The real ‘benefits’ of employment
A job description should always indicate the salary or range.
However, a cursory glance at Job Boards suggests this only happens less than 50% of the time. Probably less than 30% on a lot of job boards.
On the other hand, job descriptions are choc-full of all sorts of other ‘benefits’. If a job description does not include the salary or range, but includes lots of other ‘benefits’, you should know how to interpret them.
And you should still ask (early) what the salary / range is.
Once you have put a value to the other ‘benefits’, as if you had to pay for them yourself, then you’ll know what the role is actually worth – to you, not to anyone else.
Read on for some thoughts about the various job ‘benefits’ currently listed in various posts advertised…
- Annual leave.
- Pension contribution.
- Subsidy / time off for professional training.
- Illness Benefit.
- Ability to ‘buy’ more time off.
- Fresh fruit, unlimited snacks, tea / coffee.
- Free / subsidised meals onsite / from partners.
- Bike to work scheme / Annual travel card discount.
- Staff Discounts from partners.
- Wellbeing program & free App subscription.
- Nap / wellbeing room at the office.
- Gym / digital gym membership
- Medical and dental insurance
- Annual day off for charitable work
- Gift hamper for your birthday
- Unlimited access to a learning platform
- Work from home budget for equipment
- After work social activities
- Paid overtime available.
- Performance bonus.
- Parental leave.
- Bereavement leave.
- Mental Health days.
- Pyjama days.
- Birthday day off.
Annual leave.
This is often one of the first entries in a list of benefits, and warrants proper attention. Annual leave is a legal entitlement in many countries and / or according to a wide variety of collective bargaining agreements. In Italy, for example, Annual Leave is defined in collective bargaining agreements as an factor of the ‘job level’ and it cannot be reduced – even if the employee is willing to accept a reduction (for some odd reason!).
The real question is: how many days above the minimum is the employer citing as a ‘benefit’? If none, then it is not a benefit, it is an entitlement. If an employer is pitching an entitlement as a benefit, this alone should be enough to raise a concern. It’s basically saying “We will give you what you are legally entitled to, and nothing more”
If there are extra days offered, you can easily figure out what they are worth (to you, after tax). As a rough guide, the average working year is something like 260 days (52 weeks * 5 days) minus any Public Holidays etc. Even assuming the maximum 260 days, then the difference between 20 days Annual Leave and 30 days Annual Leave is (obviously) 10 days, which sounds great.
But, in pure cash terms, an extra 10 days is worth 10/260 (or 1/26) of your annual pay.
And you will pay tax on that.
So, let’s work out an example…
In Ireland, the annual legal entitlement to Annual Leave is 20 days. An offer that includes 25 days instead of the minimum 20 days, in a role worth €50,000 / annum, would be worth just under €1,000 per annum, calculated as [(25 – 20) * (50,000/260)]. Not to be sneezed at, but it means some other role offering only €51,000 with 25 days Annual Leave is actually better, financially and in terms of flexibility.
Also, just as an aside, figure out if you are likely to (or be able to!) take that time off and, if not, will you get the money instead for unused days off. Most Employment contracts allow employees to carry days forward to use in the following year – but they are often limited. My most recent contract allowed up to 5 days to be carried forward, but they had to be used within the first month of the next year.
Pension contribution.
To figure out what this is worth, you first need to know what percentage it is and whether it is ‘matching’.
An employer that pays 5% into a pot, regardless of your own contributions, ultimately means a 5% ‘bonus’ that you can use when you retire.
However, “5% matching” means they’ll put in whatever you put in, up to 5%. It’s a great benefit if you plan to save into a pension yourself but, if you don’t, then it’s worth nothing.
It’s also worth noting that most employers will claw that contribution back if you leave within a defined period (often multiple years).
To ‘value’ this benefit, figure out what the % contribution means in cash terms but without deducting income tax (as most Pension legislation allows contributions to be tax free for most people). Simply multiply your annual salary by the percentage contribution – that is the ‘bonus’ you will get at retirement, assuming you stay long enough to get past the clawback period. Of course, it is a valuable benefit, but its value is dependent on how you view the role & pensions in general.
Alternatively, if the employer’s contribution is “matching”, then you first need to identify the amount that you will contribute to your Pension. Whatever amount this is, then the ‘bonus’ on retirement will be equal to this but with an upper limit as stated in the contract. If you’re not planning to contribute to a Pension (or you already do, elsewhere) then this value is zero.
Subsidy / time off for professional training.
This might sound like a great benefit, but you need to ask yourself if you will actually use it.
Do you plan to do a Degree, an MBA, a Masters or some form of Professional Certification any time soon? If so, then consider this like tax free cash, because the Company will most likely pay the fees directly (and they’ll get a tax benefit for doing so).
Bear in mind you will also need to be able to take the time to do the training etc. In reality, in some (most?) places, this usually means finding time in your spare time or between other work commitments. It rarely means actual time off, but it can. I know people who were given time off to attend classes per week for many months – so it is worth asking.
If an Organisation is willing to pay for your upskilling, and is willing to give time off for your studies, this certainly has value. In crude terms, assuming you would have done the study anyway, the value is the cost of the training (to you) and the value of the days off.
For example, a former colleague was given one day off (paid) per week for 12 months to do a Masters in Data Analytics for Artificial Intelligence. The cost of the Course was something like €6,000 and the value of the 45+ days off was something like €15,000. That is definitely a significant benefit – but this sticks in my mind as it was such a rare occurrence.
The message: ask, don’t assume – especially about the (paid?) time off.
Sick Pay
Sick Pay is paid when you can’t work because of illness. There are a variety of different types of sick pay but the one that Employers usually refer to as a benefit is basically time off when you have to take a couple off days because you’re ill.
In Ireland, employees are legally entitled to up to 5 days Sick Pay per annum (this will rise to 10 days by 2026). The rate of pay is very low – but it is not zero. So, if an Employer in Ireland includes (for example) “5 days sick pay” in their ‘benefits’, they’re basically saying you will get what you’re legally entitled to, and the Government will cover the cost, not the Employer.
However, if the Employer pays “5 days sick pay at full salary”, then it is worth one week of your gross salary, minus €500 (which is the amount the Government contributes).
Having said all that, I wouldn’t recommend asking how many sick days you can use and how much you’ll get paid for them, during the interview stage! Just bear in mind that it is probably not worth very much in actual cash terms. In Ireland, it is probably worth €500 per annum (i.e. €1,000 for a week on full pay, minus the €500 you would get from the Government anyway). And this, of course, assumes you are actually sick – you will need to provide a medical certification.
Ability to ‘buy’ more time off.
Put in simple terms, this is pointless (in my opinion, of course). It basically means you can pay to have additional annual leave. However, this means it is no different than unpaid leave.
In other words, you can put some money aside in advance to get that money back when you take time off in the future. Or you could simply put the money aside yourself. Or you could just not pay in advance and take that time off unpaid.
It’s worth noting that some organisation state that they do not permit unpaid leave. In my view, this is a matter for debate. Refusal to permit unpaid leave is basically a clash of authority (and could be argued to be illegal): the question becomes “Will I get fired if I take time off unpaid?”. In such cases, most employees will simply ‘go sick’. I’m not recommending that course of action, of course, just making the point!
Sure, it is nice to know that you can have 7 weeks to go on safari if you want, without having to worry about the Manager complaining about you taking unauthorised leave… but how likely is that?
Also, you will almost certainly need to get approval for any time off anyway, and many Organisations have policies in place to prevent people going missing for months at a time.
So, whether is it unpaid additional leave, or you paid for it and then took the time off and basically got your money back as ‘holiday pay’, it really is of almost no cash value to most people in most roles. I can’t think of any practical way in which this ‘benefit’ has any monetary value.
But it fleshes out a job advert and presumably it looks good. Especially if the Recruiter doesn’t include the salary.
Fresh fruit, unlimited snacks, tea / coffee.
First, this is only when you’re in the office. Not many employers will send tea, coffee, fruit or snacks to your home if you’re working remote!
For me, this is a maths problem. I drink maybe 4 coffees in work per day. If I had to buy them in a coffee shop, it might be €12 or €15 a day. If I work 230 days a year (for example), then that’s worth in the region of €2500 to €3500 for me.
However, in reality I would not buy that many coffees. I’d actually buy a coffee machine for the office (and have done in the past, more than once) and bring in my own coffee pods to work. They cost about 40c per pod. So ‘free coffee’ in work, for me, is worth something like €800 a year. That’s if I work in the office all the time. If I’m 40% at home, then that €800 value becomes €480 per year.
And that’s assuming I even like the coffee they supply (which is certainly not guaranteed!).
And I don’t eat fruit if I can avoid it, but – if I did – I would use the same maths: what will it actually save me if I didn’t have to buy my own fruit 60% of the working week? This starts with asking ‘how much fruit do I actually consume now?’. Maybe 2 snacks / pieces of fruit a day, for maybe 150 office days a year, worth maybe €450 a year. If I decide to suddenly like fruit.
Of course, you can do your own maths with your own fruit & snacks, tea & coffee preferences & prices.
Free / subsidised meals onsite / from partners.
The same maths applies. If you multiply the average cost – to you – of your current workday meal (i.e. the one that the free meal will replace) by the number of days you will use it, that’s what it’s worth annually. You should not look at the average cost of the meals in the canteen, or whatever. You should calculate based on what you currently spend.
For example, if you make a sandwich or hot meal at home and bring it to work, it’s probably costing you very little. If you buy the equivalent in the local Deli or Convenience Store, it will be much more. Work out (from experience) what are you most likely to do, average out the price per meal and multiply that by how many days you’ll be in the office. That’s what this benefit is worth to you in cash terms.
For me, that might be (for example): €5 per lunch * 150 days in office = €750 per year. But that’s because I don’t bring in my own lunch. If you do, the value of even a ‘free meal’ will be negligible. Subsidised canteens will probably be worth nothing in real terms.
Bike to work scheme / Annual travel card discount.
In many countries, these are legally mandated entitlements. You might get tax incentives for buying an annual commuter / public transport ticket. Or you might get a tax incentive if you buy a bike & equipment to (allegedly!) cycle to work.
However, these cost your employer nothing. Ultimately, these benefits are paid for by Governments, as a method to encourage reduced car use. They basically allow (or require) employers to pay for – or refund – some or all of the cost of the benefit and then reclaim their outlay in tax rebates.
There are variations of these schemes but ultimately any saving you get (in your taxes) assumes that you earn enough to pay tax (obviously). Also, it is your money or the government’s money anyway. Is there any cash benefit to you if this is arranged via your employment? Probably not (I’m pretty sure the same benefits can be achieved buying directly). However, there is at least some convenience in doing it this way – just don’t conflate convenience with cash!
Whenever I see these ‘benefits’ advertised in a job description, it is a red flag for me. It suggests they are included to ‘flesh out’ a weak package.
But maybe that’s just the cynic in me.
Staff Discounts from partners.
Not only do these cost Employers nothing, in some cases the providers (e.g. a discount coupon platform or individual vendors & service providers) actually pay the employer for ‘access’ to the staff members, especially large employers. In one of my previous engagements, vendors had to submit an application with a very high ‘application fee’ to get access to the tens of thousands of employees on the corporate portal.
But let’s assume that this is a benefit. To figure out the relative value (to you), you really need to know what benefits are available (which, of course, you won’t at the interview stage), whether they apply to you, and whether or not you will actually use them (e.g. if you even remember to!).
In addition, you need to know whether those discounts are similar to discounts offered all over the internet to Joe & Josephine Public. If they are, then there is no real ‘benefit’ here or, if there is, it has no real monetary value. In fact, in some cases, the discounted prices are actually worse that you will find on aggregator websites elsewhere (e.g. Groupon).
To be fair, though, very occasionally you might get lucky with a good discount (a former colleague got 15% off a new car… but how often will that happen?).
On the other hand, if you get discounted flights or hotels and you like to travel a lot, there might be some value in there. You just have to work out whether those discounts will be better than any Internet comparison website.
Maybe they will – but probably not by much.
Wellbeing program & free App subscription.
Whenever I see these listed as benefits, I just think it’s Employers playing to the modern crowd… but that’s just me being cynical. Yes, there is a benefit here. It might be worth €100 or €200 a year if your employer pays for your subscription to mindfulness or wellness Apps or Programs.
But that value is only ‘real’ if you would have paid for them yourself.
Ask yourself this: do you already have paid subscriptions to these kinds of services? If not, then maybe they have no value.
But maybe you would use them if you didn’t have to pay. In that case, they have a monetary value. That’s a personal decision.
One point to note: in some Countries, any ‘subscriptions’ paid for by employers are considered income and potentially liable for Tax (even if you didn’t get the money). It’s worth checking if that’s the case in your Country. For example, I know someone who has a free subscription to a Car Parking Service. He was charged Tax on the value of the subscription – even though he didn’t have a car. Thankfully, he appealed it and it was changed, but it’s worth checking.
Basically, the value to you of any recurring subscription the Employer pays for is the cost of subscriptions you already pay for (or will at least use), minus any tax you will be charged for the ‘benefit in kind’.
Nap room / wellbeing room at the office.
A nice thought – but you have to ask if you’re likely to use it. Maybe you are, maybe not. It depends on you, the workplace, the workload, the colleagues etc.
I worked in a place that had a ‘quiet room’ and I used it once (because it was there and I had a migraine and it was an open plan office and…). Anyway, I got bored after 5 minutes and left. But I appreciated the ‘quiet space’ might be useful for some people. Just don’t let anyone catch you using it to make personal calls!
Personally, I think that any workplace that feels the need to provide a nap room or a timeout room is possibly contributing to the conditions that lead to employees needing them… but that’s a different conversation for another time.
But, on a purely monetary basis, is it worth anything?
Probably not.
Gym / digital gym membership
As with the free subscriptions to wellness programs etc, you have to ask yourself: am I already paying for this? If so, then it does have cash value if the Employer pays for it instead – assuming, of course, that your existing membership can be cancelled / refunded or that the Employer will pay direct to them instead of some competing partner program.
If you don’t already pay a Gym membership but you’d like to have one, then this has a cash value.
It might be worth €250 a year or it might be worth €2000 a year. You have to check that out.
If you think the idea of going to the Gym (or having someone shout at you from an App or Device connected to your TV) sounds like the stupidest idea ever, then this has no cash value for you.
Also, as mentioned earlier, in some Countries this employer contribution might be considered ‘benefit in kind’ and taxable. It’s worth checking because that obviously reduces whatever cash value it has.
Medical and dental insurance
This kind of perk is very valuable. Ultimately, the actual cash value of this depends on what level of cover it provides. In my case, my private medical insurance costs almost €4000 a year (family, international coverage, top tier) but no employer is going to offer that level of benefit. Maybe €1000 a year is more normal for a single person (in Ireland, that is). But employer-provided Private Medical Insurance is usually extended to the employee and spouse, perhaps including children – it just won’t be at the top level. In Ireland, for example, a young couple with children can get private medical insurance for well under €2,000 per annum.
If you’re being particularly pedantic / mercenary about it, the real value to an employee depends on whether or not you would have bought medical insurance (or needed it, in your country). Realistically, however, this is a significant benefit in most countries… the value of it is specific to the cover provided and the cost ‘on the open market’. This would normally be very easy to find out.
As with other subscriptions / benefits that you would otherwise buy for yourself, some Tax administration might tax this benefit as income (which means it will ultimately cost you something by increasing your Tax slightly, even if you never use the benefit). You should check this out.
Annual day off for charitable work
This is another benefit that makes me think the employer is looking to plug holes in the overall ‘attractiveness’ of the job. There are two ways this benefit is normally offered:
- You can take one or more days off (paid) to do some local good deeds.
- The Company organises some activities for local charities and you can ‘take time off’ to chip in.
The first of these is a good idea – if you are one of those people who likes to take time off to ‘do’ charity things, although it is probably restricted to either Registered Charities and perhaps even to a subset of listed Charities that the Employer ‘recognises’.
But purely from a cash value perspective, you have to ask: would I otherwise take a day off (unpaid) to do some charity or good deed? If so, this has some value, the amount of which is (obviously) the equivalent of your daily pay rate. If you wouldn’t, then it doesn’t have any cash value.
The second of these options is not a day off at all. In fact, to me this is the height of cynicism. It just means Employees are being used for Corporate social activities. Often, they are used to promote or market the company. For me, these are basically just days when the Employee is asked if they want to do a different job for the day. And it is likely that Employers will acquire some Tax incentives for their ‘losses’ in paying employees while they do ‘charity’ work. Cynical, I know. But factual (IMO, of course).
So, in reality, if the Organisation offers you a ‘day off’ but then tells you what to do, and where, it’s not a day off at all. It’s probably closer to good tax management!
Gift hamper for your birthday
Lovely.
In cash terms, assuming you use all the goods in it and would otherwise have bought them yourself, this might be worth €20 up to €500… until you know what’s in the hamper, you have no idea. Also, as with any other benefit, you should check if there is a tax liability for the ‘benefit in kind’. If there is, then you might end up paying (some additional tax) for something you wouldn’t buy yourself, and didn’t use anyway.
Unlimited access to a learning platform
First, this is probably a corporate platform and costs the Employer very little.
Second, it might only contain training materials relevant to your job.
Third, you might have to find time to do the training, outside of your day job.
In other words, ask.
Having said all that, if you (like me) love to learn new things, subscription to a learning platform could be useful. Most learning platforms are worth something like €100 to €500 a year to subscribers (e.g. ‘LinkedIn Learning’ comes with ‘LinkedIn Premium’, which costs about €500/year or standalone it costs about €250/year).
So, if you will actually use the Learning Platform, and would have paid for one if it wasn’t free, that’s a rough guide to what it is worth. And check if the benefit is taxable.
If you wouldn’t use it, or wouldn’t pay for a subscription to a Learning Platform, then it has pretty much no inherent cash value to you.
Work from home budget for equipment
In some countries this is a legal requirement. The Employer is legally responsible for ensuring your home
workspace is suitable, appropriate and healthy enough for you to work at, if they allow you to work from home (even sometimes).
In other countries, it is not mandatory.
However, you should be clear: will this equipment be yours if/when you leave the job? If so, do you have any actual use for it beyond this job? If it must be returned, or it is of no use to you if you leave the job (or if it includes things that you wouldn’t otherwise buy) then it has no inherent value other than to allow you to work.
On the other hand, if the Organisation simply gives you a budget towards outfitting your home/office, then it obviously has that value, especially if you don’t have to provide receipts or can buy anything you want / need.
I have worked partially or fully from home for 10+ years. I buy a good, ergonomic & supportive office chair, some other peripherals and gadgets to make my working area more agreeable. So, if someone offers to pay for all that, it has no value for me… I already have all those things.
But if the employer simply gives me a budget to spend as I see fit, then it does.
However, there is the Tax issue again. This money may well be taxed in your country. You should check.
After work social activities
I often wonder why an Employer needs to specify that their employees can ‘enjoy’ after work social activities. Is it to suggest they’re all happy bunnies and want to spend all their time together, rather than with their (other) friends and family?
More interesting is why Employers feel the need to specify that they organise these events so their Employees can socialise together. In my opinion, that makes them feel (especially for junior & inexperienced Employees) like a ‘must do’, especially if the Employer is paying (which isn’t always the case).
As for value, it is a simple calculation: do you already actively arrange to go out after work with your work colleagues on a regular basis, or would you rather avoid that pain and go home to your family?
If you’re a party animal, and if your Employer is paying for the food & drink at these events, maybe it will save you some money if you would have been out partying anyway.
From my experience, for most cases, this actually ends up costing you money. You might need to pay for a Taxi after a late night, or accommodation for an overnight event. You might need to contribute towards the cost, even if you don’t attend (e.g. “Sports and Social Contributions” deducted from your pay packet even if you never participate in any of these events).
Cash value? Pick a number between €0 and your average spend on Friday night, post-work food & drink that you yourself spent in your previous Employment. If you didn’t, then it is probably worth nothing (maybe even a negative value!) unless the Employer is footing the bill, in which case it’s worth whatever you would have spent that night, assuming you would have gone out at all!
Paid overtime available.
This is an odd thing to include in ‘benefits’ in a job description. First, most people must legally get paid for overtime worked, in most modern jurisdictions, if they have a role that specifies their working hours.
Of course, there are many roles where ‘overtime’ is ‘expected’ and still unpaid.
In my opinion, if you are working (without pay) for more hours than you’re contracted to, and it is not because you absolutely love what you’re doing, then you’re devaluing your time. You can actually calculate how much you are reducing your value relatively easily. Imagine you’re contracted to work 40 hours a week but you actively work an extra hour or so each day (e.g. by working through lunch). This is the equivalent of taking a 12.5% pay cut (5/40 hours extra, worked for free). If your weekly pay is €800 for 40 hours, this is €20/hour, but you actually work 45 hours, then your hourly rate is €17.77 (€800/45). If you are on a ‘minimum wage’ defined in legislation or a collective bargaining agreement, and you are required to work extra hours for no additional pay, then you’re actually being forced to work for below the legal minimum.
So, if an Employer proudly boasts that they will pay you for that extra, it might seem like a positive change and the [potential] value is easy to calculate: your average overtime worked in your last role multiplied by the overtime rate. Of course, to calculate that, you need to know / ask the overtime rate and the expected average overtime you’ll be working!
On the other hand, if a role specifies ‘paid overtime’ is available and you don’t like to work more than your contracted hours, does it have a different value? Could it even be a ‘negative’ value, if it is ‘expected’ and will impact on your quality of work/life balance? This question can only be asked and answered by each employee in each situation, as they are all different.
But, ultimately, an employer saying that they will pay you extra for work you perhaps don’t want to do should be enough to raise questions about the work practices in place.
Performance bonus.
A ‘performance bonus’ is always a bit of a red (or at least orange) flag for me and I always assume any promised bonus will be €0 in reality. I never include it as a parameter if I am considering a role. Put simply, if I can’t guarantee it will be available to pay my bills, I don’t count it in my decision-making.
The biggest issue is that the ‘performance’ is rarely explicit and, even when it is, the ‘rating’ of performance is often arbitrary. You rarely see transparent KPIs and Metrics in this area!
I have seen very small bonuses (as a percentage of the maximum possible / promised), even where the Client had reported greater than predicted Growth for 5 Quarters in a row.
I have seen tiny bonuses awarded to a team of < 10 people that generated recurring savings in excess of $2million per annum.
I have seen small bonuses even where the ‘promised’ bonus was ‘guaranteed’ (but obviously not ‘fully guaranteed’!).
I have seen Organisations awarding bonuses that might as well have been insults. The lowest bonus awarded that I am personally aware of was the equivalent of 0.5% of gross salary. After tax & other deductions, that went down to about 0.3%. Hardly worth calling it a bonus.
In addition, your bonus is often dependent on the Organisation-wide performance (which is, of course,
perfectly natural & understandable). The result is that you could be outperforming everyone in the Organisation but it isn’t performing well overall. Your bonus will probably be ‘disappointing’ in that case.
In summary, always assume any bonus will be €0 unless it is calculated using an explicit formula and transparent data.
Parental leave.
If you don’t plan to have children in the near future (i.e, while in your current or next employment), then this is no near-term value to you. Equally, if you already have children but someone else (e.g. your spouse or partner) looks after them and is going to take time off from their job, then it is of no value.
Conversely, if you do plan to have children and want to spend some time with the new arrival – and would
otherwise have taken time off anyway – then Parental Leave might have some value, especially if it is paid.
In addition, in many modern jurisdictions, Parental Leave for new parents is – or is on the way to being – a legal right. Sometimes it is paid, sometimes not.
The inherent cash value to you depends on the number of days offered above & beyond any minimum specified by regulations or a collective bargaining agreement, multiplied by your salary.
Bereavement leave.
In some Organisations, bereavement leave is offered in cases where someone close to you dies. Depending on the Organisation, that might be relevant only for spouse / partner and children or it might include parents & siblings.
Bereavement leave is not always paid leave. If it is paid leave, it only has value to you if, unfortunately, someone close to you dies. In my opinion, if someone close to me dies, I wouldn’t care if I was permitted to take time off or not. If I need it, I’ll take it. I would expect an Employer to accept that. Of course, if they don’t penalise me for the time off, that’s helpful but it wouldn’t be a major factor.
So, while this is a ‘nice’ benefit to list, the chances are you’ll never need it (and you will certainly never want it). If you do need it, it is probably not going to be front and centre in your thinking at that time.
Its value is, obviously, highly dependent on any given person in any given year and – if it is a paid benefit – on the rate at which it is paid, and for how long it is maintained.
Mental Health Days
I am not always sure how to interpret this benefit! Like mindfulness or wellness Apps, Nap rooms etc, I wonder if workplace stress is what makes ‘mental health days’ actually necessary.
Anyway, giving the Employer the benefit of the doubt, what are these worth? In reality, probably the same as Sick Pay, especially if you are required to get some form of certification (unlikely, but possible). On the other hand, if the Employer pays for stressed employees to take a day off occasionally, to recharge, this should be acknowledged. If it is unpaid, then perhaps not such a big deal.
The value, of course, is the amount the Employer will pay, and for how many days.
Pyjama Days
Some Employers also offer a day off to just lounge around in your pyjamas. In some cases, this will be an actual day off to do whatever you want (or do nothing). If so, and if it is paid, then its value is the same as your daily rate (after tax, of course).
On the other hand, some Employers define a ‘pyjama day’ as a day you work from home and don’t have to get dressed for video calls. In reality, given the modern working environment, this probably has no real cash value.
Birthday day off
This is basically a day off on your birthday, as you would expect.
But there are sometimes catches, as you would also expect!
Maybe you will get paid for the day, maybe you won’t. If you do, it is valued exactly the same as each day of Annual Leave (even though you probably can’t take it on any other day than your birthday).
If your birthday is not a working day, maybe you get nothing.
In other words, it might be worth something & it might be worth nothing. So ask.
Conclusion
While it is always nice to get something ‘extra’ from an employer, bear in mind that this is always in lieu of salary. Employers are businesses (usually) and have an obligation to minimise their costs. So any ‘extra’ has to be seen in that light.
Having said that, any employer that offers above and beyond the legal minimums (e.g. for Annual Leave, Illness Benefit, Private Medical Insurance) should be recognised for providing them.
As a prospective employee comparing two or more options, you should weigh up what they mean in cash terms, add those ‘extras’ to the gross salary offered and make a like-for-like comparison.
You should, of course, already have investigated the legal minimums in your country, or the employer’s country.
