the pitch EY used in recruiting Hanley while he was still working for Barclays.
Today’s forward-thinking companies are finding innovative ways to recruit talented millennials — employees for whom a stack of cash may not be the most important factor. While most employers offer the standard perks — such as a 401(k) and two weeks’ vacation — some are now including much more, like volunteering opportunities, student-loan repayment, free lunch and discounted Equinox memberships.
“I look for three things in a job,” says Hanley. “The financial compensation I need to support my life. Meaningful, interesting work. And a way to contribute to the community.”
Career expert and author Dan Schawbel says Hanley speaks for many of his generation who are looking for community-ser- vice opportunities or volunteer time off (VTO) in the employment equation.
But altruistic service doesn’t sit near the top of everyone’s list.
“People look for benefits in ways that are relevant to them,” says Michael Fenlon, global and US talent leader at professional-services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Today’s youngest employees, he points out, are deeply troubled by student-loan debt. Although they haven’t asked their employers for help, companies like PwC, financial-services provider Fidelity and lender CommonBond are proactively stepping up by offering assistance with these loans.
Other companies, such as beauty startup Birchbox in Soho, help their cash-strapped millennials with their daily necessities. Birchbox offers its employees a program called AnyPerk, which provides concert and movie tickets, car rentals, gym memberships and more at a notable discount. Nicole Fealey, director of people operations and performance at Birchbox, says that 86 percent of the company’s employees are enrolled in the program.
Birchbox employee Christine Pierson, 24, says AnyPerk allowed her to finally get a membership at Equinox, the holy grail of NYC gyms. “Otherwise, I would absolutely not be able to afford it,” she says, noting that her colleagues were also able to score tickets to a recent Beyoncé concert through the same service.
Meanwhile, Union Square-based tech company Zeeto aims to win its employees’ hearts through their stomachs, by providing them with a daily $30 credit for food delivery from Seamless.
“I order my breakfast and lunch before I start my day, and [then] I have no distraction around 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. wondering what I’m going to eat,” says Sabiha Tudesco, 34, Zeeto’s director of business development.
Experts say that office perks will only continue to become more and more extravagant, as millennials crave immediate gratification in their jobs — not the promise of something later.
“The old employment deal in which people worked nonstop for the same company for years — hoping to earn partnerships, promotions, big bonuses and fancy titles — are gone,” says Bruce Tulgan, a workplace expert and author of “The 27 Challenges Managers Face.”
“Millennials don’t expect that they’ll be working for any single employer that long, so the payoff has to come now. Employers are going to have to keep finding ways to sweeten their deals, or they’ll lose the war for talent.”