Today, in addition to powerboats stocked with jet skis and food, USi offers the use of sailboats once employees are trained and certified, golf club memberships and loads of intramural sport options. "I’ve become very involved at the J-Ports sailing club," says Bowen. "You end up meeting a lot of people from the company that you are normally too busy to meet at work. It gives you the chance to hang out with people you normally wouldn’t get to," he says.

Sound like camp for adults rather than the perks of working at a dotcom company? It isn’t. In addition to the full range of standard benefits like health insurance, a 401(k) plan and paid vacations, many companies interested in wooing and keeping talent are offering more creative and more extravagant benefits. In its annual benefits survey, The Society for Human Resource Management reports that of the high-tech firms polled in its random-sampling of 742 respondents, 3 percent offer pet health insurance, 8 percent offer massage therapy for employees and 18 percent offer dry cleaning services. Those benefits can help ease the stress and strain of working 12 hour days common at many start-ups and high-tech firms.

When application service provider USi was founded in January 1998, CEO Christopher R. McCleary knew that to attract extraordinary employees, he had to offer extraordinary benefits. The company’s Annapolis office blends a casual nautical look with the frenetic pace of the typical tech firm. With over 1,000 employees and tremendous growth, keeping the staff energized and happy is priority number one for management and vice president of human resources Brenda Woodsmall.

Boating privileges are just one of the many benefits available to employees as part of the company’s dedication to better quality of life. Near its northern California location, the company just leased a four-bedroom ski lodge so employees can get away to the slopes for the weekend with friends and family. Then there are the sports and theater tickets, shuttle service, a quiet room (where nursing mothers can go for privacy), country club and fitness center discounts and casual attire seven days a week.

Envious yet?

There’s also a BMW quarterly drawing offered for employees who refer qualified candidates who have certain in-demand skills. "Generally we offer cash incentives for referrals, but for certain hot skills such as Broadvision, Siebel and Ariba, the referring employees qualify for a drawing for a new BMW, which they get to drive until they leave the company. And if they are with the company for three years, they can keep the car," says Woodsmall. Whose behind all the terrific perks? It’s a combination of employee suggestions sent via email or the intranet, the CEO and HR department’s ideas and the suggestion box (which led to quiet room and the shuttle service).

Believe it or not, the benefits offered at USi aren’t as unique as you might think compared to many other high-tech and Internet companies. Take the following examples:

• Google.com has a chef on payroll that has stock options.
• At the Motley Fool, employees can take breaks in the foolish room, a rec room filled with Nintendo games, a pool table, Ping-Pong and beanbag chairs.
• Zero-Knowledge Systems, an Internet privacy company, has resorted to private screenings of new movies and doing laundry for its 65 employees: Drop off your stuff on Tuesday, pick it up on Wednesday folded, pressed and crowned with a colorful lollipop.
• Take Your Dog to Work day, which was first started at Netscape a few years ago, has become a standard practice in Silicon Valley.
• Hewlett-Packard was first company to throw beer bashes at work on Fridays. It’s now commonplace for high-tech firms to have Friday afternoon happy hours and social events.
• AOL offers up to $4,000 to help a parent cover adoption expenses. It reimburses as much as 100 percent when an employee takes a continuing-education course, and it loans up to $25,000 to help an employee send a child to college.

Perhaps you won’t get a snazzy new BMW or the chance to race a sailboat, but chances are you’ll find that many tech companies are offering new and innovative ways to tantalize candidates. Just make sure you’re getting what you deserve or pop over to HR and make a few suggestions.