Employee benefits are a sure fire way of making your workers feel valued because they are a tangible evidence of being appreciated by the organization they work for. But more often than we would like to admit, these benefits seem glorified gimmicks at best, offering little in the way of ‘benefits’, and can actually make employees wonder if they are really receiving any reward at all for their consistent hard work.

Employees are complaining about getting lower job satisfaction over the last 20 years, despite most American employers freely doling out plenty of employee benefits. It is clear that benefits are among the top factors for the downfall of employee motivation at the workplace because they just don’t add any intrinsic value to the employee-employer relationship.

Here are 4 employee benefits which don’t offer much.

Poorly designed corporate wellness programs

Wellness programs are designed to get employees to participate in activities such as joining a gym, quitting smoking, diabetes management and weight loss programs. Most corporate wellness programs tend to backfire because they don’t really engage an employee. Companies that have successful employee programs equip their employees with resources such as gym memberships, diabetes management programs and wellness programs enhanced by gamification. Successful companies tend to become Engaged Healthcare Consumers (EHCs) because they go the extra mile.

Unlimited Vacations

Statistics have shown that unlimited vacations lead to employees taking fewer vacations. Most workers keep working day in and day out without availing their promised ‘unlimited vacation’ because of the dark stigma associated with taking time off. They value the acknowledgement of their peers and bosses far more than the guilty pleasure associated with taking a day off from work. After all, who wants to put their managers in an inconvenient position by asking for ‘time off’ from work when there are customers to satisfy and organizational goals to meet? By giving out free unlimited vacations, employers ensnare their workers in a vicious cycle of unwavering loyalty.

Employee discount programs

They’re rarely done right. The discount programs aren’t really extended to services which the employees actually want, are designed to generate revenue and getting the bragging rights to claim that this is an ‘employee benefit’. Most employees don’t really use this option and those that do, choose to do it out of a misguided sense of loyalty to their employer.

The culture of “all games and fun”

In order to appeal to the millennial generation, employers try to recreate the hip-hop culture they see on TV, but all it does is fall flat on its face. Most workers who want to work with your firm want a message of professional grooming and upward growth. When you advertise beer breaks as one of the reasons for employees to join your firm, it doesn’t do well to acquire top talent who will see your firm as non-serious employers. This could even reflect poorly on clients because they wouldn’t want association with what looks like a fraternity chapter.