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“It’s A ‘Benefit’ To My Employer, Not Me”: People Are Sharing 30 Insulting Things A Job Has Offered Them
Interview With Author
Companies offer a variety of perks and benefits to attract the right talent into their business. After all, the workers are one of the most valuable assets a business can have, so it’s worth making sure that they feel happy and productive both in and out of the workplace.
Unfortunately, some employers seem to have a different idea about what makes their staff feel truly appreciated. Reddit user Chocolat3City asked fellow r/AntiWork members: "What's the most insulting 'benefit' a job has offered you?" and the thread spread fast, with more than 26.2K people finding it relevant.
Whether it’s a free uniform, personal protective equipment or lunch, stories that people shared seem to be serving the employer, not the employee. Take a look at some of the best answers we collected from the thread and be sure to share your experience in the comment section below.
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Free lunch every day.
Sounds great but let me explain.
I started a job some years ago and one of the benefits they sold us on was that they bought us lunch everyday. Each day, they would take our orders in the late morning to have lunch delivered by lunchtime. We only ever ordered from like 2 or 3 places but hey, it was free. Cool. Great.
But the problem was when I tried to do anything other than sit at my desk and eat. After a couple weeks, I started leaving my place of work for lunch here and there just to run errands, have a phone convo with family/friends/gf, or just eat by myself at a restaurant (the food they ordered wasn’t bad but it got old quick).
After having done this a few times, my manager stopped me one day and asked where I was going and why I sometimes leave. I replied “I’m Going on lunch.” He told me that the whole point of them ordering lunch for us was so we could eat at our desks while we continued to work. I was shocked lol. I asked him if he understood how lunch breaks worked in relation to the law and that he can’t keep me hostage, especially since I’m not being paid for being there during that hour. He then passively aggressively said “okay do what you want I guess”.
Food stamp eligibility. They paid so little that they listed government assistance as a BENEFIT.
Bored Panda reached out to the author of this post, Chocolat3City, to have a chat about benefits that employers offer but end up insulting the staff or potential employees. The idea to start this thread came from personal experience. The user lives in the U.S. and has just moved to another state.
"I've been looking at new job postings on the internet, and saw many employers trying to couch standard workplace amenities as 'benefits'," they said. This made the user think of one of their first jobs out of law school: "It offered me 'free parking,' but the pay wasn't competitive."
The user mentioned this in their post, saying that a thing that helps a person to access their workplace is a benefit to the employer, not the worker. "It's kind of like allowing the custodian access to an elevator of the high-rise building where he works, and calling it a 'benefit.' I think not," they added.
Retail worker. As a reward for working through the Pandemic, the toilet paper crisis, not getting our pay for another 4 weeks and having one of our colleagues die of covid unexpectedly...
A box of 6 capri sun. There are 8 of us.
3/4 a capri sun per person. Fantastic deal. Especially with free COVID.
Silly socks day. To make up for the increase in abuse from patients (start of COVID). Thanks, my mental health is... great.
The thread collected more than 7.3K comments where many started sharing their own experiences. Chocolat3City thinks that the r/AntiWork community found it so relevant probably because everyone has worked extremely hard just to survive for the last couple of years.
According to them, some people are looking for work, while some have stayed in salaried jobs that are demanding more hours and scope without increasing compensation.
"We are particularly sensitive right now under these circumstances, and this fake benefits phenomenon both insults our intelligence and demeans the value of our labor. That's why I think many have such a visceral reaction to the post."
A 'wobble room'. Basically a room where it was okay to go and have a little cry/freak out/meltdown if you got overwhelmed at work.
Instead of, you know, attempting to address the reasons why people were crying/freaking out/melting down at work...and then you were expected back front and centre for the rest of your shift.
Free personal protective equipment. Literally required to be provided by the employer too.
Some benefits that the employers see as central are actually not so important in the eyes of the workers. According to a study from Robert Half, a global human resource consulting firm, companies often seem to miss the mark. More than 1.5K American employees and 600 HR managers participated in the survey. Results showed, that there seems to be a big disconnect between what’s being offered and what the staff actually wants.
For example, 66 percent of employees would prefer a compressed workweek—where they work more hours but fewer days per week. Unfortunately, only 17 percent of companies offer this perk. Also, when it comes to healthcare, many workers seem to be indifferent about some of the benefits the employer provides, e.g. vision insurance, which only a fraction of them needs.
The 45 minute commute each way as a "great way to prepare for the day and de-stress when you go home."
What the f**k man.
Company listed "withholding taxes" as a benefit. You know, the thing that they're legally obligated to do as an employer. Still laugh at that one.
Weekend events, xmas parties.
Like I want to spend my personal time with work people...?
Chocolat3City thinks that companies disguise common conveniences as benefits simply to make the job look better: "Just like how any product is marketed. Of course, employers are always looking for ways to provide less compensation and fewer benefits for their employees."
They added that these perks can be used to distract from non-competitive compensation. The author of this thread hopes that employers read this post and "see what we really think of the 'benefits' they offer us."
I have no maternity leave and hr told me that’s the benefit of working remote - I can just watch my baby while I work.
A pinball machine and pool table for use on breaks that people got shamed for using.
I wouldn't mind having it. Hell, I wouldn't care being judged for it either.
Casual Fridays. We're a tech business with no customer visits, why can't every day be casual?
We used to do public training courses, but not every week. We wore casual every day in the office, unless there was a course on. Used to be suit and tie on a client site, at least until the client said they didn't mind casual. Went to one client in the Netherlands, with just smart gear for a fortnight, and on the second day client says they don't know why I bother to get dressed up. Bearing in mind this was February and there was ice on the canals, neither did I, as it was a summer suit and I was freezing waiting for the tram. Second fortnight I took casual clothes and a ski jacket and my god did that make a difference!
Contact stated "flexible hours", but I was pulled aside and rinsed by a colleague and one of the company directors when I turned up at 9.30am on my second day.
It turned out that their interpretation of "flexible" went the other direction - you had to be in the office 9-5 plus at least 2 hours a day to "show your commitment".
Windows. (The kind you look through, not the OS.)
I've worked in offices with no windows. I've worked in open plan offices the size of two football fields where the noise is deafening. I've worked in offices where I've had my own room with a window. I've worked in offices where we had a stereo system to listen to music whilst we worked. Fortunately I travel between many clients, so I was never stuck in any of the horrible ones for long. Some of them would have driven me mad.
"Free Parking" at my workplace.
My thinking is that if it's something that only helps me access my workplace (which I wouldn't need but for the job), it's a "benefit" to my employer, not me.
It's kind of like allowing the custodian access to an elevator of the high-rise building where he works, and calling it a "benefit." I think not.
Pretending pizza is a 10k salary increase or anything significant
At the end of a meeting where the boss had angrily said that it was the law that student workers have to get paid sick leave and holidays, but that it would be immoral as it would make science expensive, she told us she would sponsor a xmas pizza party. I did not attend and I also did not tell her were to shove that "generous" pizza.
I cried at work and was offered a “normalize crying at work” sticker.
Didn’t seem to help.
They set up an online store for us to purchase company merch with and then offered everyone I think 20 or 30 in credit, which would have been nice if the cheapest thing wasn’t $65 plus tax and shipping
It's almost beyond belief when a company has a "Company Store" selling their merch, wants their employees to buy said merch and then charges an outrageous amount for the cheapest thing in their store.
This is a discussion I had with my previous employer before I accepted their offer letter, discussing compensation:
Me: I'm used to my annual bonus being a significant portion of my total compensation, what's your bonus structure look like?
Them: We don't make specific commitments, it depends on company performance and your annual review.
Me: Sure, I get that, but I need to know a general ballpark. Is 8-12% in the general range that I should usually expect to see?
Them: Yes
I didn't get it in writing, because I'm a dumbass.
Sign on, work a few months, Christmas/ New Year's comes around. HR hands out bonuses. I open my envelope to find a $10 gift card to a local grocery store.
Figure "I've only been here a few months, maybe I'm not eligible for bonus yet, oh well".
Next year comes around, and it's another $10 gift card for the grocery store.
Started applying for new jobs that day.
Is it usual in the US for yearly bonus to be a set value? In the UK (at least the places I have worked), they usually have a bonus scheme which is very generally explained (e.g. you need to have worked for X time, have no disciplinaries etc to qualify), but if and how much of a bonus they give is dependent on the business end of year performance, and decided at that time
"You get to work with kids!"
My job description was ALSO my benefits...
Overtime. Yes it was listed in the job description as a benefit.
JEANS DAY
Unless you're directly working with clients I don't see what problem people have with jeans at work. And if it's ok for a Friday then what about the other 4 days of the week?
In a plastics factory where you're lifting 100+ pound iron molding pieces repetitively, they actually had the balls to point to a gym area that was "open to all employees". They couldn't figure out why only the office people ever used it.
Company branded tennis shoes for Christmas. When am I ever going to want to wear tennis shoes that are company colors and have the logo of a hospital on them? They’re against dress code at work too lol.
I had an employer that offered discounted tickets (theme parks, sporting events, concerts, etc) through a third-party website. The website charged a service fee that made the tickets the same price or sometimes more expensive than if you bought them through traditional methods.
Pizza on fridays in the break room.
But it’s also a Bible study.
Damn f*****g Bible study. I got fired as a graduate intern for not attending this s**t..less than 5 mnths didnt even finish my probation period at the place...am not a religious person. The place was'nt religious based, just a psycho bible ninja boss with a holyfucking attitude that stank to high heavens ....
Bear with me, but it was a "game room."
It was actually a nice setup: table tennis, a few cabinets, and every console of the day.
The only problem was that anybody that actually used it during working hours was judged incredibly harshly. Like, it showed up in performance reviews. I think the hope was that it would drive people to play after hours and maybe eke a bit of extra work out of them. All of us just wanted to GTFO of the fluorescent-lit prison we'd just spent 8-9 hours in.
Oh if I got written up in a performance review for using an on-site facility, at the end when they ask your feedback, I'd give notice.
“Experience”
You can get experience from a colonoscopy. Doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to use or monetize that experience outside of the paradigm within which you acquired said experience. And that’s assuming you wanted the experience in the first place.
One year we got ikea Candle holders. The cheapest available. My Boss bought himself a new Porsche. They still wonder why so many ppl (incl me) quit the following year.
Sometimes, your holiday gift or appreciation gift is bought and paid for by the secretary, assistant, or receptionist when the big boss forgets. I did this once when the big boss was suddenly out on medical leave. I didn’t want people to have nothing. This little token wasn’t much but it was all I could afford for 60 people.
A Rice Krispie Treat for working through the Pandemic. They MAILED it to me.
Staff that still worked in the clinic got cookies to show appreciation. The telework staff were supposed to get cookies mailed to them. Never saw them..
Company listed "healthcare benefits" in their job description. I was SO excited because I was uninsured at the time. I asked about it at orientation and the manager hands me a pamphlet with a coupon for a reduced cost clinic for uninsured people in a city 60 miles away. Awesome.
You will see the world. I’ve been in the Navy almost 5 years, and haven’t left the U.S.
I was working in a brand new Amazon warehouse. On payday they had people standing at the exits (which were right past the metal detectors you had to go through) handing out Payday candy bars. I just wanted to scream at this insult. Instead I just cried in my car.
That's why Jeff Bezo is worth over $200 billion dollars! Capitalism is the legal method to steal from the workers and give to the rich!
I was working at a high-end furniture showroom just as I was graduating. I was getting paid 8.5€/h (in Slovenia), I was 24, and I was offered a 10% discount on 15,000 € kitchens.
3 free mental health counseling sessions.
As if I will pour out all my s**t on-site, in the office to a counselor who is associated with my employer. Doctor patient confidentiality my a**.
I asked for a raise after two years, and been told: « When’s your birthday ? July? I offer you that you go at the restaurant with your family, and send me the bill » Never felt that insulted to be honest
Have a party with all your friends and fam at the most expensive restaurant you can find.oh and pay for everyone else there. Then sEnd tHe BiLl
Not necessarily a benefit, just something they thought could benefit their workers. They had a sleep specialist come in and talk to us about the importance of getting to bed at the same time every night. Talking to 300+ people who work a rotating shift. We worked a different shift every week so our sleep schedules were in constant flux. I rotated for 7 years, my dad did it for 17. It’s hard on the body. Thankfully the plant is on locked shifts now and I’m straight days.
PTO as follows: Hired start with zero days. Accrue one day per YEAR up to five days after 5 or more years worked.
A mandatory party where we were…aggressively encouraged to participate in activities like dance offs. Who doesn’t love mandatory fun?
In 1994, I worked at a video store for $3.25/hr. Minimum wage was $4.25 at the time but I was told it was legal because I got one free rental per shift.
At that rate you can't even afford the TV or video player to play them on!
Lunch and Learn.
Bring your own lunch but come sit in this room so we can learn you some s**t while you eat. Basically a voluntary mid-shift detention.
I worked in a jail. I got to have free food made by the inmates. It was the same food they were fed, which, in my opinion met the criteria of cruel and unusual punishment.
‘Free fruit Fridays’ which turned out to be a bunch of bruised apples in the same old cardboard box every week :/
Company sweater (meant as uniform) but given as a new year's "gift".
Yeah, I don't wear sweaters, I'd die of heat stroke. Did you HAVE to wear them?
10 days PTO that you had to take on 10 specific dates, but they made it out like it was a huge favor to me.
Unpaid sick leave (I’m not in the US so this was quite outrageous )
My other half has unpaid sick leave in the UK. But this is only up until Statutory Sick Pay kicks in after 4 days. However, SSP is only a small portion of her income. I think this is fairly normal in the hotel and catering industry. I had full pay from mine, and I had some serious time off for chemo.
We were each allotted £2 a head to spend on lunch, once a month. With a dozen or so of us in the office, we'd pool it together and get 3-4 pizzas :(
At one point, management would make the rounds Friday's and collect $5 from everyone wearing jeans for upper management pet charity. I figured screw this, I dress like Jake from State Farm every other day.
Yep! I did not work for this company, but worked with the guy who implemented this "fun perk" on a committee. Their employees could "donate" a percentage of their salary to a charity picked out by the company (auto-docted from pay) and get to wear jeans on Friday's. And if they increased their donation (something like 10%) they got to wear jeans all week. Basically the employee's paid for the privilege of being comfortable in a horrible work environment and the company got amazing PR for donating so much to charity. They workers were never credited.
Record your exercise activity in an app every friggin day in order to get $100 off the cost of your health insurance. Not worth my time and breach of privacy to save what works out to be < $10 month.
Last company I was at did this for people who had "high markers" in several diagnostics - so it basically punished obese and/or diabetic people. Smokers, too. I had a high-deductible health care plan and pretty much paid for everything out of my HSA and/or pocket (plus despite being overweight and a type II diabetic I have no symptoms), so I cost the company almost nothing, but they chose to pull this bullshit anyway. It's one of the (many) reasons I left.
I worked at McDonald's as a teen and they only offered a 50% discount so long as you purchased two meals...so basically "you get half off but only if you buy twice as much". Unless you brought a friend, it wasn't really a discount. Also, no shift meals despite their food costs being literal pennies.
$25 metro card once a month, which was only one week worth of commuting. And this was at a law firm.
"Making a difference in the world"
I work retail and if we catch people doing certain sneaky things (switching price tags, nesting items, miss matching sets, etc) we get a "bonus" of $1.25. They push it so hard, and right now it's "DOUBLE CIPs!!" like $2.50 is going to make up for the fact that I make minimum wage.
And how do they monitor this sneaky activity? Is it your word only, or do you have to produce recordings and such? Because I could see people gaming the system (reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where they promised a cash reward for every bug they fixed - next thing we see Dilbert going off to "code myself a Ferrari").
We got a free meal out of the "run off goods" for our lunch every day. It was literally
"we can't sell this, it's literally worthless to us. Say thank you"
A couple of years ago I was offered a cell phone from 2006, with its according thick antenna. They gave it to me when I asked for a cell phone to call company customers. I worked in sales.
Friday bagel club: Sign up and you get bagels every Friday. When it’s your turn, you have to buy (and pick up) bagels for everyone in bagel club
Just to add, by the time I lift, bagel had probably 50+ members, that’s a lot of bagels to carry. I felt so bad for people who commuted to work without a car.
Guaranteed hours, as if that’s not bare minimum.
One job offer I viewed once stated "paying your salary on time each month" as a benefit....
Guaranteed I'd never be required to work overtime, evenings, or on weekends.
Sounds great until you find out that means 50 hours of work still need to get done in 40 hours.
If you work on hours no matter if you've finished, otherwise it is piece rate system and they've to pay on the base of work done no matter how time you use or how many hours you work per day.
Previous employer was a cinema. The ONLY perk was free cinema tickets. Because returning to work on your days off is a delight.
15% tuition reimbursement if you promise to stay 5 years beyond graduation lmao
If not, gotta pay us back in full or else we withhold your final paycheck as well as tax documents :)
Edit: 15% tuition reimbursement for job related majors.
"We really want our employees to grow into the best versions of themselves... If and only if it helps us along the way :)"
I don't know where you're at, but where I live it's illegal for any business to withhold any tax documents.
Worked understaffed for half a year. End of the year came and instead of a bonus/raise, I got a $100 Starbucks gift card.
I don’t drink coffee.
Starbucks does tea, hot chocolate and cold/soft drinks as well as coffee, and they do food too. Still a sh*tty 'bonus' though
We get a holiday party for 6 people with a budget of 40 dollars...
One week of vacation time, and $150 credit for health insurance we had to get ourselves.
Clearly not America because that would be decent and usual here.
Free Coffee* and other drinks!**
*we can’t use the professional coffee machine that’s used for making Lattes, Cappuccinos or Irish Coffees. We have to use the jar of instant coffee.
**The ‘other drinks’ are tea and squash. Not hot chocolate.
The only coffee I can drink without feeling ill is a mocha.
They got rid of it... but the month before our annual wellness incentive (if you scored in the ranges they were happy about you got $$$) we'd suddenly have catered high calorie meals and cake.
Now they just ask us to have a doc signed by a physician stating we had a physical and they give us the $$$
A coworker of mine had an office upgrade in lieu of an actual raise. He went from a cubicle to a closed office with a door mind you!
It wasn’t a benefit offered at employment, but at one of my first jobs I hated the job and wasn’t the best employee. The pay was terrible, the conditions were terrible. I called in a lot and it upset my boss and his boss (understandably). But I was good at the job, and they felt it’d be tough to find someone else who would put up with those conditions so they kept me.
During a yearly evaluation, negotiating an insignificant pay raise, i mentioned that i wasn’t able to pay my bills and if I couldn’t get full-time status with this insignificant pay raise and the vacation days/healthcare that came with it, i had no choice but to get a different job. My boss was understanding so he passed my concerns to his boss. His boss said “He won’t be able to work anywhere else. No one else will give him the leniency we do with absenteeism.” You know… instead of realizing there might be a problem that needs addressing if your employee never wants to be at work.
So their “offer” in lieu of decent pay or conditions was instead to continue letting me be depressed and call in a lot with minimal backlash. I got a different job making 3.5x the wage and started paying bills and stopped missing work.
The horrible Keurig machine.
10k towards fertility services. I’m childfree.
My company offered amazing fertility and adoption perks as well as paternity leave that goes above and beyond. I've never had kids, but I still think those are amazing perks. I also pay my taxes to educate other people's kids. I'm 100% okay with that.
My coworkers who have been at this company for 20 years, one relocated three times for the job. They got a $20 gift card and a pamphlet of all the items they can pay for to get at a discount. One thing was a dryer vent. That was about the only good thing in there.
I bow down and give thanks at the altar of self-employed small business owner/contractor where I do the work I love on my own schedule. May I never, ever have to work for anyone else ever again.
From what kind of work-slave countries are these answers? Real workplace-benefit are 13. month salary, Christmas-money, share-money or working in hotel-industry discounts for you and family members booking rooms in the hotels of the hotel-chain, where are you working. Using for free the facilities of the hotel, where are you working at: like gym, sauna, tennis-playground or having discounts in the hotel's shops, if you want to buy something there.
These are all from the American dream capital of the world good ole USA. These are all commonplace and they are actively trying to bully and shame people into thinking this is great for us and were so privileged. The brainwashed trump supporting conservatives all worship this ideology too while not being able to afford to eat. We have a workers shortage now but the people in charge are still making their millions of dollars in bonuses.
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First "career" job out of uni - was on a starting salary in the 90's - approx $25k pre-tax. Got chewed out by my manager, as a 20 year old, because i didn't use the salary packaging solution the MD was getting kickbacks from. I was living at home, had a $300 car... at that stage in my life my money went towards savings (for a house) or beer... Still remember that psycho b*tch to this day.
I bow down and give thanks at the altar of self-employed small business owner/contractor where I do the work I love on my own schedule. May I never, ever have to work for anyone else ever again.
From what kind of work-slave countries are these answers? Real workplace-benefit are 13. month salary, Christmas-money, share-money or working in hotel-industry discounts for you and family members booking rooms in the hotels of the hotel-chain, where are you working. Using for free the facilities of the hotel, where are you working at: like gym, sauna, tennis-playground or having discounts in the hotel's shops, if you want to buy something there.
These are all from the American dream capital of the world good ole USA. These are all commonplace and they are actively trying to bully and shame people into thinking this is great for us and were so privileged. The brainwashed trump supporting conservatives all worship this ideology too while not being able to afford to eat. We have a workers shortage now but the people in charge are still making their millions of dollars in bonuses.
Load More Replies... First "career" job out of uni - was on a starting salary in the 90's - approx $25k pre-tax. Got chewed out by my manager, as a 20 year old, because i didn't use the salary packaging solution the MD was getting kickbacks from. I was living at home, had a $300 car... at that stage in my life my money went towards savings (for a house) or beer... Still remember that psycho b*tch to this day.
