You could boil large segments of human existence down to one titanic struggle: the battle between present self and future self.
Generally speaking, it’s your present self’s prerogative to throw future self under the bus. Present self goes wild with the credit card; future self searches the couch for extra coins. Present self is Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon — impulsive, reckless, living in the here and now. Future self is Danny Glover — and he’s getting too old for this.
One of future self’s few victories is present self’s 401(k) contributions. If they’re lucky, present self’s employer will even match their retirement payments — essentially paying future self for present self’s hard work.
So the next time an HR rep starts talking about 401(k) matching, resist present self’s inclination to yawn and listen up. Here are five Seattle-based tech companies that match some portion of their employees’ 401(k) contributions.
What they do: Pivotal Commware is the creator of Holographic Beam Forming, a technology that’s about as science fiction as it sounds. They use metamaterials technology to create software-defined antennas for everything from cell towers to battlefield drones. Holographic Beam Forming offers a range of improvements on current communications technologies, including (but not limited to) the ability to beam 5G connectivity to moving targets like planes, trains and ships. Pivotal Commware claims to lower the cost, size, weight and power consumption of beamforming antennas that the military has used for years.
The perks: Pivotal offers a 100 percent dollar-for-dollar match for the first 3 percent of an employee’s retirement contributions, and a 50 percent match on contributions beyond that up to 5 percent of a employee’s paycheck.
What they do: You mightn’t have ever heard of Bungie, but you’ve almost certainly heard of the most famous product to emerge from their labs: the “Halo” series of first-person shooter games. They’re also the team behind “Destiny,” another science-fiction first-person shooter epic. Originally founded in Chicago in 1991, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, then spun out and went private again in 2007.
The perks: Bungie offers its employees dollar-for-dollar matching on the first 6 percent of 401(k) contributions. In addition, Bungie also offers relocation assistance, commuter benefits, a stocked kitchen and even an on-site rock climbing wall.
What they do: Funko is all about fandom. The company designs, markets and sells collectable pop culture products via its e-commerce website. Founded in Everett in 1998, the company was acquired by Washington, D.C. private equity firm ACON Investment in 2015. The company also hosts an online community called “Funko Hunt” for discussion of all things pop culture and Funko products.
The perks: Funko matches its employees’ 401(k) contributions up to 4 percent of total compensation. Funko also boasts an onsite gym and bowling alley.
What they do: As we spend more of our lives within vast apartment buildings, malls and office towers, Point Inside aims to help us find our way around, well, inside. Their cloud-based platform offers wayfinding, blue dot-style positioning, searchable locations and spatial analytics — essentially a Google Maps for the mall. Founded in 2009, the Bellevue company’s executives come from tech titans like Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, MySpace, PayScale, Qualcomm and SAP.
The perks: Point Inside matches half of an employee’s contributions up to six percent of their compensation. The company also offers a generous PTO policy and commuter benefits.
What they do: Wheelhouse Digital Marketing Group — also known as Wheelhouse DMG — works with SEO, digital ad campaigns, conversion rate optimization services and analytics platforms to enhance a client’s online presence. The company also has its own in-house engineering team, which it can deploy to execute against business goals.
The perks: Wheelhouse DMG matches up to 4 percent of an employee’s salary in 401(k) contributions. They also pay 100 percent of the costs for medical, dental and vision plans for employees, their spouses and children; maintain a fully-stocked bar; and offer free membership at a nearby rock climbing gym.
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