/9918578/Banner

/9918578/Banner_2

/9918578/Mid

section

articleId

product

orgType

parrefer

accountID

Consulting

Banking

Accounting

Fintech

Internships

Rankings

Internship Rankings

Intern Resource Center

Explore Internships

Vault Law Home

Practice Area Resource Centers

Regional Resource Centers

Summer Program Resource Center

Vault Law Culture & Inclusion Survey

Vault Law

Guides

Events

Financial Services

Technology

Grad School

Work Relationships

Productivity

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Social Impact

Remote Work

Negotiating

Changing Jobs

Workplace Issues

Blog

Resume Samples

Cover Letter Samples

Interview Tips & Questions

A Day in the Life

International

Career Readiness

Explore Professions

Research Industries

Search Companies

Career Advice

Employers

Schools

As if living through this recession isn’t bad enough, those lucky enough to still have jobs are facing ever diminished returns in exchange for their labors. These days, people are working harder and longer than they have in a long time, while wage growth has more or less stagnated. And don&#39;t even mention perks and benefits: with current unemployment levels, simply having a job &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;a perk.&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/pstott/folders/Jing/media/307fe33f-00c7-49bd-bd66-bac61da3ccce/00000204.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; height=&quot;212&quot; alt=&quot;carlsberg worker&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;embeddedObject&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;/&gt;The latest group of workers feeling hard done by are the folks at Danish company Carlsberg, one of the biggest producers of beer in Europe. According to the &lt;em&gt;Wall Street Journal&lt;/em&gt;, the brewer&#39;s workers are unhappy that the company is attempting to remove one of the most cherished perks of the job: the right to drink the company&#39;s product &lt;em&gt;while they&#39;re at work&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now, lest we jump to any quick conclusions, here&#39;s a little more background from the WSJ piece: it&#39;s not like we&#39;re talking desk jockeys, or people with back-office functions here. The company culture as it currently exists allows everyone at the firm—from forklift operators in the warehouse to truck drivers—unlimited access to beer during their workday. And that&#39;s in addition to receiving two free cases of Carlsberg to take home every month.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And it’s not like the new rules the company is instigating are taking the right away altogether: as of April 1, workers have been limited to a mere &lt;em&gt;three pints&lt;/em&gt; every day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the face of it, then, the Carlsberg decision makes sense from every single business perspective: the company is losing less productivity, cutting down on the potential for workplace accidents, and keeping more of its product to sell to actual customers—all desirable things to any business owner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But however sensible the reasons may be, the story still causes one to reflect on what we lose when corporate culture clashes with the rights of individual workers. Carlsberg employees point out, for example, that they&#39;ve had the right to drink at work for a century, and complain that the company has removed the perk without any negotiation, going as far as to strike over the issue. And, while we&#39;re clearly living in a different age from when the first Carlsberg brewery was founded, there&#39;s still something sad about corporate governance trumping tradition—not least because it represents a breakdown of trust between employer and employee.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Obviously in this case we&#39;re not talking normal perks at an everyday company, but that&#39;s precisely what makes this so interesting: no-one would bat an eyelid at a firm that cut travel costs or free sodas for employees, after all. And it leaves me wondering: which party do your sympathies lay with in this case? And what other perk-related stories do you have to share?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;--Posted by Phil Stott, Vault.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Vault Careers

Article

National Fun at Work Day: When Team-Building Works and When It Backfires

How LinkedIn Can Create Unrealistic Career Expectations

Do Performance Reviews Actually Improve Performance?

Holiday Party Etiquette 101: Tips to Shine Without Embarrassment

The Library