We had mixed feelings about the following blog post from the Wall Street Journal, which talks about the effect the economic downturn on benefits corporations give to its employees.

On the one hand, we’re sad to see that companies are cutting 401(k) contributions and educational reimbursements. In a perfect world people could be paid enough in order to afford to better themselves professionally and to save enough for retirement on their own. Ideally, people would be paid (and paid well) just for the work they do.

On the other hand, we recognize that retirement savings, additional training (and even more personal perks such as help with adoption) can be incredible expensive to manage on your own. A company has the collective financial (and social) capital to make their employees’ lives better.

Perhaps the ultimate problem with our current benefits culture has more to do with those perks that are mislabeled as benefits. Check out this excerpt from the WSJ post:

As telecommuting technologies became cheaper and more accessible, many workplace advocates believed large numbers of companies would allow employees to work remotely. But over the past five years new telecommuters have been offset by employees returning to the traditional workplace, according to a June 2009 report by IT consulting firm International Data.

The report also found that some businesses have tempered support for alternative and flexible work arrangements, just as some employees are more hesitant to work away from the office. “When times are tough, telecommuters will take refuge in the corporate office, maybe feeling vulnerable or exposed in not being where the action is,” says IDC analyst Justin Jaffe.

Telecommuting is NOT a benefit. Work done from home (or a coffee shop or the beach) is still work. These employees are still delivering value. If the value doesn’t change (and from our experiences with ROWE it doesn’t) then it’s not a benefit to do the work remotely.

We’re also suspicious of the kind of “employee capture” benefits that rob people of their ability to manage their own lives. We’d love it if every corporate gym in the world were shut down. Instead, let’s give people the freedom, the schedule control and the trust to both do their jobs and to go to the gym when it works for them. As long as the work gets done then it shouldn’t matter.

Same goes for those empty “employee appreciation” measures. People want control over their time, not a big cookie to stand around in the break room. Judging by the post, that may be changing:

One more thing that might be gone for good — or at least a very long time: holiday parties. According to the Society for Human Resource Management survey, the percentage of respondents who said that their company held a holiday party fell to 81% last year from 87% in 2006, with 15% saying they plan to reduce or eliminate them in the next year.

Here’s our question for you:

What do you think are the most essential “extras” that a company can provide?

What benefit would you like to see go the way of the dinosaur?