For me, 2015 was a blur of news stories about PTO, parentalleave, wellness and other vital components of the office culture,like free snacks. (Sure, there were a couple of other littleevents, like the Supreme Court subsidies case and carrier mergersand all that, but I'm talking about the real juicy stuff).

It all seems to point to one thing: Workplace benefits aresteadily becoming more employee-driven and unconventional. Dare Isay that matching 401(k)s and robust benefits packages, withmedical, life insurance and disability, are so 2014.

I think 2016 will be the year of nontraditional benefits—ormaybe more appropriately, the year of nontraditional workplaceperks.

Here are four of my predictions around nontraditional perks:

Flexible time will be bigger than ever. Thismay not be a benefit in the coming year as much as an employerstrategy. More than ever, employees are clamoring for flexible workhours—and it's about time employers listen up. Survey findings bytech staffing firm Modis underline the importance of flexible workhours: More than half of employees say they are among the mostimportant workplace perks. “People are happier when they are ableto take care of things when they come up,” Jack Cullen, presidentof Modis, told CNBC. “I think employers are recognizing this isreal, and (flexible hours) is a way to really attract and keeppeople.”

More negotiation in benefits will become thenorm. OK, this one isn't mine alone; a survey justconfirmed it too. According to Robert Half, 43 percent of CFOs saythey are willing to negotiate perks and benefits with newemployees. And 40 percent say they are more open to negotiatingthan in the past, compared to only 6 percent who are less open thanpreviously. Expect it to be more common for new employees tonegotiate perks such as more PTO days in the coming year.

Parental leave will remain in the public eye.Tech giants including Netflix, Adobe and Facebook garnered a lot ofattention and praise in 2015 when they expanded their parentalleave policies. Sure, not every company will follow suit, but whereSilicon Valley leads, others will follow. Presidential candidatesare weighing in on parental leave as well, ensuring that it becomesan election issue.

Unconventional wellness. We can't talk aboutbenefits trends without talking about wellness. Every HR conferenceI attended this year put wellness in the spotlight, not PPACA.There was a significant jump in wellness offerings from 2014 to2015, and they will only jump more in the coming year. Whileemployers are continuing standard wellness practices such assmoking cessation programs and premium discounts for getting anannual risk assessment, I'd put my money on a rise inout-of-the-box wellness offerings too—including company-providedfitness trackers; corporate challenges, yoga and other fitnessclasses at the office and maybe even (yikes) “Biggest Loser”-typecompetitions.