If there’s one thing our Recruiters and Clients can attest to, it’s that talented workers are always in demand and a challenge to keep. Perks are increasingly becoming more and more extravagant as companies seek to find and retain the highest calibre staff in a competitive market.

Many companies in highly competitive industries like Technology, eCommerce and IT are blissfully – if not frustratingly – aware of this and more and more are emerging with dynamic and unique ideas to inspire, impress and retain their employees alongside their standard remuneration package.

Whether you’re racking your brains on how to decrease your employee attrition or whether you’re looking for a job and want to see what the industry leaders are offering, check out the perks and benefits below that might just catch-on:

JustEat gives employees free food and drink every Friday with a resident DJ spinning the decks so that they can dance the evening away at the office. This is a perfect perk to keep the staff going on the last day before the weekend, keeping everyone in good spirits.

No one wants to think about this benefit, but it’s valuable if you ever need it: Google gives the surviving spouse or partner of a deceased employee 50 percent of his or her salary for the following 10 years after his or her death. What’s more, all of the dead Googler’s stocks vest immediately. Each child of the employee receives $1,000 per month until age 19, or age 23 for full-time students. The death benefits revelation adds to the already legendary list of Google perks: free food, foosball tables, on-site dry-cleaning service, generous parental leave and more. 

The Systems and Software Engineering company 2HB Inc clearly appreciate a more groomed appearance from their staff, offering them a monthly $50 beauty budget to spend solely on manicures, pedicures and haircuts.

UKFast gives one extra week paid leave when employees get married and £10,000 bonus for ten years’ service to the business. UKFast really cares for the employees that they have a lot of benefits that can help employees with child care, As well as this amazing perk there are so many more including team trips.

UNLIMITED VACATION TIME!!!! Yep, you read that right. Netflix allows employees to choose how many days they take off each year, whether that’s two weeks or two months.  This is always a wary situation but unlimited vacation time is everyone’s dream, allowing you to take the time to actually live your life whilst having a career is something that isn’t often something that can be done so Netflix are doing something right.

Hotjar provides employees with €4,000 (£3,500) to build their own office space at home. Allowing employees to have a personal office in there own home can definitely increase productivity massively within the company as a whole as they’re less likely to be interrupted and distracted which is a great for productivity.

More and more people are delaying pregnancy, and Spotify has caught on. The company covers the cost of egg freezing and fertility assistance to workers. Spotify are smart with having this as a perk, seen as they employ younger individuals who now don’t have to rush when it comes to starting a family, they can easily do this now with the $10,000 cost of egg freezing and to go with that they include 6 months paid leave. 

The ‘beer people’, Miller Coors are understandably passionate about beer, so really it’s no surprise that they’ve built onsite pubs, offering 13 different varieties of the good stuff (for free) to employees in Chicago and Milwaukee…in fact they even go out of their way to encourage the newest team members to taste test their brands!

Brewery and pub chain BrewDog features in Glassdoor’s list of 20 best employee perks for offering a week’s paid puppy leave to staff to help a new pet settle in (stock image). As you may know getting a new puppy its just as stressful as a having a newborn so the fact that brew dog allow a weeks paid puppy leave for new dog owners to get to grips with their new dogs is a great idea.

Nike’s motto “just do it” applies to meditation as well, it seems. The company is one of many big businesses incorporating meditation practice into their workplace. Employees of the athletic apparel giant have access to relaxation rooms, which they can use to take a nap, pray, or of course meditate. In addition to these quiet rooms, employees can also take part in meditation and yoga classes without ever having to leave the office.

We simply couldn’t write a blog post about weird and wonderful employee perks and benefits, without mentioning Google…it just wouldn’t be right.

The masters of staff happiness, if you end up working for these internet giants, you can expect some of the following legendary, onsite perks:

Bocce courts, free never-ending food, physical therapy, rainbow slides, a masseuse, laundry facilities, haircuts, swimming pools, a gym, ping pong tables, pool, video games, technology testing (sneak peaks) 24-7 tech support,  free rides to and from work,  dogs are always welcome, free access to scooters in the office…the list really is endless. If ever there was a barometer for going all out on staff perks; Google is the company to look toward. Whilst we appreciate that their profit margins allow for a little over-the-top exuberance where staff rewards are concerned; it goes without saying that they set the bar high for the level of rewards on offer.