Free meals are nice, but when it comes to benefits, vacation time and 401(k) contributions are king.
Nearly one in three people ranked vacation policy as the most important benefit outside of healthcare, according to data by Comparably. Workers in the tech industry ranked flex time as equally important, followed next by 401(k) contribution. Workers outside of tech ranked 401(k) contribution first, followed closely by vacation time, then flex time.
Office meals and child care rounded out the bottom for both groups.
Workers in the tech industry ranked vacation time and flex time as their top priorities.
Workers outside of tech ranked 401(k) contribution and vacation time as their top priorities.
On a department level, vacation policy was the top pick for workers in product, design, marketing, operations, customer support, and HR; flex time was the top pick for workers in engineering, finance, legal, and executive roles; and 401(k) contribution was the top pick for workers in admin, business development, IT, and sales.
The results are from an ongoing query by Comparably that includes thousands of workers in and out of the tech industry. The latest reading is as of May 19.
