"atmospheric" benefits, a la Ms. Otto's challenge

["Cummings, Elizabeth" <CummEl -at- ncs -dot- com>]

On a serious note, I know of one based on a study I ran across somewhere,
some months ago:

Companies that extend health and/or education benefits to only the employee.
Companies that extend health and/or education benefits to the employee and
his or her spouse.
Companies that extend health and/or education benefits to the employee and
his or her significant other, only in the case of an opposite-gender
partner.
Companies that extend health and/or education benefits to the employee and
his or her significant other, only in the case of a same-gender partner.
Companies that extend health and/or education benefits to the employee and
his or her significant other, in both the case of an opposite-gender partner
and the case of a same-gender partner (I suspect you shouldn't read this as
a significant-other spin on polygamy (-;  ).

Children figure some of these options, too.

In most cases of significant other benefits extension, the company requires
the employee to furnish some sort of proof that the couple has lived
together for X-many months, shares a lease, has put one another as the
beneficiary, intends to hang on to the dying day, and so on and so forth.  I
understand this need of proof to a degree, but I find interesting the fact
that, at least in this study, no company had a married employee furnish
proof that he or she was married.  Interesting, too, in view of the latest
figure on the divorce rate, which, if correct, is that 3 in 4 of married
couples divorce.

The most disturbing information I came across in this study was a company
that, in the case of "Companies that extend health and/or education benefits
to the employee and his or her significant other, only in the case of a
same-gender partner", had its employee furnish proof that each partner was
"mentally competent".

Progress works in mysterious ways.

--Elizabeth Cummings
Technical Writer

-----Original Message-----
From: karen_otto -at- agilent -dot- com [mailto:karen_otto -at- agilent -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 11:50 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: "atmospheric" benefits


Now that we've seen how common these benefits are, it would be neat to hear
about ideas for UNCOMMON benefits that could be real breakthroughs in
company loyalty.

Any imaginative folks out there? :-)

karen

- pets in office
- lunch delivery from local restaurants (even if I pay)
- concierge service

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