Most Unusual Company Perks...scuba diving anyone?

I ran across this great list on Fortune that included 15 of the best and also unusual company perks. Some of these I could probably of come up with myself but then there were others (like the scuba diving) that I don't think would have ever crossed my mind.

Like you, I hear of companies all the time that are looking for unique ways to attract (and of course retrain) great workers. So, if you're one of those employers that are looking for ways to spice things up around the office, take a hard look at the list below and incorporate what you think will work where you are.

Check out the list below...

1. Scuba diving lessons - Chesapeake Energy Corporation
2. Prayer and meditation rooms - eBay
3. $200 grocery card - Methodist Hospital System
4. Alternative mode of transportation and get a $4 daily credit - Genetech
5. Free ipod shuffle - PricewaterhouseCoopers
6. Free lunch Monday through Thursday - FactSet Research
7. Discounted rent in one of their company owned apartments - Camden Property Trust
8. Get married for free - Erickson Retirement Communities
9. Dollar for dollar charity contribution match - EOG Resources
10. Free Cleveland Cavs basketball tickets - Quicken Loans
11. $20,000 in annual tuition reimbursement - MITRE
12. 5 weeks of in year 1 of employment - KPMG
13. $1,000 toward the purchase of a hybrid or electric car - Google
14. On-site childcare for $240/month - Arkansas Children's Hospital
15. On-site dry cleaning, postal services, and free grocery delivery - Microsoft

So, what do you think?

Interested in any of these? If these aren't a perfect match for your company today they should be a great place for you to start thinking about some of the things that might work for you.

If interested, check out this video created by some Microsoft interns. It's a little lengthy but does a pretty good job showing why people want to work and stay at Microsoft.

It's Your Boss's Birthday...and there's not enough cake for everyone...

I was reading this post over at The HR Capitalist titled, "Evaluate Your Street Cred at Work By the Size of Your Birthday Party..."

Included is a great clip by CareerBuilder that says you can evaluate your workplace worth by observing how your birthday is celebrated around the office. Go ahead and follow the link and check out the clip.

I immediately thought of this clip from Office Space where Bill Lumbergh has a birthday and the entire office celebrates it. From the singing of Happy Birthday I can't call it a celebration...

But, what happens when there isn't enough cake for everyone? Just ask Milton Waddams...

Enjoy...

Everyone's Salary is Public...No Joke?!

So, what would you think if everyone in the company knew your salary and what everyone else made? Don't think this is misprint or an accident - just walk down the hall by the break room and you can find the list up on the bulletin board. If you aren't sure where the break room is just listen for all of the screaming and yelling.

Most of you would find this situation or scenario completely ridiculous and would say that this information is confidential and should stay that way.

Certain salaries or compensation packages are public knowledge and will probably always be. I "googled" college football coaches salary and it took me less than 1 second to find a handful of websites eager to give me this information. Here's one here. Or, take CEO compensation...that's easy to find - here's a list I found. These salaries are always discussed on the news and we expect to be able to get our hands on this information or at least to be able to find this information on-line within a couple of minutes.

So now...what about you? What if this was something your company decided to do? Or, what if you were interviewing at a company and heard that this was part of their "culture"? Would this make you think twice before accepting a job offer? Back when I worked at The Federal Reserve we posted our job titles and salary ranges on the bulletin board by the break room but this was obviously as transparent as we would ever go.

I ran across this article on Portfolio titled "When Salaries Aren't Secret" and it made me stop and think about this concept.

Check out this quote from the article...On the other hand, a radically open salary system could yield major benefits:

1. a fair compensation system based on actual performance
2. employee understanding of the business (e.g., why payroll is usually the largest cost; why certain employees earn more)
3. a culture of trust, as employees and senior managers share more information

So, what do you think? Agree or disagree?

In some companies (or occupations), I can definitely agree with these benefits and see how this would work. For example, in a company that was comprised with a lot of employees with variable compensation and where bonuses or additional compensation was based on sales or performance I could see how this would work. It could also motivate employees to work harder - especially the ones that are toward the bottom of the list. The more variable the compensation in your company the more of a chance that this will work.

Let me know your thoughts...

If you want to read about some ways to start experimenting with this concept go back to the article I mentioned at the top and scroll down to the bottom of the page...enjoy!

Presidential Candidate Background & Experience - Hillary's is caught on tape

You won't ever find me getting "political" in my blog posts but since every day my job is to review resumes and talk to candidates about their background and experience, this recent story involving Hillary Clinton definitely caught my eye.

Every candidate that we bring in for an interview is there to talk about their background and experience and show how they are a perfect match for the position that we're looking to fill.

I don't just take their resume and believe everything on it but I ask questions and dig into each position that the candidate has held. I ask questions, present scenarios, and ask for examples to see if this person really has the background and experience that we're looking for.

So, as we all review Presidential candidate "resumes" and determine who we feel would be the best person for the job, what we hear and see are some of the factors that we have to consider.

Do you think that when Hillary was giving that speech last week she had any idea that a video of that exact trip she was describing would surface? As you watch the video listen for the unbelievable detail that Hillary gives as she describes the sniper fire and greeting ceremony...

For you HR Pro's out there is this "falsification of her application" or just an an honest mistake where she "exaggerated" some of the details?

I'll let you decide...

When "The Boss" calls in sick what do you do?

I was introduced to this great video clip today...

I haven't seen it happen as much where I work today but can guarantee you that over the years I have seen this, or something very similar, happen every time "The Boss" calls in sick and decides to work from home.

What do you do when "The Boss" calls in sick and decides to work from home?

Since "My Boss" might read this, I've never done this and am always in the office when he's out...