This is just something random that occurred to me on the way home.
When you look at job listings in the paper or on the Internet, they’ll often tell you what a great company it is to work for, and tell you about the “benefits.” “Blah blah blah 401k match blah blah blah term life blah blah blah health and dental etc.” Not to say that stuff isn’t important, but I find it odd that most companies don’t post the everyday benefits of working there.
For example, when I first heard about the job I eventually took in 2006 at the City Schools headquarters, what if I’d been told that there’s a cafeteria onsite with really affordable, pretty good food? And that if I wanted to go out for lunch, Midtown was only blocks away, where there are all kinds of places to eat? What if I’d been told that I’d be outta there most every day by 4:45, and that I can leave earlier than that if I get there earlier? What if I’d been told that I’d be able to dress pretty casually, and could even wear T-shirts and jeans on Fridays? What if I’d been told that I’d earn a vacation day a month to start, and that I’d get slightly more than a week off around Christmas, plus MLK Day, Good Friday, and some random day in March in addition to the usual holidays? What if I’d been told that I’d be in a cubicle, but it was a big cubicle with plenty of room to move around and plenty of privacy? I took the job anyway, but I’d have been jumping up and down to get it if I’d known all those things in advance. To me, day-to-day quality of life is more important than stuff like insurance and retirement plans.
I’m not knocking the city schools or any company in particular here, but I just want to suggest that more quality-of-life benefits ought to be written into job postings. You rarely hear about these things until late in the interview process, or even the new employee orientation. But in my opinion, they matter a lot and are big selling points.
So that’s the random rant for the day. (And in case any of my co-workers read this and wonder, NO I’m not job hunting, just got to thinking about how the new health care reform might change the way workers think of “benefits” and it led me to this rant.)
It’s 5:20 and I’m home from work. I said I was going to set up an ad campaign for my affiliate sites tonight, but you know what? It’s too pretty a day not to relax and celebrate it being spring. I have another week to cash in my Google AdWords coupon. Time for a beer.