Work: Unwind the Grind

Grim unemployment rates aside, the hottest areas of tech, finance, and fields like design and marketing are engaging in a war for talent. Almost 90 percent of human resource professionals record difficulties finding qualified applicants for highly skilled technical roles, according to a recent hiring poll. How can employers make themselves attractive to potential hires? Here are a few ways companies are upping the ante.

Trust-You Time

Netflix has been offering all employees unlimited vacation time since 2004, and it's no longer unique. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 1 percent of companies offer unlimited paid time-off, 3 percent offer unlimited paid sick time, and 4 percent allow employees to work wherever and whenever they wish, as long as projects get done on time.

Burnout Barriers

Paying lip service to work/life balance is easy; what about actually creating it? The Boston Consulting Group issues a "red zone" report showing employees long on hours; law firm Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus flags anyone who is overloading on overtime; and Principal Financial Group mandates "no-meeting Fridays" to help clear the decks at week's end.

Admin Alleviators

Time away from work is not relaxing when it's filled with chores. Genentech and Intuit provide on-site car care, and Evernote will send someone to clean workers' homes. Some employers, SHRM found, provide personal financial advice (25 percent), legal help (23 percent), and even on-site haircuts (1 percent).

Cube Customizers

Gaia Interactive's work space features a full blackboard wall as an outlet for employees to express themselves artistically, and the University of Minnesota has long prioritized aesthetic comforts: Since 1934, staff have been able to display artwork from the campus museum's collection in their own home or office for a small charge, currently $40 a year.