[ryan606]

Company managers have a responsibility to consider numerous factors when designing a total rewards strategy (pay + benefits + career opportunities/work environment). Among these is to deliver rewards using as efficient a currency as possible. When the perceived value of a pay element (or benefit program or perquisite) exceeds the economic value, then a company should deliver more of the total reward opportunity using such currency. Many companies have determined that perquisites are valued more highly by employees than the economic cost to deliver such perks. (Same for the perceived value vs. economic value of equity compensation.) By "underweighting" employee benefits, perhaps companies are actually choosing to deliver their total reward opportunity more efficiently than those companies which have more "market competitive" benefit programs. Differentiation of HR strategy is not automatically wrong.