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Even in down economy, a lucky few
still enjoy exotic perks

Foosball anyone or pet insurance?

By Timothy J. DeFeo, Globe Correspondent, 7/20/03

Would your employer pay the closing costs and chip in on the down payment for your next home? Employees at Citizens Bank can answer: yes.

Despite a stagnant economy and an unemployment rate verging on 6 percent, there are still Massachusetts firms offering generous, outside-the-box, envy-generating perks, and some may inspire an updating of your resume.

Many firms have retained perks as a commitment to a unique corporate culture created by adding value to the lifestyle and work-life of their employees. In addition to the goals of retention and recruitment, enriching employees' experience at work, creating a company community, and recognizing the entire work-life of the individual, are primary objectives.

Perks are normally driven by strong corporate leadership, frequently by a company's founder or CEO, who recognizes a return in a satisfied work force. Because that culture is many times a personification of an individual manager, fringe benefits reflect that individuality and run the gamut from financial rewards, to community involvement.

Five local companies of varying sizes, Citizens Bank, Monster.com, Mazu Networks, Ipswitch, and Praecis Pharmaceuticals, provided some insights into their innovative benefits programs.

Last fall, Citizens Financial Group, the bank's parent company, started a five-year forgivable loan program available to every employee, including part timers. Workers purchasing a primary residence receive $5,000; employees are eligible for $8,000 if they move into ''emerging communities,'' like Dorchester, Roxbury, and Chelsea. To date, 327 companywide employees have been helped by the program; 58 in Massachusetts.

According to Kathy Schoeffler, senior vice president of human resources, ''It was really a top-initiated program. It was not a bubble-up thing within our employees.'' Schoeffler credits president and chief executive Lawrence K. Fish. ''This was totally his idea.''

Fish has been the driving force behind many of the bank's programs aimed at employees' quality of life concerns, including sabbaticals, emergency assistance, and compensation for military service.

Mazu Networks, a high-tech firm based in Cambridge, provides the perk of freedom of movement to its employees. Mazu has set up a WiFi system that blankets the entire corporate office area, including an outdoor deck, for wireless communication.

''There are no wires in this company. People can work wherever,'' said Tom Corn, vice president of marketing. ''You'll see hardcore engineers out on the deck, feet up, drink in hand, catching the rays, some headphones on, and doing their programming,'' he noted.

Mazu's corporate culture is strongly wedded to its mission. ''It's a behavioral thing [the wireless network] that embodies and reinforces that culture,'' said Corn.

Roger C. Greene, the president of Ipswitch, a Lexington-based software firm, has always felt ''it is important to have a positive impact on the world.'' And the employee benefit he has promoted is employees' impact through charitable programs. But this is not the equivalent of receiving a birthday card that reads, ''a donation has been made to'' in lieu of real present.

Officially begun in 1999, Ipswitch began donating 5 percent of its profits to charity. The 130-person company provided over $100,000 to 38 charities last year. The firm also contributes to community events when employees are personally involved.

Although the CEO is at the heart of this approach, Greene decided to remove himself from controlling how and where funds are directed. His intent is to leave those decisions to employees and create a unified company culture infused with community involvement.

Greene has seen the dividends of the program. ''It has had a big influence on the kinds of people who have been attracted to come work at Ipswitch,'' he said. And he believes it is motivational for his employees.

Monster.com, the Maynard-based job posting firm, is well-known as an early dot-com company with a unique approach to marketing and work environment, both fostered by the founder Jeff Taylor. ''He's the one that strongly supports anyone getting up from their desk and playing a game of pool in the middle of the day,'' said Colleen McGrath, senior manager of strategic communications.

According to McGrath, new employees frequently cite the creative corporate culture at Monster.com as a principal reason they joined the company. The company has worked to maintain the perks and environment it began in the mid-1990s. ''A few years ago people may have thought, 'of course you have free sodas and fun toys.' But now, a lot of those companies that had those things may not be around anymore or have lost the pool table. It is just part of Monster's culture,'' McGrath said.

In a common area called the Monster Den, employees are encouraged to relieve stress at any time with a game of ping-pong, Foosball, or pool. In the past, Monster.com held ''suitcase parties,'' where employees arrived with a packed bag for the weekend and one lucky employee was whisked away to the airport and enjoyed a weekend in Las Vegas.

''I think it really is just part of Monster's culture to have fun, to work in a place with yellow, green and purple walls,'' said McGrath. ''That alone lets you know that you are working somewhere that values your workspace.'' The company has not relinquished any perks through the Internet implosion, according to McGrath.

David Lee, principal at HumanNature@work, a human resources consultant and trainer, believes the best companies to work for are those that ''satisfy fundamental needs and create an intrinsically rewarding work experience.'' Charitable work fulfills ''the need to be proud of one's employer and the need for meaning and purpose,'' according to Lee.

But Greene, Ipswitch's president, does believe the firm's charitable reputation has a positive impact on the customer base in the software market. ''It does matter to people who are purchasing technology products.''

Chairman and CEO Malcolm L. Gefter of Praecis Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology firm in Waltham, created one of the most inviting environments in the region for his employees. Gefter's goal was to create a workspace that can add to employees' sense of well-being. ''An attractive place to come, a desirable place to come, as well as a more productive place,'' is how Gefter describes his headquarters building.

Gefter selected a Japanese motif for his entire corporate offices - contrary to the high-tech look of most biotech firms - providing employees with a calm, contemplative environment. That included sculpture, artwork, and landscape - indoor and outdoor - throughout the lab, office and common space. Glass office doors slide, rather than swing, evoking a Japanese screen door. Interior gardens, wooden benches, and mats adorn the building.

Jung/Brannen, the Boston-based architecture firm, developed the project and was specifically chosen by Gefter for its refined expertise in museum exhibit design. Gefter personally selected the artwork throughout the building.

''It has to be a positive force for the company,'' said Gefter. ''It is an amenity that accrues to people who work here.''

Praecis's approach is correct, Lee says. ''It's not about the programs, it's the day-to-day experience that employees have,'' said Lee. ''Are they treated with respect? Are they shown appreciation?''

Watson Wyatt Worldwide has just completed a survey of fringe benefits at 67 large companies in Greater Boston. Some of the interesting perks surveyed included: 12 percent offer pet insurance (9 percent plan to provide it), 29 percent offer on-site massages, 32 percent offer time off for community service, 44 percent offer special rooms for lactating mothers.

The study disclosed that the area's largest companies were not pulling back on fringe perks, despite the economy. But with nearly 40,000 fewer people employed in the Bay State compared to last year, according to the Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training, many failing and shrinking companies have had to cut back on some fringe benefits.

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