Higher pay isn’t the only thing worth negotiating for. Employee benefits can be another way to gain well-deserved rewards from your company. While asking for Google-type benefits such comprehensive healthcare, free legal advice, and death benefits might be a bit much for most companies, there are other benefits you CAN get.

Here are some non-health related employee benefits to negotiate for:

Flexible Work Schedule

More than 75% of professionals work beyond regular work hours on a daily basis. So if you’re part of the majority of employees, who spend most of their time on work-related matters, you can negotiate for a better work/life balance.

Negotiating a flexible work schedule enables you to complete your workday with these options:

• Changing your work schedule so you can come in a few hours earlier/later will give you more time to be with your friends and family.

• Modifying your work week so you can either have a different off days. For example, you can ask for Friday and Sunday off so you have an open weekday to handle personal business or even negotiate for a 4-day work week.

• Having a job that can be performed from anywhere with a computer and an internet connection, means you can work from home. In fact, you can make international calls, hold video conferences, and instant message colleagues from the comfort of your home.

Commute Reimbursement/Allowance

Making your daily commute can be a costly monthly expense. Unless you happen to live walking distance from your workplace, you’re easily paying $100 – $200 a month on public transport. And if you’re a car owner, you’re paying even more.

If your employer isn’t keen on giving you the $500 raise you’re asking for, asking for commute reimbursement/allowance can lessen the financial expense of daily travel.

Here are several options you can negotiate for:

• You can negotiate to have your daily cab commute expenses claimed so you can avoid taking the stressful MRT/bus ride every day to/from work.

• You can negotiate a fixed monthly allowance to be applied to a company cab card to help cover your monthly commute expenses.

• You can negotiate for the reimbursement of your fuel/parking expenses. Parking reimbursement is straight forward, but fuel can be reimbursed through either mileage or whatever’s on the receipt once you fill up at a gas station at the end of each work week.

While having your travel expenses fully/partially covered by your company isn’t nearly as nice as receiving a 25% pay raise, you’re still “gaining” income because less money from your pay check is going towards your daily commute.

Professional Development

Asking your employer to invest in your professional development by paying for any skills or knowledge “upgrade” is a benefit that most employers wouldn’t mind granting. It’s because everyone wins in this case – you get the knowledge needed to advance in your career and your employer gains a trained employee that improves the organization’s efficiency.

Here are several professional development options you can negotiate for:

• You can negotiate for subsidized tuition for part-time study (classroom/online) at local education institutions for courses/programs relevant to your career.

• You can negotiate to have seminar/workshop/conference fees paid so you can attend training that benefits both you and your company.

• You can negotiate for a monthly/quarterly stipend to purchase self-study materials (books, magazine subscriptions, periodicals, and videos) relevant to your career.

• You can negotiate to have the membership dues for professional organizations paid so you can expand your personal/business connections and further your company interests.

If your employer is unwilling to spend on your professional development with any of the options above, negotiate for a secondment, job shadowing, or job rotation so you can broaden your professional/management expertise.