These new benefits can be far more memorable than cash. Tony Vitullo, chief financial officer of Arcnet, says the New Jersey architectural firm was suffering from high turnover and a low-quality applicant pool until it started giving the use of BMWs to employees who stayed a year. If we gave them that money, they'd forget about it four weeks later. But every day they get in that car and are reminded of the company's generosity, he says. Not just nice.
Employers believe many of the new perks can increase worker productivity.
Fannie Mae, for example, this year hired a staff gerontologist to help employees figure out how best to care for aging parents. But there's also a cold-eyed business logic. Employers are adding some of the new perks because they cost little or nothing perhaps only some time and energy while improving the lives of their employees. He has hired experts to negotiate group discounts that workers could never get on their own. Alan Hofstein, CEO of On-Site Dental Care, says he can't keep up with corporate requests for his company's dentists on wheels.