Health benefits, field trips and free snacks are nice, but the best job perk any employee could ask for is cold hard cash.

I mean, you can't pay your rent with KIND bars, and you certainly can't convince a bank that having "summer hours" qualifies you for a mortgage.

This in mind, a Collingwood, Ontario-based engineering firm just launched what it calls a "First-Time Home Buyers' Assistance Program" — a benefit that provides each employee with up to $20,000 to help fund a down payment on the purchase of their first home.

"The program is designed to address the evolving needs of employees and help remove the barriers to home ownership," said C.F. Crozier & Associates Inc. in a statement when announcing the unusually-generous work perk.

With more than 200 employees across four offices in Collingwood, Toronto, Milton and Bradford, that's no small sum. Should all 200 workers take advantage of the benefit, it would cost Crozier about $4 million.

Crozier is proud to officially launch the First-Time Home Buyers’ Assistance Program which provides a contribution of up to $20,000 per employee to help fund the down payment on the purchase of their first home. Click to learn more: #TheCrozierWay #FirstTimeHomeBuyer

— Crozier: Consulting Engineers (@CrozierEngineer) June 23, 2021

The multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm, which specializes in private sector land development, says its new program is "part of Crozier's ongoing investment to enhance the employee experience and establish the firm as an industry leader championing professional and personal development."

It will no doubt also serve to attract and retain top talent within a highly-competitive field, especially in a real estate market where the cost of living is often seen as prohibitive.

"We have seen first-hand the increasing demand for residential development and the frustrating situations our employees find themselves in, such as extreme bidding wars, when trying to buy their first home in today's market," said Crozier's president, Nick Mocan.

"We established the First-Time Home Buyers' Assistance Program as a creative way to help make home ownership a reality for our employees because we strongly believe that their personal growth is as important as their career growth."

For those interested and qualified, the company is currently hiring across all four of its offices for positions such as executive assistant, HR business partner, project manager, CAD designer, and all types of engineer.