What is an employee discount ?

An employee discount is given to employees as an incentive in working for a company, particularly those related to selling goods and services. The amount of employee discounts range from 10 to 30 percent and may vary greatly. However, an employee discount is usually not valid to services and products at sale prices.

Most stores that offer retail clothing provide its employees discounts on products. Since most stores require their employees to wear uniforms, allowing employees to buy at a discounted rate would still count as a sale and as free advertising on the employer’s end: it’s a win-win situation. For some stores, employees with a higher-level of position are given greater discounts. For instance, a sales associate gets up to 10% discount, while the store manager gets up to 40% discount.

Automotive industries may offer some employee discounts as a way to encourage their employees in driving new cars. While some believe that offering discounts to consumers may lessen or discontinue employee discounts, many employees find that receiving some commissions is better than not getting any, particularly if the products, or in this case cars, cannot sell at regular prices.

Some employee discounts extend to the employee’s family members; some offer this discount to the employee’s immediate family members, others give discounts even to distant family members. This depends largely on the store’s policies. Companies that have several branches may also offer an employee discount to any of the stores owned by the company.