If you think your employees only care about salary, think again. You should never underestimate the power of employee perks when it comes to gauging employee satisfaction. In fact, a survey from Glassdoor found that 80 percent of people would rather have new benefits or perks than a pay raise.

So what kind of perks are we talking about? We don't just mean two-week vacations and employee discounts — companies need to go above and beyond to keep their employees engaged and loyal.

Of course, we've all heard of more and more companies offering perks that would have been unthinkable in the working world of yesteryear, like unlimited vacation or free lunches. However, some companies on the cutting-edge are thinking outside of the box to offer unique and unusual perks to their employees to keep them engaged and happy.

Here are some examples of unique employee perks from high-flying companies:

1. Free overnight breast-milk shipping for new moms on business trips at Zillow.

2. Free egg freezing and fertility assistance for Spotify employees.

Having a "pets at work" policy is a simple program to implement that can also boost employee morale. Allowing pets in the workplace works particularly well when your employees are passionate about their pets. It's a low-cost perk for human resources to implement, with the added benefit that it can actually improve employee retention.

As reported in Fortune Magazine recently, having Spot as your coworker is quickly replacing foosball in popularity among Millennials: "In a recent survey by social meeting site Skout, more than half of all employees (51%), and 58% of those under age 30, said that dogs in the office make a company 'a cool place to work' — three times the number who said the same about ping pong or foosball tables."

Why Not Make Your Office Pet-Friendly?

People love their pets as a source of inspiration and comfort, but the bond that develops between a pet and an owner gets disrupted every work week for a good portion of the day. Being able to spend time with pets for only brief periods during the early morning or at night can be stressful for both the pet and the owner. That's why having them in the office can help ease separation anxiety for pets, while improving workplace morale for the owner.

Having pets around really seems to bring a more relaxed energy to the atmosphere of the office. Dogs and cats make things more enjoyable for people in all sorts of settings, and offices are no exception. There are also some people who don't have pets but love to be around them. Therefore, this policy can even be a perk for those you never thought of as animal lovers.

Wellness programs have been around for decades, and their benefits are well-documented. Research shows they are responsible for a 28 percent reduction in sick days, a 26 percent reduction in health costs, and a 30 percent decrease in workers' compensation and disability management claims. If designed well (e.g. based on population health analytics, etc.), companies can potentially save $5.93 for every dollar invested.

Wellness initiatives and contests have been taken to a new level in recent years, with the emergence of wearable fitness trackers. On the surface, it seems that these trackers would eliminate any tendency to exaggerate activity performance, compared to using manual logs. However, where there's a will, there's a way. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reported on wellness cheaters. What does cheating on workplace wellness contests say about the cheater?

Companies are always looking to improve the quality of life of their employees by using a variety of incentives. To this end, employers are increasingly open to making a number of quality of life allowances, from dogs in the workplace to catering healthier lunchtime meals.

This isn't solely done for the purpose of improving morale and well-being. Employers have noted a strong correlation between employee health and their productivity at work. But can employers start encouraging healthy employee habits outside of their 9-5 purview?

One area of focus for company wellness has been the sleep habits of their employees and how subtle tweaks can have a profound impact on employee productivity.

Employee Perks That Make The Holidays Merry

Employee Revolt: The Rise and Fall of Black Friday

20 Unique Employee Benefits That Boost Employee Morale

The hiring world can be extremely competitive, especially in industries starved for top talent. Salary will always be high on the priority list for potential employees, but they also weigh other factors.

A recent study reveals that 95 percent of Americans consider job benefits and perks before deciding whether or not to take a new position or stay in their current one. Companies trying to attract the best employees may need to think a little outside the box when it comes to perks.

Here are 20 unique employee benefits that can seriously boost morale.

Summer Blog Series (Part 4):

Notable PTO Trends and Novel Approaches

In previous posts in our Summer Blog Series, we’ve discussed the benefits of PTO, the advantages of using PTO automation to handle the administrative function, and common PTO policies, procedures and FAQs. For this final installment, we’ll focus on notable PTO trends and novel approaches some companies are experimenting with today.

PTO Trends:

Bank Systems on the Rise

According to a 2014 study released by WorldatWork, a non-profit research association, 41 percent of organizations participating in the study used bank-style PTO systems, while 56 percent still used traditional systems of paid leave for their employees. (PTO banks offer a combined “bucket” of available paid days off which can be used for a variety of reasons.) This approach differs considerably from the better-known system of assigning a pre-set number of days each year in separate categories like vacation, sick leave, bereavement leave, and personal days.

Summer Blog Series (Part 3):

Paid Time Off - PTO Policies, Procedures and FAQs

The summer months typically bring about a unique set of attendance issues, from abnormally high absenteeism rates to dealing with three major holidays to the administrative burdens of an onslaught of time off requests.

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about paid holidays and other PTO to help your organization navigate these challenges and create a competitive and compliant PTO plan.

Summer Blog Series (Part 2):

Paid Time Off - Eliminating Administrative Burdens Through PTO Automation

As we mentioned in our first post in this four part series on Paid Time Off, statistically speaking, PTO is the most highly utilized employee benefit. Makes sense, right? For this very same reason, management of PTO can also be a real burden for an already swamped HR department, most especially if PTO is still being managed in a manual, non-automated fashion.

The reason for this is simple: employees don’t do a good job of keeping track of the time they’ve taken. This seems to be true even when the accrued amount is posted on each paystub ;) The problem compounds when there are multiple "paid time off" accounts such as vacation days, sick days, bereavement days, etc.