Surf breaks, haircuts and Scuba lessons: These are the craziest work perks

• Companies are recruiting with increasingly innovative benefit packages.
• Genetech offers on-site haircuts and has a car wash.
• Goldman Sachs, among others, will pay for gender reassignment surgery.

The days of boring benefits are over.

Instead of boasting about the usual healthcare and paid time off, ambitious companies around the US are offering perks like surf breaks, home cleaning services, and even haircuts at the office.

Here are some of the ways companies are doing more than Pizza Friday at the office to grab and retain workers, as first reported by Cheapism.

Surf’s up

The Pacific Ocean isn’t far from Patagonia’s headquarters in Ventura, CA — which is why its employees can head to the beach whenever they want.

Employees at Patagonia can go surfing even when they are at the office. The clothing company owner and founder Yvon Chouinard encourages employees to take time out of their workday and head for the swells for a surf break.

“We have a policy that when the surf comes up, you drop work and you go surfing,” Chouinard said in an interview with NPR. He adds, “I don’t care when you work as long as the job gets done.”

The company reportedly has daily surf reports at its reception desk and makes announcements when waves are primed for shredding.

Car washes and haircuts

Rushed for time and can’t get a haircut before Friday’s meeting? At Genetech, the barbershop is at the office.

The biotechnology company in San Francisco offers on-campus services like haircuts, bicycle repairs, and even has its own car wash facilities.

Those amenities are among several offered by the company. Employees that have been with Genetech for six years or more are eligible to take six continuous weeks off with full pay and benefits.

Genetech even offers tuition assistance programs, on-site childcare, and discounts to museums and attractions around the Bay Area.

Health, wellness and Scuba?

Chesapeake Energy offers perhaps the most unusual perk: scuba diving lessons.

At its Oklahoma City headquarters, employees at one of the country’s largest natural gas companies can get Scuba-certified for free. It’s part of the company’s wellness program, which encourages employees to “put their health first.”

In addition to scuba lessons, employees at Chesapeake Energy have access to an Olympic-size swimming pool and its 72,000-square-foot fitness center has a climbing wall, a sand volleyball court, and on-site physical therapy.

Home cleaning and dream chasing

Too busy at work to clean up your home? This company has you covered.

Akraya, an IT consulting and staffing firm, sends a professional cleaning service to employees’ homes every two weeks. Workers at its Sunnyvale, CA office also get rewarded after spending five years at the company — by getting an extra week off for vacation and $5,000 to spend on it.

Propellerent, an internet marketing service, encourages its employees to chase their dreams with “Dream Balls.” Employees can write down their life’s dreams and place it in the company’s gumball dispenser. When the company hits a target, managers pull a ball from the machine and make the dream come true. They sent two employees to the World Cup in Brazil and funded another worker’s dream of riding a motorcycle across Africa.

Free sex-change surgeries

More than a decade ago, Goldman Sachs began covering gender reassignment surgery in its employee medical plan.

That measure was extended to the Wall Street bank’s London office in 2018 when the company told its staffers that sex-reassignment survey and IVF treatment had been added to the package as a way to reportedly help address inclusiveness.

Netflix and Facebook also offer employees gender reassignment procedures as an employee benefit.