A far cry from the usual meeting room but it's what the workers of this London-based branding agency wanted. They were given a weekend to redesign their offices. Having the freedom to build a greenhouse in the middle of the office may not be at the top of your list of perks, but this company is convinced of the benefits of giving employees a say in the environment they work in. There are the usual benefits here, such as a pension scheme, health insurance and the chance to own a share of the business, but those running the agency think that the way the employees are treated is more important than a pension or an expense account. If you're not a hiring-and-firing type of business, and you spend a lot of time making sure you recruit the right types of people, you therefore give a reassurance that even when times get tough, the company will do all it can to retain those people, because also from a very commercial perspective, you don't want to let good people go because, you know, when business is steaming again, then you're in trouble. But in the dog-eat-dog world at the City, others reckon it all comes down to money. Well, I think when people initially look at employee benefits, they want to be sure that their basic needs are met, and that can be the health side, for example, and what you might find is someone younger doesn't find that, they have great need for it in the short term, but when they see it's likely to happen, when they need that knee operation or something done, it becomes very important at that stage, and I think over time, people are seeing that these benefits, in the longer term, really make sense of them. Research shows that many people don't understand the pension schemes on offer by employers, and while softer benefits such as free gym membership may not improve their financial health, they're often seen as valuable perks in their own right. Sarah Pennells, BBC News.


办公室与往常的会议室迥然不同了，但这是工作在伦敦的品牌代理事务所的人们想要的。他们得到一个周末的时间重新设计办公室。又在办公室中间建温室的自由，这可能不会列入你的额外福利，但这家公司笃信让员工在工作环境中拥有发言权是会有诸多好处的。 这里有常见的优惠政策，如退休金计划、健康保险和执有公司股份的机会，但是该代理事务所的经营者认为，对待员工的方式远比退休金或费用报销单重要得多。 如果你的公司不是低迷时裁员的那种类型，你用了很长时间确信招到合适的人，因此你按安抚员工，甚至是在时局艰辛时，公司将尽其所能留住这些人，因为从商业角度看，你也不想让优秀工人流失。因为，你知道，生意重新兴隆时，你就陷入困境了。 但在这个互相倾轧的世界里，别人认为这一切都要归结到钱上。 是的，我想当人们最初看待员工福利时，他们想确定的是基本需求得以满足，比如说可能是健康方面的。你可能发现年轻点的人并没发现，短期之内他们迫切需要健康福利，但是当他们看到可能有此需求时，如当他们需做膝盖之类手术时，福利在那时就非常重要了。我想假以时日，人们就会认识到这些福利政策，就长期而言，是真正对人们管用的。 研究表明许多人不理解退休金计划列入雇主提供的工作中，尽管诸如免费健身馆会员等非金钱福利可能不会改善财务状况，但这些福利经常被视为自身权利之内的有价值的额外福利。英国广播公司 Sarah Pennells 的报道。