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Working from hammock? Employers are becoming more flexible.
Working from hammock? Some employers are becoming more flexible. Photograph: EyesWideOpen/Getty Images
Working from hammock? Some employers are becoming more flexible. Photograph: EyesWideOpen/Getty Images

A four-day week? Pick your pay? The bosses fighting to lure workers with the perfect job

This article is more than 1 year old

From Netflix to Kickstarter, some firms are pulling out all the stops to find new recruits – and hang on to existing staff

Name: The perfect job.

Age: As a dream, as old as paid work.

Appearance: Like regular employment, but perfect.

Hammock tester. Sorry?

That’s my perfect job. I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a hammock tester. I was talking more in terms of a personalised working schedule and a tailored salary package.

Listen, as long as I can lie in a hammock all day, they can pay me in packing peanuts. I’m not sure you understand the concept of the perfect job.

I was about to say the same thing about you. Wouldn’t you like to choose how much remuneration you take in salary, how much in benefits and how much in company equity?

Is that a trick question? No, it’s called customised compensation and it’s big in the US. Employers including Netflix have been doing it for a long time and now it’s trickling down to smaller companies.

I decide how I get paid? Exactly. Some firms even let you convert unused holiday into money towards a retirement plan or student loan repayments.

I don’t understand why they’re offering me a choice, unless they’re trying to rip me off. To stay competitive. Besides, different employees have different needs.

Which is better, cash or equity? That depends on the company, the economy and you. “A year ago you’d see employees coming in, especially those from the coasts, wanting more equity,” one CEO told the Wall Street Journal. “Now they want more financial security and are choosing cash.”

What else can I get? Hybrid working – choose when and how often you come into the office.

I already have that, but I don’t choose. It just depends on when the rail strikes are. What about a four-day week? In Australia, several corporations are making plans to reduce the working week by 20% this year.

If it amounts to less work for the same money, then yes please. Well, Kickstarter, which is trialling a four-day week, says its employees have been more productive since the pilot began.

Sounds awfully like they’re actually doing more work. Another rip-off! Even if they are, that’s not the point – the workers are less stressed, more energised and more engaged.

Why does this sort of thing seem to be happening only outside the UK? Perhaps it’s because we’re too busy sliding into a giant recession.

Oh yeah. I’m sorry that none of this applies to you.

Do say: “Fridays off? I guess I’ll have to start calling in sick on Thursdays.”

Don’t say: “How would you like to receive your real-terms pay cut?”

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