Job seekers often consider a great benefits package to be just as important as salary. Increasingly, benefits like strong health care coverage, retirement and education benefits, and a commitment to wellness and work/life balance are more valuable than ever.
Tech companies are especially known for their employee benefit programs, and as the search for top talent gets more competitive, they’re stepping up their game. We've put together a list of tech companies with programs that go above and beyond run-of-the-mill benefits.
It's worth noting that our list focuses on meaningful benefits that have an impact on an employee's long-term quality of life, as opposed to companies that emphasize "cool" perks like free snacks, Xbox consoles, and ping pong tables. Of course, some companies offer both—but it’s important to focus on perks that are most relevant to your needs.
Here are 10 tech companies with innovative employee benefit programs in 2020.
Netflix
Netflix's employee culture is legendary, and behind the mystique lies a generous employee benefit program. Besides health care, a charitable donation matching program, generous life insurance, and flexible hours, employees get unlimited paid time off and free food.
Their "work smarter, not harder" policy is one that many tech companies try to emulate. As their website explains: "We don’t have a prescribed 9-to-5 workday, so we don’t have prescribed time off policies for salaried employees, either. We don’t set a holiday and vacation schedule, so you can observe what’s important to you—including when your mind and body need a break."
Stand-out benefit: New parents (yes, dads, too!) get up to one year of paid leave to care for their newborns.
Salesforce
You might know it as a top Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, but Salesforce is also an innovator when it comes to first-class employee benefits, offering comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans; a $100 per month wellness reimbursement; and education reimbursement for up to $5,250 per year. Employees also get eight free counseling sessions to help manage stress, anxiety, grief, or loss. Salesforce is so committed to employee wellness, in fact, that it has Mindfulness Zones in its offices where people can go to unplug and recharge.
Stand-out benefit: Employees get seven days of paid volunteer time off during the year, plus up to $5,000 to put toward the charitable nonprofit cause of their choice.
Spotify
The streaming music platform offers a hearty playlist of benefit options, inspired by its Swedish roots. Among them are flexible public holidays so employees can choose to observe the days that are special to them. According to SHRM research, only 18% of all companies offer the swap holidays benefit to full-time employees, making Spotify an industry leader.
Stand-out benefit: Spotify pays for egg freezing and fertility assistance and six months of paid leave after a baby is born or adopted. And new parents also get a month of flexible work options so they can ease into their return to work.
Motus
With a company culture that purports to "make WorkLife better," Motus has walked the walk by building a generous benefits package. The Boston-based mobile workforce management software company has everything from company-sponsored gym memberships and days of service to a 401(k) match.
Stand-out benefit: Motus offers student loan reimbursement so employees can ease their debt burden and keep more of the money they earn. Motus works with Gradifi by E*TRADE to help their employees tackle student loan debt with their game-changing benefit, Student Loan PayDown.
Amazon
Amazon's thousands of employees, from engineers to warehouse workers, receive a selection of prime benefits. Among them include company-paid short- and long-term disability plans and reimbursement for qualified adoption expenses up to $5,000. Amazon employees also receive restricted stock units (RSUs) as part of the global compensation model.
Stand-out benefit: Amazon wants to help their employees’ partners, too: Its Leave Share program allows staff to share paid leave with partners if their partner's company doesn’t offer paid leave. Amazon will also pay the partner’s base salary for the duration of the shared leave time—a huge weight off the shoulders of couples concerned about how to manage their paid leave.
Adobe
With unlimited paid time off and work-from-home options just two of Adobe’s many employee benefits, it's no wonder the company made the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Best Places to Work list for 2020. Emphasizing employee career development is also important—Adobe offers various training and mentorship programs. This is significant, as many in the tech field tend to job-hop if they don't feel challenged.
Stand-out benefit: Adobe is generous with perks that go beyond health care and retirement, offering employees $10,000 per year for educational expenses. It also allows employees to set aside up to $5,000 for child day care or elder care, with Adobe contributing up to $1,200 of it.
Genentech
This biotech company is known for its long list of workplace benefits, which is why it consistently lands on Fortune's best companies to work lists. Unlimited paid sick days, compressed work weeks, tuition assistance up to $10,000, on-site childcare, and great health care are just the start. There are tons of convenient perks aimed at making life easier, too—including on-site car wash facilities, haircut services, and bike repairs.
Stand-out benefit: Once completing six years with the company full-time, employees can take a six-week sabbatical with full pay and benefits.
Full Contact
This Denver, Colorado-based tech company offers 100% paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and their families, but that's not all: You'll be hard-pressed to find a company that's more committed to work-life balance.
Stand-out benefit: Not only are employees required to take a minimum of three weeks off per year, the company provides $7,500 to put towards vacation. The only requirement? Vacationing staffers are not allowed to check in on work via email or phone. With employee burnout a big concern at busy tech companies, this is a smart strategy that lets employees know they aren't expected to work during personal time off.
Ultimate Software
The cloud-based human capital management solutions firm based in Weston, FL is all about taking care of its employees and their families. For starters, they pay 100% of the premium for health care (PPO), prescription, dental, and vision coverage. And, they offer tuition reimbursement for a maximum of $5,250 per year.
Stand-out benefit: Ultimate gives each employee $300 per child per year to put toward participation in a team sport or extracurricular activity. This gesture showcases a supportive environment for working parent.
Cisco
Comprehensive medical benefits, maternity/paternity support, flexible work schedules, fun perks (including a budget for quarterly team celebrations), and annual bonuses are all part of Cisco's commitment to keeping their employees "happy and healthy," as its website puts it.
Stand-out benefit: Staffers can get reimbursement for tuition, lab fees, and books for coursework at an accredited institution. Supporting employees who want to advance their knowledge and add skills is not always a given, which is why Cisco stands out for its generosity in this area.
Giving employees benefits that go beyond the basics
When looking for competitive opportunities in the tech sector, it can be tempting to judge a company based on salary alone. However, it pays to go beyond the paycheck and see the benefits that make a company stand out. The top tech employers, in our view, will be those that offer benefits that will help employees over the long-term and improve their lifestyles.
Statements regarding company benefits programs are true to the best of Gradifi’s knowledge at the time of publishing. Information subject to change at any time. Some companies described may be clients of Gradifi by E*TRADE. 085888.1
