When employees feel valued and supported at work, company culture becomes stronger, resulting in happier employees. Benefits such as paid time off, subsidized meals, and health programs are becoming more commonplace as companies work to boost employee productivity and loyalty.
Recognizing benefits that employees value and effectively providing them improves your team's efficiency and the bottom line.
What are the best corporate perks?
Here are 31 of the best workplace perks to attract and keep employees while strengthening company culture, separated by category.
Employee perks and benefits for health and wellness
1. Mental health care: Employers are continuing a proactive approach to mental health support in the workplace. Leading organizations understand the value of supporting employees' mental well-being.
2. On-site stress relief: Offer sensory areas, relaxation pods, massage chairs, or yoga classes as corporate perks to provide employees on-site opportunities to take a break from their desks and recharge their minds.
3. Fertility and menopause benefits: Fertility benefits help cover the costs of fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Also, as employee populations age — for example, menopausal symptoms affect roughly 25% of the working population in the United States — menopause health support is a popular benefit.
4. Fitness challenges: Provide pedometers or smartwatches to help employees track and achieve their fitness goals, individually or as a team.
5. Gym memberships: A spending allowance or employee discounts for gym memberships, bikes, fitness equipment, or a yoga pass can incentivize employee health and wellness.
6. Smoking cessation programs: Supporting employees to quit smoking is more than a corporate perk — it saves lives. According to the CDC, 69% of employers in the US offer comprehensive tobacco control support.
7. Recognizing employee wellness goals: Work with your employees to identify common health, fitness, and wellness goals in your team to show a commitment to employee well-being. Use our Ultimate Employee Wellness Checklist to develop a competitive benefits package that fits your company.
Career and professional development corporate perks
8. Tuition reimbursement: Subsidize or reimburse classes and courses through local universities as workplace perks to encourage employees to hone or advance their skills. Allowing designated quiet office space or work time to study increases the value of this continuing education benefit.
9. Employee license and certification programs: Enhanced qualification is a mutually beneficial perks program that enriches both the employee and company experience.
10. In-house or virtual lunch-and-learns: Provide workshops and seminars in-house to enhance skills. Sessions offer a shared learning experience and provide your staff access to experts in your industry, or even the CEO of your company.
11. Industry conferences: Support employees attending conferences and work-related events for growth and career advancement. Events can also offer networking and sales opportunities for your business.
Subsidized meals and food for employees
12. Team lunches: Everyone loves free food. With DoorDash for Business group orders, employers can feed the whole in-office team. Choose a restaurant, set a spending limit, and send team members a link to add their preferred meals to a single group order.
13. Individual expensed meals: For all employees — whether remote or in-office — the benefit of expensed meals is a huge job perk. DoorDash for Business makes expensed meals for corporate teams or clients seamless for both employees and administrative teams.
14. DashPass for Employees: In-office and work-from-home employees can use the DashPass subscription to order food on DoorDash, wherever they're working. DashPass benefits include low service fees and $0 delivery fees while offering employees convenient, delicious meals of their choice.
15. Healthy office snacks with DashMart: Forget the vending machine. Make a variety of healthy snacks available to in-office employees to ensure they are fueled throughout the day.
The best corporate perks for workplace flexibility
16. Four-day work week: The movement towards a reduced work week is gaining momentum, with employers seeing reduced burnout and increased employee satisfaction. If every week isn't an option, you can give the whole team one day off a month for a total recharge. Work-life balance is a top desire of employees
17. Unlimited vacation policy or paid time off: Offering an unlimited vacation policy benefits both employees and employers by increasing productivity and engagement with a break from screens.
18. Volunteer paid time off: Allowing employees to volunteer during the workday can boost morale, retention, employee engagement, and brand perception. Volunteering also increases an employee's connection to the values of their employer.
19. Transportation perks program: Many employers encourage sustainable commuting by offering public transit benefits or employee discounts. This perk helps offset the financial cost of traveling to and from work or using transportation during the workday.
20. Flexible hours: Employee ownership over working hours is a valued corporate perk. Allowing your early birds and night owls to shift hours to maximize productivity demonstrates respect for work-life balance and understanding of individual needs.
Insurance benefits
21. Health care coverage: Employees with health, dental, and vision coverage are healthier and live longer. Businesses experience lower absenteeism rates and fewer worker's compensation claims and sick days. Health care coverage by employers is also evolving to cover holistic health and preventative healthcare. Offer various options for company-wide managed care plans with a health maintenance organization and a preferred provider organization. Employers can also extend coverage to employees' family members.
22. Flexible spending accounts: Employer contributions help fund out-of-pocket health care expenses such as prescriptions, medical equipment, and doctor appointments. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are another option for employees with high-deductible plans.
23. Life insurance: Protect your employees and their loved ones with life insurance or accidental death or dismemberment coverage.
24. Disability insurance: Provide financial help to employees who are unable to work because of a serious injury or illness, short or long-term.
25. Paid parental leave: Research shows that parental leave benefits the child and all family members, financially and emotionally. This is a valued benefit for many employees and their families.
26. Paid personal leave: Offer paid shifts that employees can use for sick days, bereavement, and caring for an ailing family member or sick children. Many federal laws provide employees with job protection for certain family and medical reasons.
27. Pet insurance: Looking after furry family members is gaining popularity as a workplace benefit.
Supportive office
28. Pet-friendly offices: Bringing furry friends to work can enhance workplace well-being, sparking collaboration and employee engagement.
29. Rewards: Offer rewards as workplace perks when employees reach professional milestones or achieve years of service. DoorDash Employee Gift Cards can be set to any denomination and be personalized to recognize those employees with something to celebrate.
30. Social atmosphere: Help employees connect on a personal level by supporting organized activities like a book club or running group. This promotes company culture and allows employees to bond.
31. Employee appreciation: Staff who feel appreciated are good for business. Regular staff recognition is a great perk in any company.
Corporate advantages of employee benefits and perks
According to a 2023 study, 83% of organizations believe their benefits package has a positive impact on worker productivity and that their perks and benefits enable them to recruit top-tier employees. That is particularly true for employee perks like free meals and snacks that impact the quality of life for employees on a daily basis.
If you're looking for an easy and efficient way of increasing morale and productivity with food perks, check out DoorDash for Business to find out how to set your team up with expensed meals.
