Top News

The workplace has changed monumentally in the last five years, let alone the last 25, and many of us would probably agree that it’s mostly changed for the worse. One CEO agrees and says the solution might just lie in office perks from 25 years ago that need to make a comeback.

These six perks feel almost shockingly progressive by today’s standards, when total burnout is pretty much just par for the course at any job these days. But they all address workplace problems that never left us, even after these perks went out of fashion. If anything, they’ve only gotten worse. CEO Eric Carrell says that to fix the present-day workplace issues, bosses need to look back to the 2000s, which he remembers as a sort of golden age of the American workplace.

“At the time, these weren’t seen as radical,” he says, “they were just benefits.” But today, with widespread burnout and a cross-generational workforce that is wrestling with questions about what the actual point of work even is anymore, well, as he puts it, “they look like something closer to wisdom.” And maybe downright revolutionary.

1. On-site childcare

It may sound insane to us today, but there was a time when employer-provided or -sponsored childcare was a job amenity that was becoming increasingly common. Often it was in the form of a company stipend, but many large employers also had their own daycares right inside the building.

This sounds almost laughable nowadays, and the average working parent is shelling out $1,300 per month per child for childcare, and many are paying far more, which has had adverse impacts on everything from birth rates to turnover at employers.

Carrell says this is a no-brainer. “When parents aren’t spending the first hour of their workday managing childcare arrangements, they’re more focused, more present, and more loyal. It’s a benefit that pays for itself in retention alone.”

: Young People Are Confused By What Boomer Office Workers Did All Day Before Computers & Cell Phones

2. Sabbaticals after long service

New Africa | Shutterstock

Imagine having the ability to take several months or even a year off from work, totally paid, to pursue a passion or deal with a sick parent. That used to be a fairly standard benefit at one time for those who had a long tenure, typically five or ten years of service at a single company.

Of course, these days, it doesn’t seem like any company gives a rip if people stick around, and businesses’ focus has shifted almost exclusively to short-term profits, not long-term investment. This has, of course, led to widespread burnout among workers: One Gallup poll found 76% of us are burned out, in fact.

Having the option of a sabbatical would alleviate this for workers AND employers. “[It] gives people a genuine reset,” Carrell says. “You get them back recharged, and you signal to everyone else that longevity is actually valued here.”

3. Compressed workweeks

Jelena Zelen | Shutterstock

This one certainly wasn’t the norm, but being allowed to do five days of work over four longer days wasn’t unheard of a couple of decades ago. But like most perks, this one went by the wayside, despite the preponderance of research showing that such schemes can actually improve productivity, just like all those pandemic-era hybrid schemes that have been clawed back recently.

A large-scale UK trial, for example, found that companies operating a four-day workweek reported no loss in productivity but significant improvements in employee well-being. “A compressed workweek forces you to be intentional about how time is used,” says Carrell. “And evidence shows that it’s not a threat to productivity.”

: People Over 40 Need This Many Days Off Work A Week To Be Good At Their Job, Says Study

4. True ‘offline’ culture

Unless you were a super high-level executive, the expectation that you be available after normal working hours was virtually unheard of 25 years ago. That was mainly due to the fact that technology allowing you to do so barely existed back then. But the extent to which boundaries between work and the rest of our lives have collapsed since then is downright alarming.

A 2023 survey found that more than half of workers check work messages outside working hours, and many say it has a negative impact on their lives. That isn’t fair or reasonable, and it would have been considered shocking a quarter century ago. Carrell says reviving this work-life separation is key to “building cultures where people want to stay.”

5. Long-term skill sponsorship

Drazen Zigic | Shutterstock

Perks like tuition reimbursement and multi-year development programs used to be pretty standard, and were seen as an investment in the staff’s abilities. Now? They’re basically a thing of the past, and seeking new learning opportunities is a frequently cited reason for leaving a job. That, Carrell says, is an unnecessary retention hurdle that employers would do well to rectify. 

“When you sponsor someone’s growth over a two or three-year horizon, you’re telling them you’re planning for a future that includes them,” he says. “That means something.”

6. Defined career ladders

At this point, this sounds like another language. AI is eating up entry-level positions, and many boomers are refusing to retire, leaving mid-level workers unable to progress. Many companies have flattened their structures and kept things intentionally vague. This, too, is a key retention issue. 

“People need a map,” Carrell says. “When someone can see a credible path forward, they invest in it. When they can’t, they start looking elsewhere.”

Roll it all together, and these six issues have created a workforce “asking whether the trade-off is worth it,” in Carrell’s words, adding that “many of the trendy perks companies lean on today, like free snacks, ping-pong tables, wellness apps, don’t actually address any of those problems… We should be asking what actually worked, and why we stopped doing it.”

: Lawyer Warns Employees Against Accepting This Perk At A Job If It’s Presented As An Option

John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.