You know, things like:
[ul]
[li]Bring in breakfast/lunch for your department[/li][li]Company-logoed clothing[/li][li]Awards to put on your desk[/li][li]Watches[/li][li]Gift cards[/li][li]Extra week of vacation[/li][*]A night with a porn star[/ul]
Usually when people say they get screwed at work, it’s not a good thing.
When I worked, there was precious little. No raises or bonuses ever. No 401K matching. No company-branded merchandise. No lunches. For the first two years I was there, they still had open bar company parties twice a year, which was awesome, and the only fun thing about the place.
At one place I interned, we got unlimited free beer on Fridays. To maintain productivity, we were only allowed 2 bottles before 3pm though.
The reward for good work here is an offer to employ you for an additional year. Sometimes coffee at meetings with higher-ups.
We get paid well, the quality of people is top notch, the company is unfailingly loyal to it’s employees, and there are usually great bonuses (unfortunately not great last year). There are many company social events that include excellent food and drink. Following the weak bonuses last year some expressed dissatisfaction, but everyone I talked to agreed that they wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. Even those who aren’t granted total rights to work from home are allowed that for the least excuse on a frequent basis. We are an international company and the opportunity to travel is available to any who want to take it. A recent survey rated us only second to Google in employee satisfaction. There is very little in the way of office politics and making customer satisfaction your primary concern will gain the greatest recognition and rewards.
Most people are definitely working at the wrong place compared to this one.
ETA: Actually they did fail in their loyalty to an employee in one case, and it still baffles everyone.
So we have a website saying that a Singapore news service claims that a Malaysian newspaper reports “a Chinese company” did this.
Yeah, that sounds like a credible source.
One time, I was awarded Teacher Of The Month. I got an umbrella emblazoned with the local hospital’s logo, a coffee mug, a mani-pedi coupon (never used, I’m a guy), and a massage coupon, also never used, and a $10 gift certificate from a local eatery.
This put me in the running for Teacher of the Year, which I fortunately avoided. That would require videotaping me explaining my personal pedagogy and classroom management routines, videotaping my class for a whole unit, and producing a minute-by-minute detailed lesson plan for said unit. I would have to present these to the school board, as would the other schools’ Teachers of the Year. Teacher of the Year around here is to be avoided unless one is a seriously type A workaholic or maybe just masochistic.
As it happens, this morning I got an automatically-generated E-mail containing a link to a little on-line animation thanking me for 16 years with the company. Only thing is, I’ve got about 25 years with the company.
They pay well, and have very good medical, 401k and discounted stock plans, and that’s the important part as far as I’m concerned. Bits of swag like mugs and shirts turn up from time to time. Don’t really do bonuses, however, at least not at my level.
No medical or dental yet, but we have a masseuse on staff part-time, so we all get a massage a month. Chocolate, coffee, tea… that’s about the size of it right now. We briefly had a bonus plan, but as a small software firm in order to figure yours out it involved calculating logs, and never really worked. 
I heard about the porn star thing, that’s ridiculous! Unless you were thinking of having that here… were you? No, of course not. Ha ha! Ridiculous.
With my company it depends largely on the program you’re in.
Let’s start with general things so. First, we don’t get raises unless you’re management or higher. You get incentive pay. After 3 months, you get an extra quarter an hour if you stay within your scheduled break time. 6 months gets you another quarter. A year gets you a 3rd quarter. Two years gets you 50 cents, and 3 years nets you a dollar. You get nothing beyond that.
We just recently got direct deposit. Like back in August.
After you work 1000 hours, you’re eligible for 401k. The company will match your contributions, up to $250 total the first year. $500 the second year. $1000 the third.
If you work there for a year, you get a pen. If you have perfect attendance for a year, you get a certificate that says you did so.
Now for my program. I take chat conversations to help small business owners determine what version of QuickBooks will best suit their needs. If I get a lead pass (where I schedule someone to contact the customer to discuss online services, hosted services, or regular product with attached services) I get a bite sized candy bar. If I get a confirmed sale, I get to pick a number where I can win a full sized candy bar, a soft drink (usually out of date), or a dress down coupon that allows me to wear jeans and sneakers to work. We’re supposed to get additional incentives for lead passes and sales, but it is nearly a month into the program and no word on those yet except they’re working on it.
If we do outstanding work and get a really good survey from the customer, we get things like a fleece blanket, jacket, fruit infuser water bottle, etc. Intuit sometimes sends us things as well, like polo shirts, hats, etc.
Promotions are handled bass ackwards. The floor head sends out an email asking is there any interest in a potential position. You hand in your resume if you are. They access the resumes, if there appears to be likely candidates, they do interviews. When they have a likely group of people chosen for the position, they send word to the building lead. If he oks the position, word gets booted up to corp. If they ok the position, a second round of interviews begin. They pick a person, train them, and go on for there. Now, if the program ends, people get transferred to other departments/programs, from seniority down. If you just got a promotion to team lead on a program that ends and after those with seniority take up available team lead spots, you’re given the choice of going back on the sales floor, losing your benefits and pay as a team lead, or resigning and finding a new job.
I’ve been there almost a year, and seen 4 such promotions offered. Out of those 4, 1 actually went through. 2 went through, but then were taken away due to the program needs shrinking. One never got to the point of full approval.
A couple of weeks ago we had a new woman start working with us. Yesterday I was talking to our boss, who is a friend of the new starter, and I asked her how friend was finding it.
Apparently she loves working with happy people who take every opportunity to teach her stuff and take her out to drink too much at the end of the week.
My company has decent medical and dental, and a decent 401K match. Notice I said decent, as I’ve had better at previous companies.
One kind of nice perk though, is that they buy my monthly transit pass. I do have to agree to give up my parking garage access, but that’s no biggie, I’d rather not drive anyway. It’s not that the company is trying to be green or anything, it’s just that we have an undersized parking garage, and they need some of us to not drive for space reasons.
I live in the 'burbs, and the commuter bus service monthly pass is $90.
When the vending machine guy comes in to pull the expired bags of Doritos, he leaves them on a table in the lunch room. For free!
A free thermometer.
Sex with the boss.
Other people call it masturbation, but I like to think of it as a perk of being self employed.
Some people are talking about medical/retirement benefits, but these are not rewards;/ these are formal, expected components of your compensation.
In reading the OP, “rewards” sounds like unofficial or random perks that management tosses to employees from time to time as a morale booster. Free donuts on a random Friday morning, maybe sending folks home an hour early some other day, that sort of thing.
As a federal government employee, these things are pretty scarce. My manager pays for a Christmas luncheon for his group out of his own pocket, which is pretty generous. We typically get to go home a couple of hours early before major holidays (Christmas, New Year’s eve, Thanksgiving, etc.). Other than that…you are just expected to enjoy the (relative) security of government employement.
My SO and I both work with children, pay is shit and the places we work for will sometimes give us a crappy pen. But… we get the children’s love letters. WIN! 
My SO just got a medal with a heart with his name written in the heart. Pretty sweet. I have some very nice letters, some with spelling that almost approaches legible, most with an abundance of hearts. I have an assortment of plaited bracelets, of which I am very proud. Together we have amassed some rather nice artwork too, some of which is proudly displayed. One is a portrait of me, only with red hair. You can tell it’s me, cuz it’s pretty.
Yeah, sorry guys, but we win. 
[quote=“Spiderman, post:1, topic:679028”]
You know, things like:
[ul]
[li]Bring in breakfast/lunch for your department[/li][li]Company-logoed clothing[/li][li]Awards to put on your desk[/li][li]Watches[/li][li]Gift cards[/li][li]Extra week of vacation[/li][li]A night with a porn star[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
Pfft…I work for the government–I get all those monthly AND a company unicorned pegasus to fly to work
Hmmm…my boss took us (15) out for pizza buffet last week.
Apart from that, we don’t even get free coffee.
Where my fiance works, on the other hand…the company provides not only free coffee and soft drinks, but also personalized covered mugs and insulated cold drink cups. I could list about 20 other things that they ‘get’ on top of that.