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In-house counsel are earning less than their law firm counterparts, but they're more likely to get fun benefits, a new survey finds.

Legal consulting company Special Counsel released the results of its 2019 Salary Guide for Legal Professionals Tuesday. The guide comes from a survey of more than 6,000 legal professionals, including around 1,000 in-house counsel, from various sized firms and companies in 60 U.S. cities.

Responding chief legal officers and general counsel had an average total cash compensation of $333,467 and a base salary of $248,830. Equity partners at firms reported an average total cash compensation of $732,047 with a $421,508 base salary.

Associate GCs and assistant GCs reported an average $199,387 base salary and $222,691 total cash compensation. Senior counsel averaged $216,753 in total cash compensation and counsel averaged $153,370. At firms, senior associates had an average $240,785 in total compensation.

“We were noticing that benefits were playing a bigger role, especially when you were looking at attorneys looking to leave big law. Knowing that they were going to take some type of pay cut, what do the benefits look like?” Amanda Ellis, senior vice president of legal staffing at Special Counsel, told The Recorder affiliate Corporate Counsel. “And that's where we started seeing people being more interested in the nontraditional benefits rather than traditional benefits.”

Company lawyers reported perks of the job outside of salary. Almost 20 percent of in-house legal teams offer paid volunteer time to employees. Forty percent offered an on-site gym or wellness benefit and 18 percent had an on-site cafeteria or offered paid meals.

Special Counsel said allowing pets at work, car allowances and extra days off were inexpensive, popular extra perks companies offered. This year is the first time Special Counsel included benefits in its analysis because of an observed shift in what employees want from employers.

“Where the corporations came out ahead were on things like the paid sabbaticals, for example. Most of the people who responded with that answer came from a corporate legal department,” Ellis said. “We had several of our in-house candidates talk about experience bonuses, where the company or the legal department would pay them a set amount … to take that trip they want to take, or go to a concert they want to attend. Something that makes them happy.”

Law firms may not have flashy perks, but they do offer more traditional benefits.

Nearly half of surveyed firms offered paid paternity/maternity leave, compared to 35 percent of in-house departments. More than 10 percent of firms also offered on-site or emergency child care. Most respondents from medium and large firms, as well as in-house departments, were offered flexible work schedules or arrangements.

“Part of it is law firms steeped in tradition and history [are] reluctant to make drastic changes like bringing pets to work. Maybe a smaller firm, but I don't see many big firms doing that on a regular basis,” Ellis said.

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