Today, nearly two decades after the first tech bubble burst, fancy office perks have become ubiquitous in some quarters. Benefits like free lunches and unlimited vacation days are almost pass茅 in Silicon Valley. Kegs in the break room? Big deal. Your office has an indoor playground for adults? Giant slides are so 2011.
But despite the wide-scale adoption of lavish perks at fast-growing businesses, companies still need to attract and maintain talent, and crazy freebies鈥攑articularly of the outdoors variety鈥攁re some of the best ways to stand out. Here are nine of the frothiest, nuttiest active-lifestyle workplace perks we could find.
A Private Amusement Park
Although 鈥渇un office鈥 and 鈥渋nsurance company鈥 rarely appear in the same sentence, Acuity, an insurance firm based in Wisconsin, is trying to upend expectations. The company, which Pay Scale last year, has nearly completed the latest addition to its Sheboygan headquarters: a full-size Ferris wheel. Acuity鈥檚 65-foot-high amusement park ride will serve as a constant reminder that the company 鈥渋s not your typical insurance company,鈥 said CEO Ben Salzmann last year.
The Rat Race
The most off-the-wall perk at the for web hosting giant GoDaddy isn鈥檛 round-the-clock gourmet meals or the big indoor slide. It鈥檚 a set of pedal go-karts and an indoor race track for employees to race one another.
Beautiful Music
Dropbox, the San Francisco鈥揵ased tech firm that stores your extra photos in the cloud, has a famously extensive range of perks for its Bay Area employees. Meals are free, gym discounts are included, and the parental leave is generous. (Until the company cut back earlier this year, Dropbox said it was spending per year on perks.) Still, Dropboxers have access to one of the most creative in-office perks available: . The company鈥檚 music room comes equipped with drums, guitars, keyboards, and more, so employees can pop in to work on their 鈥溾 whenever they please.
Target Practice over Coffee
Missing Link, a South African company that helps corporations create more interesting presentations, calls its employees 鈥渂oredom slayers.鈥 Its offices north of Johannesburg feature a tree house, firefighter鈥檚 pole, and tattoo parlor. But Missing Link鈥檚 killer perk is its onsite shooting range. The fully stocked shooting gallery comes with your choice of rifle or pistol.
Free Roaming
The perks at Airbnb should appeal to any employee who has bought into the company鈥檚 ethos. The startup鈥攙alued at $30 billion or so鈥攇ives each worker a full $2,000 in Airbnb credit to travel the world and stay in any of the company鈥檚 short-term rentals. Each year.
Coast into Work
The tech firms and media companies from London's nearby “Silicon Roundabout”鈥攍ike聽, ,听补苍诲 鈥攖hat have moved into a converted office building in the heart of town share a novel perk for two wheeled commuters: the world鈥檚 first . The striking聽redesign of this nearly 100-year-old art deco office building, which previously housed a bank, includes a built-in bike ramp that leads from the front door all the way down to the secure basement bicycle parking. Employees at startups like HuckleTree, a company that manages co-working spaces, don鈥檛 even have to dismount鈥攖hey just ride in through the front door and wind their way down the spacious ramp. And if cycling鈥檚 not your thing, the building also comes with a rooftop deck and basketball court.
Deep Dives
Oklahoma City鈥揵ased Chesapeake Energy聽incentivizes聽its employees to get outside and stay active. The company鈥檚 campus includes basketball courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a rock wall. But the most surprising perk from this landlocked oil and gas company is probably the subsidized scuba lessons employees can take at a local lake.
Meet the Parents
It鈥檚 a growing problem facing millions of millennials each year: how to explain your job to your parents. 鈥淐hief content ninja鈥 may look cool on a business card, but according to a survey commissioned by LinkedIn, a third of parents today don鈥檛 understand their children鈥檚 jobs. That鈥檚 why the online social network has been hosting an annual for the past four years. The event fosters community, the site says, and employees 鈥渕ight be surprised at just how much [their parents] can relate and the helpful advice they鈥檒l have.鈥
Go on a Cruise
The market for fixing your cracked phone screen is surprisingly robust. iCracked, founded to take advantage of klutzes everywhere, repairs shattered Apple products fast. The startup is based in Redwood City, right on San Francisco Bay, and keeps a surprise moored right outside the office: the company yacht. Employees can cruise the muddy shores of Silicon Valley whenever they please.