As an HR Manager, you don't have to build a top-down perks program. You decide how much you want to invest in your employees, and then you give your employees the control to build a custom perk package for themselves.

I've built employee perks programs before and it's impossible to manually build a program that makes everyone happy. I'd make a deal with one gym then hear about another gym an employee would prefer. As a small business owner, I didn't have the time or leverage to negotiate and manage dozens of vendor relationships.

In 2010, if you're a big custom IT shop with thousands of employees, that's going to look like as differentiating a value as showing how big your pension plan is today.

Customers are using BetterWorks in a number of creative ways to reward and incentivize employees.

The Bay Area definitely knows the pain of competing for, and retaining, top talent. Offering interesting perks has become a necessity, not a nice-to-have.

Anytime something eats too much of my life, I kill it.