THE steamboat buffet spread is sumptuous. Fresh supplies of crabs, prawns and scallops, among other goodies, are constantly replenished as the delicious scent of bubbling hot pots and barbecued meat fills the room.

This is not a scene at a restaurant, but the staff cafeteria at supermarket chain Sheng Siong's head office in Woodlands.

Its 3,000 staff enjoy one free meal a day - a buffet-style one for those who work at its headquarters and boxed meals for the rest. These are prepared in a central kitchen and cost the company $2 million a year.

The chain's staff are not the only ones lapping up some tasty treats. Other companies, too, are pampering staff and motivating them with such perks.

At Singapore Marriott Hotel, keeping its staff happy is a serious business. It spent $1 million last year to refurbish the staff area, with luxuries such as massage chairs and Nintendo Wii game consoles.

The revamped area costs the hotel $65,000 a month to run, but director of human resource services and training Lynn Chia reckons it is money well spent, saying that if staff are well taken care of, 'they will take good care of our customers and the customers will keep coming back'.

LifeStyle's check on corporates spending bucks to buck up workers' lives also found a booze distributor that boasts an in-house bar, and, on a more altruistic note, companies that even pay for workers to do volunteer service, among others.

Over at Sheng Shiong, its buffet spread began in 1985 when the chain opened its first outlet in Ang Mo Kio, says its board secretary and corporate affairs manager Tan Ching Fern.

Once a month, the lucky ones at the head office are treated to the steamboat buffet. 'This tradition helps to maintain a sense of togetherness. It also saves our staff the trouble of having to buy food somewhere else,' she says.

Booze distributor Diageo's employees have plenty of reason to say cheers. They get to enjoy a swanky in-house bar right smack in a corner of its downtown office.

With floor-to-ceiling windows and plush sofas, the bar area has breathtaking views over the Padang and beyond, and is open to customers, friends and family members of its staff.

All employees can help themselves freely to the coffee machine and soft drinks at the bar any time during the day.

However, when it comes to an actual tipple of the hard stuff, Ms Yap Hwee Jen, Diageo's communications manager for Asia Pacific, says its Employee Alcohol Policy limits alcohol consumption to 'only after office hours'.

Still, the bar stays open till 9pm on weekdays, providing ample opportunity to quaff a wine or two. And LifeStyle understands that while the prospect of free booze would cause some to over-indulge, Diageo's appreciative staff do not abuse their privilege.

Indeed, Ms Yap says proudly: 'As the world's leading alcohol beverage company, a bar is the perfect venue to showcase our portfolio of No. 1 brands.'

At the Singapore Marriott Hotel, its staff area has been renamed Club B2 and includes a cafe, a lounge, dressing rooms with lockers and shower facilities, as well as rooms with beds for catching naps in-between shifts.

The club is at the basement of the hotel - hence the name - and boasts free meals, Playstations and Nintendo Wii game consoles, five large LCD television sets with cable channels and two top-of-the-range massage chairs.

Guest relations agent Calvin Rabendharen, 24, heads for the game consoles after grabbing his meal almost every day and says he would opt for an in-house club such as this rather than monetary rewards.

'When it comes to money, you can find it anywhere,' says Mr Rabendharen, who has been with Marriott for almost two years. 'But there aren't many companies which will go the extra mile to provide facilities for their staff to unwind.'

Marriott's Ms Chia says no one has been caught abusing the system - eating more meals than they should or playing computer games when they should be working.

'Our associates are disciplined enough and we treat them like the adults they are,' she says.

The hotel refers to all its 500 or so employees as 'associates'.

Not to be outdone, Shangri-La Hotel also launched a new restaurant, Our Cafe, last September for its 1,000 staff.

Unlike most hotel staff cafeterias that rely on external food vendors to prepare and serve meals for their employees, Our Cafe is managed the same as any of the hotel's other restaurants, except that it caters exclusively to the hotel's employees.

Meanwhile, some companies opt for less tangible ways to motivate their staff, such as fast-food giant McDonald's which lets its employees all over the world compete in an American Idol-style singing contest to be the Voice Of McDonald's and stand a chance of launching a singing career.

Global express service provider TNT encourages its staff to do volunteer work under its School Feeding Programme, where they volunteer overseas for three months while continuing to draw their monthly salaries.

So far, 36 TNT employees, five of whom are from its Singapore office, have taken part in the programme. They did work such as building wells and fuel-efficient stoves for villagers in Cambodia. The first batch went in 2003.

Property giant CapitaLand also supports volunteerism by granting three days of paid volunteer service leave for employees to take part in legitimate charitable activities related to the needy and underprivileged here and overseas.

Describing the provision of perks as 'random acts of kindness' by companies, human resource expert David Leong says benefits go beyond laptops, Blackberrys or Formula One tickets.

'In a war for talent, many companies will do everything they can to attract and retain (them),' says Mr Leong, who is the managing director of PeopleWorldwide Consulting.

'Money is not the only thing that drives these talents, it is also what companies will provide to make their lives a little better,' he adds.

Additional reporting by Chung Ming See

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