What Companies Offer the Best Employee Perks

What Companies Offer the Best Employee Perks From team lunches to ping pong tables, many companies offer a range of employee perks to attract talent to their organisation and keep their team motivated. Though smaller companies can offer perks, such as clocking off early on a Friday or free parking; its the big dogs that can offer the fancy perks that get people talking! So what employers really go all out for their staff? Find out which companies offer the best employee perks in the infographic by Chair Office below. Google: An unlimited supply of tasty meals and snacks, so youre never hungry at work! Feel free to bring your dog into the office,  theyre always welcome at Google HQ.. When a Google employee passes away, their spouse is given half their salary for 10 years. Microsoft: Employees are given a free membership at ProSports Club. There is an on-campus health centre that staff are free to drop in at. A variety of entertainment in the office, including Xbox, pool tables and arcade machines. Apple: Provides financial assistance to the family of an Apple employee who has passed away. Mothers can take up to 18 weeks maternity leave, whereas fathers can take 6 weeks of paternity leave. Every few weeks they hold an event called Beer bash where they serve free beer and have live bands playing. McDonalds: There is a company car program which includes insurance, maintenance and repair. Whenever an employee reaches a work anniversary (5 years,10, 15, 20, etc.) they are rewarded with an extra week of holiday. After every 10 years of service to the company, employees are able to take an 8 week sabbatical. Starbucks: Employees can get a tuition fee reimbursement for Arizona State Universitys online program that covers two years of classes. A 30% in store discount and one pound of coffee or tea free each week. A sponsored retirement plan. Nestle: Discounts on nestle products, cinema tickets and mobile phones. Up to 90% of dining at a selection of locations. Air, hotel and car rentals. Marriott: Healthcare benefits for employees who work 30+ hours a week. Significant discounts on rooms at Marriott hotels for family and friends and once you have worked there for 25 years you get free Marriott accommodation for life. They frequently recruit and promote from within the company. SouthWest.com: Free flights with  SouthWest Airlines. Discounts and guest passes for family and friends. Annual employee events. Disney: Access to Mickeys Retreat, which is a place for employees to relax during downtime at work. A huge variety of discounts for the parks, hotel, dining, etc. Behind the scenes tours and talks. 3M: Weight management program reimbursement. Online health classes. Financial and legal consultation. Cisco: A baby gift program to welcome new additions to employees families. They have a fun fund for team celebrations and team building exercises. They also offer wellness programs for employees and their spouse. Mattel: Every Friday is a half day. In Italy they are allowed to take two half days a week to take part in English lessons. Employees are offered paid time off to attend school-related events and to participate in volunteering through Mattels Childrens Foundation. Do any of these take your fancy? Or does your company offer perks that can compete with those offered by the organisations below? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @UndercoverRec. Image: Shutterstock

5 Steps to Boost Office Morale During the Winter Months

5 Steps to Boost Office Morale During the Winter Months The summer months are sadly coming to an end, and as the sun goes in, businesses can often notice a decrease in morale. The winter blues can have a huge effect on the motivation and productivity of your workforce, so introducing some new morale boosting methods will help your employees shake-off the dip in productivity. Step 1 Brighten up your environment One main reason for the lull in morale during winter time is the lack of light associated with shorter days. If the environment you or your employees work in is dark and gloomy, then you can expect your mindset to also be pretty gloomy. Open the blinds, let all the light you can in. If this isnt an option, use a full spectrum light to get rid of the gloom in the office. Step 2 Start a lunch club Food is a great motivator. To get employees feeling boosted, why not start a lunch club or take your employees out for a team meal  once a week? This not only boosts employee relations, but also will break up the day and help employees to enjoy it. Step 3  Seasonal fun So summer is over and it seems like the fun is too. But dont forget about all the exciting things winter brings! Theres Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving (and probably loads more), so embrace the winter celebrations and involve them in your office. Host mini afternoon parties, have a halloween fancy dress day or even a carol singing competition. Summer may be over but the fun doesnt have to be! Step 4 Turn up the tunes Its been proven by researchers that listening to cheery or upbeat music can improve the mood of the listener. So make sure you invest in a radio or just get the tunes pumping in someones computer. Another good idea is to create a Spotify collaborative playlist, which means everyone in the office can add to the playlist so its to everyones taste! Step 5 Allow flexible scheduling It can be pretty horrible leaving the office at 5 and it being dark. Why not introduce a bit of flexibility in the office? Allow employees to leave an hour early on a Friday afternoon or to come in slightly later than usual. Your employees will be grateful for it. Winter months can be a difficult time for employees, so by introducing these steps it can bring some morale back into the workplace. Are there any season specific methods you bring into your office to boost employees? Let us know!

How Wells Fargo Banks on Employer Branding

How Wells Fargo Banks on Employer Branding If youve always wanted to know how a large American bank does its employer branding then the wait is finally over. Wells Fargo was established in the 1850s with banking at the core of its services but it also runs 12 museums known as Wells Fargo History Museums all across the United States. But its the banking side of the company that employs the largest number of staff so weve been speaking to Aaron Kraljev, VP Employer Brand Candidate Advocacy at Wells Fargo who gives us a real insight into how this California-based banking giant does its employer branding. Have a listen to the episode below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to the  Employer Branding Podcast. Listen on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher  or  Soundcloud. In this episode you’ll learn: Why their employer branding space has evolved over the past 10 years What it means to be a Wells Fargo employee Why they want their employees to grow as people as well as in their careers What it means to bring your entire selves to work Helping others is at the heart of what they do. You can connect with Aaron on LinkedIn.

Personal Branding Interview Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke to both Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, who are the co-authors of The Orange Revolution. They are also the New York Times bestselling authors of The Carrot Principle, and other books. In this interview, Adrian and Chester talk about why carrots are important, how to build a high-performing team, how to deal with a team member who isnt cooperating, and more. What’s your fascination with orange and carrots? With our book The Carrot Principle we introduced the idea of “carrots,” our catch-phrase for employee recognition. We even created a system to help managers implement the tools of engagement, recognition and appreciation. Since then, our research has come to show us that the same practices of appreciation and recognition that create great leaders also contribute to the success of breakthrough teams. Since carrots are a foundational part of the formula for team growth and achievement, we use the term “Orange” to describe the overall characteristics, rules, and behaviors of great teams. What is a high-performing team and how do you build one? A high-performing team achieves world-class results, but it does so in a sustainable fashion. In other words, it’s possible to use fear and intimidation to get a team to accomplish something remarkable for a short period, but to get a team to achieve results over a long period requires a commitment to what we call the Rule of 3: Wow, No Surprises and Cheer. This means the great teams we studied commit to being world-class every day, having open communication, and rooting for each other. These may sound like soft skills, but they are as necessary to your organization’s success as fiscal responsibility, product development and corporate strategy. What happens when one person on a team isn’t cooperating with the others but is extremely valuable? We’ve found that most managers waste an average of six months before they act to correct interpersonal issues. That’s way too long. Certainly the best tactic with a valuable performer is to be honest and bring the conversation back to your values. A dialogue might include: “Greg, you live one of our core values, ‘Wow,’ but as you know we all must commit to living all three of our values. ‘Cheer’ is the most important of our Rule of 3. If you aren’t rooting for others on the team, or if they aren’t rooting for you, our team is never going to achieve great things together. As good as you are, it’s simply not acceptable for you not to cooperate with your team. Let me give you some examples of what I’m looking for…” You’ll notice an honest conversation like this helps you also practicing the value of ‘No Surprises.’ And yet sometimes, nothing you do, short of replacing a team member, will help. One CEO we talked to tried everything to bring his divided executive team together, and got nowhere until he realized where the problems were originating: one rotten apple that was playing political games. With the removal of that person (however talented he was) from that team, walls broke down and the team started to function as a cohesive groupâ€"achieving much more than individuals alone could have done. How do you choose people for a high performing team? In hiring, we see teams consistently falling into two traps. First is the team that thinks they are getting the biggest bang for their buck by hiring the person with the most impressive qualifications, experience, degrees, certificates, or number of pages in her resume. But that’s a mistake. While buying peanut butter in bulk is just fine (if you like peanut butter), it’s no way to select a new teammate. Then there’s the team who hires the same type of person over and over and over again, and wonders why they always gets the same disappointing results. Instead, we recommend your team: 1) Look for competency and attitude, then train for skills; 2) bring in individuals with different, but complementary, skill sets; 3) make previous team experience a priority; and 4) Look for empathy and integrity. Hiring for empathy is perhaps the most challenging. When we talk about empathy, we’re describing the ability to listen to what other people have to say, identify the underlying organizational concern that person is addressing, and respond appropriately. People with empathy acknowledge other members’ concerns before proceeding with their own agenda. They can handle it when they are corrected or their ideas are rejected. In short, hiring should always be viewed in the context of team interaction. You want to look for people with the ability to approach hard decisions and strong conflicting opinions in a way that builds esprit de corps. An example of a high performance team? One of our favorite breakthrough groups we profile in The Orange Revolution is the team lead by Rajendra “Guru” Gursahaney who is an engineer at the Pepsi Beverages Company in New York. Guru and put together a team that invented a bottling process that is saving Pepsi $7 million a year on just one bottling line in Russia, but it’s a technology that will be rolled out worldwide in the Pepsi system. He and his team created a way to make a thinner plastic pop bottle that not only saves Pepsi millions, but will reduce the impact of plastic bottles on the world’s landfills by 40 percent! And in a remarkably generous move, Pepsi decided not to patent the technology, but to allow any bottler to benefit from this innovation. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. A great example of a high performance team that took a risk and changed not only a company but the world for the better. Adrian Gostick is the co-author of The Orange Revolution. He is the leader of O. C. Tanner Company’s recognition training and publishing practice. He is the author of several very successful business books including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-seller The Carrot Principle. His work has been called a must read for modern-day managers by Larry King, fascinating by Fortune and admirable and startling by the Wall Street Journal. Adrians books have been translated into 20 languages and are sold in more than 50 countries around the world. Learn more at adriangostick.com. Chester Elton is coauthor The Orange Revolution and of the bestselling Carrot books, a popular lecturer on motivation, and an influential voice in global workplace trends. He is O.C. Tanner’s lead recognition consultant and researcher and works with numerous Fortune 100 clients. As a motivation expert, Chester Elton has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company magazine and the New York Times and has been featured on CNN, ABC Money Matters, MSNBC, National Public Radio and 60 Minutes. A sought after speaker and recognition consultant, Chester Elton has spoken to delighted audiences from Seattle to Singapore and from Toronto to Istanbul. Subscribe to his weekly podcasts at chesterelton.com.

How to Leap Into Education Administration CareerMetis.com

How to Leap Into Education Administrationâ€" CareerMetis.com Teaching is often called a dead-end career because there is not a clear path upwards from a teaching position.In comparison, junior marketers might aspire to become chief marketing officers and local committee members might dream of being elected president, but teachers start as teachers and they usually end their careers in the exact same spot.evalSo, what if you’re a teacher with ambition?What if you want to accomplish more than you can in the classroom and earn a higher salary, too?Then, my friend, you need to get into education administration â€" but doing that isn’t as easy as earning a promotion.Go Back to SchoolYou gained academic degrees to get you into the classroom â€" but to get into the school’s administrative office, you’ll need a different set of credentials.Teaching experience is advantageous in an administrative setting, but the education you received to help you generate lesson plans and control students doesn’t exactly directly apply to an administrative r ole. Thus, you’ll need to go back to school, this time focusing on education administration.You don’t have to completely redo your academic accomplishments; rather, a master’s degree in education administrationshould do.evalA master’s program will provide exposure to the issues concerning ed administrators and equip you with the proper tools to address those issues.For instance, you might learn more about how race and socioeconomic status affect student bodies, and you might gain familiarity with law and regulation relating to these issues.Most master’s programs allow you to concentrate in a certain sector of ed admin, like higher education, special education, principalship or instructional design. You can find viable programs online or at night schools, so you don’t have to take a break from teaching to earn your degree. Engage With the Education CommunityevalBefore, during and after your enrollment in an education administration program, you should be establishing a na me for yourself within the education community and building a network of contacts you can use to find a position in administration and make positive change for your schools.Your first step might be to ensure you are the best teacher possible; earning a nomination It’s easy for administrators to hole up in their offices and never come into contact with students, teachers, parents and other important people.Yet, doing so is disadvantageous to your work. During your transition, you should make a commitment to meet parties face to face, if only to remember what you are working for.RelevanceContrary to popular belief, education doesn’t and shouldn’t always remain the same.While parents might moan that classrooms don’t look like what they grew up with, the truth is that new research and tools improve learning and benefit students and teachers alike. You should commit to continuing education yourself, so you can make the best possible decisions for your school.SteadfastnessDifferen t concerns will pull you in different directions throughout your administrative career. While being receptive to new ideas is important, it is equally important that you develop thick skin and determination, which will help you stand firm and make a difference.evalTeaching isn’t a dead-end job; it’s a lifelong opportunity to make an impact.However, if you have grown bored of the classroom and want a challenge that allows you even greater impact on the community, you need to leap from teaching to administrating â€" and you need to start today.

A visit with The Skool of Life

A visit with The Skool of Life 0 Flares 0 Flares Had a chance to write a guest post for  Srinivas Rao from  The Skool of Life.  He also runs a podcast series called, The Interviews with up and coming Bloggers, which I took part in as well.  Srini is doing some great things over there, and I suggest checking him out when you have some time. Heres a link to my guest post Why interviewing should never be life or death The post brings an important message in how to deal/react with rejection.  Its clearly talking about interview rejection, but I feel this lesson can be applied to all areas of your life. Here are some reasons to read my guest post: Youll hear my personal story of rejection Why you should never get too excited for a company you are interviewing with How to look on the bright side of rejection Why you shouldnt make interviewing a life or death situation Feel free to leave your comments here or on the post Why interviewing should never be life or death Also when you have some time feel free to check out my interview with Srinivas

Job market predictions for 2010 -

Job market predictions for 2010 - On Sunday, I was watching Meet the Press as a political junkie, I like to catch it. One of the guests was Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts. David Gregory asked for predictions for 2010 regarding the job market. I loved Governor Patricks answer, and I think I will make it one of my mantras On Sunday, I was watching Meet the Press as a political junkie, I like to catch it. One of the guests was Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts. David Gregory asked for predictions for 2010 regarding the job market. I loved Governor Patricks answer, and I think I will make it one of my mantras To paraphrase: Expanding cooperation and teamwork is how to compete in a global economy. (You can watch the clip HERE scroll to the last video.) I couldnt have said it better myself. What are employers looking for? Someone who can come in and FIT in. Someone willing to roll up their proverbial sleeves and get the work done. This isnt necessarily a new thing. In fact, looking back, in two jobs that I landed, my colleagues later shared that my strong collaborative abilities (demonstrated to them via my attitude and references) were key factors in hiring me. Ill never forget my colleague Mindy telling me that she had felt I would really pitch in and help out in different areas in the department and that was a main reason that she preferred me over the others. I imagine the other candidates for the jobs I took were probably pretty qualified. Somehow, I was able get across something more important than basic qualifications to get the job.  In a nutshell its those oh-so-important soft skills, AKA emotional intelligence that will make the difference between getting the job and being capable of the job. I have written about this before. In his book,  Never Eat Alone,  Keith Ferrazzi says, Community and alliances will rule in the twenty-first century[success is] dependent on whom you know and how you work with them (291). He asserts that living a truly connected life is a prerequisite to success. Could it be that all we really need to know are the lessons we learn in the sandbox? Is the poem All I Ever Really Need To Know, I Learned in Kindergarten turning out to be really true? If so, how can you respond? What is the best way to stand out to compete in this global economy (forgive me for the cliche I am sure this phrase is on some I never want to hear this again lists!) My reply? Another old standby for me Show, dont tell. It is tough to convince someone that you are a team player unless you really are one! BE the person who is willing to go the extra mile. Maybe that means you hold the door for somebody behind you on the way to the interview. Or, that you let someone take the parking space you both were eyeing. Who knows you might have been angling your potential new boss out of her space! Obviously, theres much more to this than simply being courteous, but it is a start. Look at your network. Do you have one? Are you a connector? Do you try to put people in touch with each other, just for the sake of doing it? If so, you are SHOWING that you care about people that you are a team player. What would your boss or colleagues say about you? Do they think only about your competence, or will they comment on your great attitude, how you lead by example and show everyone the same respect? Are you the one who pitches in and stays until the end, or are you running out to handle personal matters? Everything adds up, and how you behave will shape how people see you. Think about it do you have the necessary skills to fit in and get the job done? Do you agree that cooperation and teamwork are crucial for success in the next decade? Share in the comments! I can help with every part of your job hunt! Need a great resume? Tips to use social networking? Interview coaching?   If you need help mobilizing your networks and your job search plans,  learn more about how I can help you! While youre at it, dont forget those social networks! Be sure to become a  fan of Keppie Careers on FacebookId be thrilled to have you as part of the community! Since were on the subject of doing something newAre you on Twitter? Jump on and touch base with me  @keppie_careers. photo by valilouve