In order to boost productivity and satisfaction among employees, big companies are known to provide various benefits ranging from free food during works hours and health care coverage, to team building events and kindergarten programs. The perks reflect the line of work and the image a company wants to project and, as a result, they can become an important factor when attracting and keeping employees.
Big companies that want to (or already do) provide employee benefits, can afford to implement in-house programs. However, the same principle does not usually apply to small businesses or startups, which have other, more pressing priorities to deal with (like staying afloat in the early or even late stages). But at the same time, for employees, receiving perks still matters, quite a lot for some, I might add. The middle-ground solution -- offering benefits without initiating costly, in-house programs -- appears to be dedicated services that allow businesses to enroll their employees, to receive perks, and pay a fee for it. Which is what startup AnyPerk provides.
The idea is quite simple. AnyPerk allows businesses to sign up for its perks service, and enroll their employees afterwards. The startup charges a $5 monthly fee per enrolled employee, paid for by the company.
AnyPerk CEO Taro Fukuyama tells me that the startup is currently focused on the US market and, as a result, the provided employee benefits reflect this centered approach (there are no immediate plans for an European expansion). The partner companies range from top local mobile operators like T-Mobile and Verizon to software recruiting services like Resumator.
The perks mostly include discounts (which depend on the partner company) for services and products (that include entertainment, travel, fitness, shopping and food items, among others), but there are also some freebies available to AnyPerk members. The service is designed with a general focus, and does not target a specific type of employee or company.
AnyPerk touts more than $0.9 million in savings and in excess of 2,500 business clients (which include popular companies like Hulu, Pandora, Pinterest, Square and Zappos, among others). Mr Fukuyama also tells me that the startup is seeing continuous growth, having achieved those two numbers during the past year and a half.
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