Deloitte's US employees can now buy $1,000 of Lego on the company's dime to boost their well-being
Surviving the gruelling hours and high demands of a job in consulting isn't easy.
Deloitte has a new solution to help its employees handle the stress: Lego.
The Big Four professional services firm has updated its long-running well-being subsidy program to include "Legos and puzzles" on a list of items that Deloitte will reimburse, internal policy documents seen by Business Insider show.
The firm has long offered eligible US staff an annual subsidy to spend on one or a combination of subscriptions, equipment, and experiences. In 2021, the firm doubled the allowance from $500 to $1,000, an internal webpage shows.
The subsidy is meant to "empower and support your journey toward thriving mentally, physically, and financially and living your purpose," the policy documents say.
Most partners and salaried workers are offered the benefit. Interns, contracted professionals, and employees on a leave of absence are not eligible.
One Deloitte US employee told BI that people were discussing the new updates in internal team chats.
"Most of the responses are things like 'Lego?!?!? Finally!' or jokes about how they can now rationalize buying the coveted Millennium Falcon Star Wars Lego set," the employee said.
Lego's most expensive set, the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon, costs $850, leaving Deloitte workers with a small allowance left over to spend on other qualifying items like fencing classes or neck pillows.
A second Deloitte employee told BI that they see the subsidy as a nod of appreciation from the company for dealing with the stress and frustrations of their job.
"This makes a huge difference! I personally like to think of what I need/want for the next subsidy. I have been able to upgrade my workspace, and it helps with the work intake," the person said.
They added that Lego was receiving a lot of attention in the office, as it was a departure from the basics. "Knocking out a four-hour Lego build in under two hours is a great stress reliever," the employee said.
Lego is just one of several new additions to the list of approved items, which were updated on June 1, the start of Deloitte's financial year.
Under a section titled "what's new for FY26" are kitchenware and kitchen appliances (e.g., blender, refrigerator), spa services like facials and body treatments, personal portable cooling fans, and ergonomic, cooling, and sleeping pillows.
Employees can also spend the subsidy on items like office furniture, gym equipment, financial support apps, fitness classes, and gaming consoles, including the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.
Deloitte US did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Not all are as positive about the subsidy program, with one Deloitte US employee telling BI they think it is only given "because of how much this job sucks."
The US division of Deloitte has faced a challenging period after its contracts with the government came under scrutiny as part of the White House Office's efforts to cut federal spending.
By April, at least 127 of the firm's government contracts had been cut or modified, according to BI's analysis of data on the DOGE website.
That month, Deloitte Consulting CEO Jason Salzetti said in an internal meeting that a "small percentage" of workers in the firm's government division would be laid off. Employees told BI that DOGE's actions had shifted the climate at Deloitte.
The US branch of Deloitte had 172,800 employees in 2024, when it last reported head count.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Rare earth minerals are the biggest card China can play in its negotiations with Trump
China has a significant card to play in its trade negotiations with the US, which could not only put the Trump administration in a bind but also impact a wide range of consumer goods. Rare earth minerals, namely scandium, yttrium, and 15 types of lanthanides, usually sit unnoticed at the bottom of the periodic table. But experts in rare earths have told Business Insider that a shortage of these minerals — which mainly come from China — could induce a shortage in everything from aircraft parts to TV remotes. "It's not industry agnostic because rare earths are used in everything from TVs and laptops and phones to cancer treatments and MRI scanners to automotives to defense," said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Especially as a bedrock to the automotive industry, it is really critical because our automotive manufacturing industry was getting to a point where it had to halt operations and close manufacturing plants without access to these rare earths," Baskaran added. The importance of critical minerals came into focus when China cut off its supply to the US after Trump imposed tariffs, as high as 245% for some goods, on the manufacturing hub in a trade war that escalated between February and May. The two countries have since de-escalated tensions through trade talks after Trump agreed to lower duties on China to 30% for 90 days starting from May 14. After the latest trade talks in London in mid-June, China has agreed to reopen export channels of its critical minerals to the US — at least for now. "China built up its industry in a cheap and not necessarily ecologically refined manner, and the US said, 'That's very inexpensive, so we do not need to have this kind of industry in our country,'" Laura Lewis, professor of chemical engineering at the Northwestern University College of Engineering, saud. "And that was the case for many years." Bilateral relations with China remain fragile According to data from the 2024 US Geological Survey, 70% of critical mineral imports to the US came from China, followed by 13% from Malaysia. China also processes nearly 90% of the world's rare earth minerals, according to the International Energy Agency. Though the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, did not directly confirm how long rare earth licenses will remain issued to US manufacturers, a spokesperson told BI in a statement that "China has reviewed and approved a certain number of export license applications for rare-earth-related items." "Rare-earth-related items have dual-use attributes, with both military and civilian purposes, imposing export controls on such items is in line with international practices," the spokesperson added. Drew DeLong, lead in geopolitical dynamics practice at Kearney, a global strategy and management consulting firm, told BI that manufacturers are going to stockpile as much rare earth material as possible during the brief reprieve in US-China relations, in anticipation of more supply chain disruptions. DeLong said that by August, when the tariff suspension expires, the US-China relation would reach a critical decision point where it "must either coalesce or collapse." "Markets now wait to see whether Beijing actually resumes outbound shipments, and whether Washington delivers on its part of the rollback, " DeLong added. "There already appears to be hedging on trade tensions flaring up again." America may need to work with what it has The US once had a single operating rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, but it went bankrupt in 2015. Molycorp, its operator, filed for bankruptcy protection due to slumping rare earth prices and ballooning costs. Meanwhile, China has spent decades building its capacity to process rare earths. Other countries, like Japan, have diversified where they get their rare earth metals to avoid relying on China. Lewis, of Northwestern University, told BI that the US not only has a long way to go, but it may simply lack certain types of metals, even if it could extract others. Lewis said that the US lacks a category of heavy rare earths necessary for magnets to endure hot environments like motors. "We're going to have to work with our allies and nature to get what we need," said Lewis, "Because I cannot possibly imagine that the investment it would take to get our rare minerals from asteroids is going to be less than what we can already achieve on earth through recycling and a thoughtful use of resources." "The philosophy in Silicon Valley is just throw enough time and money at it, and you'll get it and fast, but nothing that we can do to get the rare earth industry healthy is going to happen fast," Lewis added. "Nature's smarter than we are."
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
The No. 1 thing that makes interns stand out, according to a Google Cloud exec
Landing a summer internship can sometimes feel like only half the battle — the next challenge is often turning it into a full-time gig. Interning at a tech giant puts you in the running for a full-time role, but that doesn't mean it's a done deal. Yasmeen Ahmad, a product and GTM executive at Google Cloud, has seen her fair share of interns at the tech giant, and she said there's one trait that jumps out to her. "The people who stand out the most for me are those who really take initiative and look for opportunities," Ahmad told Business Insider in an interview. Google packages up projects for its interns to work on, and the key is looking beyond the scope of what's offered, Ahmad said. She added that interns should use their assigned project as a "springboard" to explore what Google is doing in other areas, whether that be other teams, projects, or domains. At a company like Google that has a number of departments dedicated to different products, like Android, Gemini, or Workspace, Ahmad said there's plenty of opportunity to explore. The company also offers programming so interns can get exposure to their peers working on other projects and teams. "Interns who really think outside the box and leverage that opportunity, I think really do stand out," Ahmad said. Ahmad's advice echoes that of a former Google intern Tawfiq Mohammad, who landed a full-time offer as a software engineer and also told BI that interns should strive to think "outside the box." The Googler said that interns should "try to own" their assigned summer project. Ahmad's advice also includes networking. The executive told BI that Google is "highly collaborative," and if you reach out to someone, they'll likely free up 15 minutes for a coffee chat. A Google software engineer who spent three summers interning at the tech giant before landing a full-time offer, Nancy Qi, previously told BI she thinks one of her strengths as an intern was building relationships with her teammates by getting lunch with them every day. She said doing so helped create "team chemistry" and kept her "motivated to pump out code." While Ahmad has helped lead multibillion-dollar businesses, she's also felt the pressure of trying to prove herself in a temporary position. The Google executive said that when she landed her first job, the manager told her they weren't sure it would be a fit and planned to reassess after six months. As someone who started in academia, Ahmad's path into Big Tech leadership was far from linear, and she told BI she had "many moments of anguish" while not knowing her next step. Looking back now, Ahmad said not knowing what was next helped provide her with a broader perspective and taught her to enjoy the journey. "I think an internship is a great way, whether you know, it's Google other organizations, to be able to come in and explore different roles that you maybe hadn't considered before," Ahmad said.
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
I own a small solar company in Montana and might have to lay off most of my employees. I'm not hiding that from them.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ralph Walters, 50, the owner of SBS Solar in Missoula, Montana. It's been edited for length and clarity. BI has verified the number of employees and their salaries. Representatives for the White House did not respond to BI's request for comment. I bought SBS Solar from my former boss in 2020, when it was a pen and paper business with only six employees. Then the pandemic happened and people flooded into Montana, awed by the beauty and, it seems, drawn to solar. I couldn't hire fast enough — business ballooned, and I now have 15 people on payroll. It's a wonderful team, based on massive amounts of communication and honesty. The tax bill could massively shrink my team Most of the guys at the company are under 30, with backgrounds in forestry or construction. Since I've taken over, the minimum rate has risen to $25 per hour, and I don't anticipate anyone will make less than $40,000 this year. We're offering health insurance and paid time off for the hourly guys, and I've been able to give some promotions. That's all in jeopardy now, and my guys know it. Beyond somehow figuring out what to do with the tariffs, the rollback of clean energy tax credits in Republicans' proposed spending bill could force me to make big cuts. I'm especially worried about ending the Residential Clean Energy Credit, which covers 30% of the cost of installing solar in your home. If the bill passes in its current form, I'd probably have to shrink back down to around five employees. It'll be a period of bonuses and thank yous and goodbyes. I cried just talking about it for this article. I considered keeping the truth from my employees My wife and I co-own the business, and we'd chat at night about what would happen if we were fully honest with our staff about the outlook. Would people check out mentally? Would they quit? We could've kept them in the dark until one day saying, suddenly, that they shouldn't come to work the next morning. But that wouldn't have worked on the human level where we operate. So we had a big meeting. We caught everybody up and promised to keep them in the loop. The meetings were emotional, but everyone was understanding, and, in some ways, that makes it even harder. Nobody has left so far, to my surprise. This company has opened life up for the guys on my team. They've bought new cars, proposed to their girlfriends. I can't speak for them, but I don't think they would've done that if they were still in their old jobs. The spending bill wouldn't just affect my business — it would impact solar in Montana overall. Some of our customers are what you'd expect: liberal green energy advocates. But this is a conservative state, and a significant chunk of our business comes from people who don't want to depend on the government for their utilities or much else. Missoula is a pretty wealthy area and at least some people will probably keep using solar without the tax credits, but I doubt the same is true for more rural places where people make the switch purely to save on energy costs. When I first learned about what's in the bill, I felt terror, plain and simple. I don't know what's going to happen with the credits, or my business, or the young guys I employ. What I do know is that I owe my team honesty about whatever it is that comes next.
