This article was originally published on CNBC on March 31.
The coronavirus crisis is ushering in a new generation of working from home perks.
- Some staff are getting perks such as free fitness classes, psychotherapy and coaching as they work from home.
- Businesses are setting up virtual pubs, wine tasting and kids’ entertainment packages.
- Companies say they are investing in such benefits to keep people motivated as staff self-isolate.
Working from home certainly has its drawbacks, but some employees have arguably never had it so good.
For many, setting up a home office while in self-isolation can mean sharing desk space with kids, having furry friends participate in conference calls or writing a presentation from an unloved guest bedroom — while working longer days too.
But some companies are now giving staff generous working from home perks, providing home-office budgets, entertainment packages for children, and psychotherapy sessions. One business is even delivering wine to employees for a virtual tasting session over video call, while fitness app ClassPass is providing private online classes to staff from companies such as Lyft and M&C Saatchi.
“We’ve got a real mix of people that work for us, some have got families and live a bit out of London … others are younger and live on their own in smaller flats (apartments). Trying to keep everybody’s spirits up and engaged is really important,” Jamie Williams, managing partner at ad agency Isobel, told CNBC by phone.
Emotional help
Mental wellbeing is a focus of many working from home perks. A survey at software company Salesforce showed that 36% of staff were reporting mental health issues, according to a company blog posted Friday, and it’s hosted top names such as Arianna Huffington, author and physician David Agus and mindfulness expert Jack Kornfield to address staff remotely.
Salesforce director of safety and resilience Stasha Wyskiel had this advice for employees not used to working from home: “Get up, take a shower, make sure you’re making that transition from a sort of Saturday morning into a little bit more of a work day. And we’re just simply asking our employees to show up as much as they can in whatever way they can,” according to an employee video earlier this month.
Having children at home can also cause family clashes, and cybersecurity company Rapid7 has created a “Little Moose” academy for children, including math, science and reading e-learning courses, and is organizing story time over Zoom calls, while medication software company Medisafe sent children’s activity kits out to staff.
At software company Citrix, staffers can do online volunteer work for the Smithsonian Institute, helping it transcribe historical documents and update Wikipedia pages.
For Ewen MacPherson, people director at ad agency group Havas Media Group in the UK, working from home benefits are a way to keep people motivated.
At the company’s U.K. headquarters in London’s Kings Cross regeneration area, Havas’ 2,000 staff are used to being able to access a custom built “wellness lounge,” where they can meditate, relax or sleep. As employees now work from home, the company has created a virtual version, where “Wellness Wednesdays” feature hourly guided mediation and reiki, with some sessions seeing four or five times the usual number of in-person attendees.
It’s not all yoga and mindfulness however. One HR tech company provided staffers with a $250 working from home allowance and a bonus of half a month’s salary plus 20%, while many people are expensing items such as cleaning products and facemasks, according to data from expenses software company AppZen. Its data showed working from home claims increase 3.5 times in a week, with people expensing items such as printers, headphones and HDMI cables.
This article was written by Lucy Handley
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