Choosing Employee Perks At Your Startup

🔍 Intro

First off, let’s clarify what we mean by “perks.”

We’re not talking about core offerings like health benefits, paid time off, or retirement savings. While those are often (rightfully) referred to as “perks”, here we’re focusing on the extras.

Things like wellness stipends, L&D budgets, commuter subsidies, team events, lunch programs, and all the other fancy “add-ons” with some sort of cash or monetary value attached.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

The majority of employees value cash over any other perk or benefit you can offer them. In general, it goes base salary → cash bonuses → equity/ownership → core benefits (health, time off, etc) → Perks (what we’re chatting about).

If you’re paying below market on base salary, you might wanna skip the fancy perks and instead use that money to bump up employee compensation if possible.

Step 1: Align Perks with Your Org’s Goals & Values

Perks can (and often are) “random”, but we recommend using them as an opportunity to reinforce specific goals or values your organization wants to double down on.

Ie, in an ideal world perks should reinforce the culture you’re trying to build. For example”

• Do you operate in the healthtech sphere? → Offer a tax free health spending account or wellness stipend.
• Want to create a true “learning culture”? → Roll out an professional growth/L&D allowance.
• Value in-person collaboration? → Cover commuting costs, subsidize lunch, or be flexible with start/end times to let folks avoid pesky rush-hour traffic.

Step 2: Ask People What They Actually Care About

Have a case of the ‘ol “analysis paralysis” when deciding between 101 different potential perks? Good news is, you don’t have to guess!

Run a quick pulse survey, open a Slack thread, or bring it up in 1:1s.

🗣️ Questions to ask:

• What perks would actually improve your life?
• What’s one thing we could offer that would make work easier/more enjoyable?
• What’s something a previous company offered that you loved?

This helps to avoid the all-to-often pitfall of dumping time (and money) into rolling out a perk that only 5% of your org uses.

Step 3: Don’t Use Perks to Mask Systemic Problems

Perks are not a fix for poor management, low pay, or burnout.

🚩 Red flags:

• Adding a Slackbot that reminds people to “breathe” when your team is overworked
• Free snacks and “employee appreciation days” in place of real feedback or recognition
• “Unlimited PTO” policies that no one feels safe using

From you: Don’t let perks distract from bigger org problems. Fix your foundation first: pay fairly, clarify expectations, build trust. Then add sprinkles.

Step 4: Keep Admin Time (and Headaches) Low

Perks take time to research, rollout, administer, and keep up and running. Don’t underestimate the time suck.

🟢 Low-lift perks:

• Monthly lifestyle/wellness stipends (e.g., $100/month, reimbursable)
• One-time home office or tech setup allowance
• Annual L&D budgets with flexible vendor choice

🔴 High-lift perks:

• Direct-billed gym memberships across multiple locations
• Daily catered meals (with dietary tracking)
• Complex points-based platforms or internal “perk stores”

⚖️ Rule of thumb: If it takes more time to manage than your team spends actually using it — kill it.

Step 5: Find the Sweet Spot Between Equity and Standardization

There’s no right or wrong approach here. Each have their pros and cons.

🗂️ Standardization: In general, standardizing who gets what will simplify your life and keep things administratively easy. The downside is, you’ll inevitably rollout perks that some won’t want or use.

👥 Equity: On the flip side, some orgs want to take a more customized approach and instead design perks that account for the diversity of their teams. This can be a great way to reach more folks, but it can also make it a bit more difficult to administer.

Find your sweet spot: Flexible stipends or “choose-your-own” budgets often strike the right balance.

Step 6: Comms

Share:

• Why this perk(s) was chosen
• How it works (e.g, reimbursed or prepaid)
• Etc

Whip together a quick Notion page outlining how it works.

Perks can (and will) evolve. Don’t over-engineer them in the early stages if you’re anticipating lots of growth.

Step 7: Track Usage and Reassess Regularly

📊 Don’t “set and forget.” Some questions to keep asking:

• Are people actually using the perks?
• What’s the utilization rate?
• Are there barriers to use (awareness, accessibility, complexity)?
• Is this perk still aligned with our culture and team needs?

A perk that no one uses is, at best, a waste of time (and at worst, a waste of money). Either improve it, promote it, or scrap it.

TL;DR: Your Startup Perk Principles

• Perks ≠ benefits. Focus on the extras with monetary value.
• Salary first. If you're paying below market, prioritize cash over perks.
• Tie to values. Use perks to reinforce culture, not to patch over problems.
• Ask, don’t assume. Design around what your team actually values.
• Keep it simple. Minimize admin, maximize impact.
• Be flexible. Equity beats uniformity — but don’t overcomplicate.
• Track and tweak. Good perks evolve as your company does.

Sprinkles are great. But only if you’ve already baked a solid cupcake.