“Keep the Pizza, Give Me a Raise”: The Rise of the Workplace Anti-Perk

Anti-perks are workplace benefits that sound appealing on paper, but in reality, often act as a diversion from what employees actually want (or even have negative side effects).

Most people enjoy perks like free snacks and office gyms, but sometimes, these benefits are designed to compensate for or distract from issues the company itself created.

For example, while most people enjoy pizza parties, one isn’t a substitute for a raise. Similarly, while a nap pod can be a legitimate tool for employee wellness, it becomes an “anti-perk” if it is used to help staff manage burnout from an unsustainable workload that’s not otherwise addressed.

The disconnect between company perks and employee satisfaction has made anti-perks a frequent target of online criticism, especially in worker communities like the r/recruitinghell subreddit, where this meme was posted:

Perks themselves are rarely bad things, but some are labeled “anti-perks” due to the gap between their intended benefit and their actual impact on employees.

The perks that are often subject to this criticism include:

1. On-site amenities

Perks like gyms and laundry services can make employees’ lives easier. However, they can also subtly encourage people to spend more time working, at the cost of their work-life balance.

“Bringing aspects of the non-work environment into the workplace cements the notion that work is an integral part of your life, including your leisure time and personal play time,” Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, professor of business psychology at University College London, told Wired.

When everything you need is in the office, leaving can become inconvenient. The result is a culture where work expands to fill more of your day, which can ultimately lead to burnout.

“In effect, it’s creating a comfortable workplace for people to work themselves to death,” Silicon Valley–based consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang told the BBC.

2. Unlimited paid time off (PTO)

Having unlimited PTO can theoretically help employees improve their work-life balance by allowing them to take as much time off as they need, so long as it doesn’t impact their output.

However, an unlimited PTO policy can actually create more stress and anxiety about taking vacation time. The data shows that without clear guidelines on PTO, employees actually take less time off than those with a set number of days. This is due to a “fear of overstepping or losing an edge to those who stay in the office,” according to Bloomberg.

This model can also cause employees to lose out financially. Unlike traditional PTO plans where unused vacation days are sometimes paid out (e.g., at the end of the year), the unlimited PTO model offers no such benefit. As explained in one HR Brew article, “There are no hours earned, and therefore no balances to carry over or pay out.”

3. Free meals (e.g., pizza parties)

Free food is always nice, but sometimes, companies offer meals in place of financial incentives that most employees would prefer, sometimes as a deliberate tactic to avoid paying more.

“A pizza lunch costs a few hundred dollars,” said James McGovern, Chief Technology Officer at Stealth AI Startup. He noted that this kind of perk is much cheaper (and logistically easier) to offer than raises, bonuses, or expanded benefits.

For this reason, some employees actually resent free meals. Research from Western Michigan University shows that people often perceive these gestures as “childlike” or “infantilizing.”

4. Remote flexibility (with surveillance)

Remote work is designed to give employees back their time by eliminating their commutes and allowing for a more comfortable work environment.

Some companies intrude on this flexibility by surveilling their employees using “bossware” tools like Teramind, Hubstaff, ActivTrak, and InterGuard to monitor their keystrokes, application use, and screen activity.

Being constantly surveilled stresses employees out and negatively affects their sense of autonomy, said Karen Levy, an associate professor at Cornell University. She said that “managers who over-monitor workers” may “see people leave for workplaces where they feel more respected.”

The irony is that surveillance often backfires on employers, too.

A growing body of research suggests that monitored employees have lower morale. They are more likely to “take unapproved breaks, disregard instructions, damage workplace property, steal office equipment, and purposefully work at a slow pace,” according to David Welsh, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at Arizona State University.

5. After-work teambuilding events

Many companies adopt a “work hard, play hard” philosophy to create an environment where the team is committed to their goals and celebrates their wins together.

Nothing’s wrong with getting along with coworkers both in and outside of work, but the phrase has become a warning sign in the workforce. It ranked number 7 on a 2023 list of 15 red flags that job seekers watch out for.

In practice, it often translates into long hours followed by social obligations that extend the workday.

“Work yourself to juuuust before a heart attack,” wrote one Redditor, “and then get blackout drunk to forget that feeling and do it again tomorrow.”

This approach isn’t conducive to long-term employee retention. One article from the Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML), a training and development organization, characterized it as “a recipe for burnout, disengagement, and a toxic work culture that ultimately harms the humans that work within it.”

6. Open office layouts

Companies who advertise open offices sometimes cite them as spaces that encourage employees to engage more with each other and be more creative. In reality, these layouts can affect employees’ productivity with constant noise and distractions.

Some research has even found that employees in open-concept offices are significantly more likely to experience bullying than those in more private offices.

Open layouts are also problematic for those who have certain sensitivities (e.g., those allergic to cologne and perfume).

For those with misophonia—a disorder that causes decreased tolerance to sounds like chewing—open offices can be unbearable. One worker shared on Reddit that they were forced to leave work at lunchtime because their coworker’s gum-chewing became such a discomforting trigger that they could not remain in the office.

At best, anti-perks are a mild annoyance. At worst, they serve as superficial band-aids for systemic issues by offering the appearance of a good workplace culture while failing to address real issues that damage employees’ well-being (e.g., wage stagnation, burnout, and micromanagement).

According to Employment Benefit News, these benefits may create short-term morale boosts, but they don’t address what actually drives retention.

The perks that most workers actually look for include:

• Fair compensation
• Autonomy
• Manageable workloads
• Respect for their personal time

Annie Rosencrans, the Director of People and Culture at the people management platform HiBob, believes that employee engagement goes far beyond perks and is based on employees’ sense of purpose, belonging, and growth.

Rosencrans told Forbes, “Organizations need to focus on authentic connections, transparent communication, and opportunities for development to keep employees motivated.”

Real perks don’t encroach on employees’ work-life balance and instead improve their financial security and job satisfaction. Here are a few examples:

1. Mandatory minimum PTO

To solve the unlimited PTO trap, some companies are moving toward mandatory minimums, which force employees to take a certain number of days off per year.

Chris Finney, a trial lawyer at Finney Injury Law, shared the story of his firm’s successful pivot from an unlimited PTO policy to a mandatory minimum of at least 10 days off per year.

A year after implementing the policy, he reported that productivity and morale remained high and attributed the success to a culture that treats employees like adults and trusts them to manage their own schedules and responsibilities.

“We also have not noticed any downturn in productivity or in morale,” Finney said. “So we will continue this journey with our mandatory minimum PTO. If you’re considering a shift in your policy, we’ve been happy with ours.”

2. Asynchronous work options

Asynchronous or async work is a work model where team members collaborate and complete tasks on their own schedules without needing to be online at the same time. This allows employees to work during their most productive hours, even if those aren’t during the standard 9-to-5 window.

As explained in one article by Corporate Rebels, an organization that researches management practices, asynchronous work cuts down on unnecessary meetings and interruptions, which can:

• Increase productivity and focus
• Lead to better time management
• Improve team communication
• Enhance work-life balance
• Eliminate micromanagement

It might not be the best model in industries that require heavy collaboration or face-to-face interactions (e.g., healthcare, customer service, or live entertainment). However, those who work in fields like marketing and graphic design have mostly positive things to say about it.

“I can send out photo editing and retouching to a guy I work with on the other side of the planet at the end of my day,” said one Redditor. “The finished edits are ready for me the next morning.”

3. Stipends for personal growth and hobbies

Some companies offer a yearly budget for learning, whether that means taking pottery classes, training for a marathon, or signing up for a language course.

In 2025, Business Insider reported that Deloitte allowed its US employees a $1,000 wellbeing stipend, which they could use on items like puzzles and Legos. Under one post on the r/Deloitte subreddit, employees reported spending it on everything from baby care products to spa services to language lessons.

4. Transparent compensation and “no-hoop” bonuses

If a company offers financial perks, then the payout shouldn’t be hard to calculate. This includes having transparent salary bands (well-defined ranges of compensation for roles or job levels), profit-sharing models where the formula is clear to everyone, and bonuses that aren’t tied to impossible-to-reach goals.

When an employee knows exactly how to earn more money, they tend to feel more of a sense of agency over their output and rewards.

Many companies themselves agree that transparency benefits them.

“Having a transparent system in place can help you avoid tensions between employees who may size up their rewards against those of their coworkers,” wrote Megan Werner, an editorial staff writer for JP Morgan.

5. Location-agnostic pay

Location-agnostic pay is a compensation model where companies pay employees the same salary for the same role, regardless of where they live or work. It ignores local cost-of-living differences and bases pay on high-cost hub standards (e.g., San Francisco or New York City). Some companies use it to attract top talent and boost retention.

It also helps to combat the perceived unfairness of localized pay, where employees feel they are penalized for living in more affordable areas despite delivering the same output as their high-cost-of-living counterparts.

This frustration is especially evident when there’s the belief that cost-of-living averages are miscalculated, such as in this Reddit post:

It’s worth noting that while this arrangement can be fairer for some employees, it’s not a given that everyone will like it, as people in high-cost-of-living areas may feel like they’re losing out.

The best time to identify an anti-perk is before you sign the offer letter. To cut through the fluff, try asking about:

• Unlimited PTO: Ask about the average number of days the team you’re joining normally takes off. If your interviewer can’t give you an answer or says they don’t track it, it might suggest this is a workplace where “unlimited” PTO isn’t quite as unlimited as you’d think.
• Remote surveillance: This can be tricky to address directly, since asking your interviewer if the company uses “bossware” to spy on employees can make you seem like you intend to slack off. One user on the AskAManager advice blog advised job seekers to wait until after they have a firm offer to ask what software the IT department uses on company-issued hardware.
• Social events: If your company frames after-hours events as benefits, ask whether attendance is expected and roughly what percentage of the team usually shows up to each one.
• Wellness benefits: Ask how employees use these benefits, and whether their workloads allow for it.

The best perk a company can offer is a job that pays fairly and respects your time, so ask questions that get to the heart of what’s important to you.