Pimp My Comp

In graduate school I was approached by a couple of political science doctoral candidates who lived down the hall from me to run for student body president.

“Why me?” I asked suspiciously. 

“You look honest,” said Eric, the more outspoken of the two.  “No one trusts political scientists.”

I grinned appreciatively.  “What makes you think I’ll win?”

“No one knows there's an election so your only competition’s the physics department rep.  You’ll win.”

“Shouldn’t you have an open election?” I asked doubtfully.  They both looked horrified.

“It’s paid,’ threw In Paul, putting the awkward topic of free elections to rest. “$800 a year.”

“And it’s only about 10 hours a week,” enthused Eric.  Then, seeing my expression, he hastily added, “Or… less.”

I shook my head.  “Thanks, guys, but I don’t think so.  I work and take an extra class.  I don’t have ten hours a week to spare.”

I was headed out the door when Eric’s next words stopped me cold:  “You get a faculty parking spot.”

[Insert sound of squealing breaks.]  As an on-campus graduate student with a car, faculty parking at USCD was the granddaddy of benefits so I ran for office and won.  I think I still have my engraved gavel somewhere.

The moral of this story is that you can pimp up your comp with perqs that cost little but convey the same or more value as money.   For example, flexible work arrangements may matter more to working parents than money once basic needs are met. 

Recognition is another good example of lots of bang for little or no buck, as Derek Irvine wrote about recently in his post The Importance of Appropriate Rewards.

Although many companies offer various perqs, a common mistake is to ignore employee demographics.  For example, on premise childcare is only interesting to employees with children.  401K plans are only attractive to US employees.  And incentive travel might not be the reward of choice for working parents.   

Another mistake is to assume that perqs like free yoga classes increase engagement.  Let’s face it, those people in the free yoga class may be happy but if they were engaged they’d probably still be at work. 

Still, well thought out perqs can increase positive feelings toward a company, which is the next best thing to engagement.   

So go on, pimp up your comp!  You know you want to.

Picture courtesy of madelino.blogg.se.

Laura Schroeder is a Compensation Strategist at Workday, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA.  She has nearly fifteen years of experience designing, developing, implementing and evangelizing global Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions and holds a certificate in Strategic Human Resources Practices from Cornell University.  Her articles and interviews on HCM topics have been published in the US, Europe and Asia.  She lives in Munich, Germany and enjoys cooking, reading, writing, kick boxing and spending time with friends and family. If you want to read more from Laura, check out her talent management blog Working Girl or follow her on Twitter @WorkGal.

Comments

[Mario]

In some respects, the Compensation Cafe bloggers resemble the characters in the Peanuts cartoon. I think we know who one is and it is not too hard to figure out who the others are.

Schroeder is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. He is distinguished by his precocious skill at playing the toy piano, as well as by his love of classical music and the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in particular. Schroeder is also the catcher on Charlie Brown's baseball team, though he is always seen walking back to the mound with the baseball, never throwing it—admitting in one strip he didn't want the other team to discover his lack of ability. He is also the object of the unrequited infatuation of Lucy van Pelt, who constantly leans on Schroeder's piano. Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Frieda and Snoopy are also occasionally depicted as leaning on Schroeder's piano.

After Linus and Snoopy, Schroeder is probably Charlie Brown's closest friend; he once angrily berated Violet for giving Charlie Brown a used valentine well after Valentine's Day had come and gone, only to be undercut when Charlie Brown eagerly accepted it. Schroeder also joined Linus in dressing down the girls (Lucy, Patty, Violet and Frieda) and Snoopy in Charlie Brown's All-Stars, when it was discovered Charlie Brown wouldn't sacrifice the girls and Snoopy just to get uniforms for the baseball team. He also is one of the few players who has any respect for Charlie Brown as a manager; however, he is as capable of ire at Charlie Brown's poor performance as anyone else, but these instances are few and far between. In one game, when Frieda desperately asked Schroeder; "Wouldn't you like just once to see Charlie Brown hit that ball?", Schroeder's calm reply was; "No, I am not prepared to have the world come to an end".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroeder_(Peanuts)

[Laura Schroeder]

Not a bad character analysis... who's Charlie Brown?

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

See this fist?

[Mario]

That's a tough and sensitive question to answer, Laura, as Charlie Brown represents the lovable loser. It's almost as difficult as the one I have wrestled with for some time: Who is the best looking thought leader, you or Brad? I've concluded it's a tie.