On-demand car service Uber announced a new perks program that can instantly make a company cooler to work for. If you want to be able to provide transportation as a perk or benefit for your employees, Uber has the solution for you.
The program allows companies to dole out “Uber credits” to employees and requires no long-term commitment, it’s just a month-to-month thing. The program promises to scale no matter how many people you have or where they live, as long as it’s an area serviced by Uber. Companies like Exec and Taskrabbit have similar programs, which allow employers to help control the amount of time that their employees spend running errands, thus making their company run more smoothly and giving the employee piece of mind.
Many larger companies have started providing transportation for its employees, especially for those who work in Mountain View, Menlo Park and Palo Alto, but live in downtown San Francisco. This is definitely cheaper for smaller companies than running buses all the time.
StumbleUpon has been providing this as a perk for employees for some time, which makes sense given Garrett Camp’s involvement with Uber.
The Uber Perks page explains how easy it is to get started, letting you add and remove employees whenever you like. Do things like this make the difference when it comes to recruiting? You’d be surprised, because people definitely want to feel comfortable in their working environment. This is why you find startups with ping-pong tables and cool perks like daily lunches and dinners, because it shows that they care.
It will be interesting to see which companies try it out. In fact, if your company does, drop a note in the comments and tell us how it goes.