4 ms·

I suspect it has as much to do with getting the company ready for IPO as much as anything else. Plenty of startups continue on with their "lavish perks". Also,

by gxs 10y ago

I suspect it has as much to do with getting the company ready for IPO as much as anything else. Plenty of startups continue on with their "lavish perks". Also, I'm skeptical of the 25k/employee/year estimate. Source: An acquaintance runs a large group over there.

x0x0 10y ago
lets assume food (lunch, snacks, coffee, soda, water, carbonated water) runs $25/day. That's high, based on a previous employer, but let's run with it. $25 * 5 * 50 = $6,250 What the hell are they spending $25k/year/employee on? I share your skepticism. Edit: I can't fully tell this story, because I remain anonymous on HN after a prick / top 10 poster here threatened my employer over my opinions on software development. But the partial story is still funny. A former employer had a cool toy in the office. It was something people noticed. There was a techcrunch story with wankers going on about wasted money, extravagant bullshit, the usual. The speculation on cost ranged from $25k to $100k. I had to register to point out that actual cost was well under $1k. How do I know? Friends/coworkers and I built it over the course of a couple evenings with tools borrowed from an employee's father. Parts ran well under $1k on amazon, even including the couple of six packs of beers we drank during construction.
- wpietri 10y ago
  Maybe they are including things like health care, 401k, etc? With that it wouldn't be hard to cross $25k.
  - x0x0 10y ago
    True, but that's a strange definition for perk then.
  - ant6n 10y ago
    Those are benefits. There's an important distinction between benefits and perks, which is something you sometimes have to explain to startups looking to hire when you ask them about benefits.
    - wpietri 10y ago
      I agree that one more commonly calls those benefits. But is there a bright line? It seems to vary a fair bit by country and situation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_benefit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_benefit Regardless, I'd still guess the $25k number includes both.
  - tyingq 10y ago
    I think they are...they do lump them together on this page: https://www.dropbox.com/jobs/perks https://www.dropbox.com/jobs/perks
- rmtew 10y ago
  Did you read the article? It mentioned unlimited guests to meals, with an open bar. As well as something like a gym washing service. It's clear in the article that there were more than meals, with these given as specific examples of cuts.
  - x0x0 10y ago
    I did. You'd have to average every employee having a guest for every meal to just double meal costs. Believe that? No? Even then the above math still leaves you well shy of $25k. How much do you think gym laundry costs? The wash & fold near me costs a couple dollars per pound. Your gym shorts, shirt, and socks do not weigh much.
- yuhong 10y ago
  because I remain anonymous on HN after a prick / top 10 poster here threatened my employer over my opinions on software development Which kinds of opinions were they?
ChuckMcM 10y ago
I found the $25K per employee per year estimate difficult as well. However, having been at Google while things were being 'scaled back' I did get a chance to see how some money was not being well spent. I am constrained from giving exact details however snacks (at least at the time) ended up going through a number of distribution "hands" each adding a bit of mark up which was doubling or tripling the cost to the company. At the scale of their consumption direct connections to manufacturers would have cut a ton of expense out of the snacks. Still, if we assume that the number does not include the wages for 11 paid days off and 2 weeks of vacation, (nominally "perks") 25,000 / 50 weeks is an even 500 a week or $100 a day in consumables. Paying for additional staff for massages etc adds up quickly but its tough to hit those numbers.

by gxs 10y ago

x0x0 10y ago

lets assume food (lunch, snacks, coffee, soda, water, carbonated water) runs $25/day. That's high, based on a previous employer, but let's run with it. $25 * 5 * 50 = $6,250 What the hell are they spending $25k/year/employee on? I share your skepticism. Edit: I can't fully tell this story, because I remain anonymous on HN after a prick / top 10 poster here threatened my employer over my opinions on software development. But the partial story is still funny. A former employer had a cool toy in the office. It was something people noticed. There was a techcrunch story with wankers going on about wasted money, extravagant bullshit, the usual. The speculation on cost ranged from $25k to $100k. I had to register to point out that actual cost was well under $1k. How do I know? Friends/coworkers and I built it over the course of a couple evenings with tools borrowed from an employee's father. Parts ran well under $1k on amazon, even including the couple of six packs of beers we drank during construction.

wpietri 10y ago
Maybe they are including things like health care, 401k, etc? With that it wouldn't be hard to cross $25k.
- x0x0 10y ago
  True, but that's a strange definition for perk then.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Those are benefits. There's an important distinction between benefits and perks, which is something you sometimes have to explain to startups looking to hire when you ask them about benefits.
  - wpietri 10y ago
    I agree that one more commonly calls those benefits. But is there a bright line? It seems to vary a fair bit by country and situation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_benefit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_benefit Regardless, I'd still guess the $25k number includes both.
- tyingq 10y ago
  I think they are...they do lump them together on this page: https://www.dropbox.com/jobs/perks https://www.dropbox.com/jobs/perks
rmtew 10y ago
Did you read the article? It mentioned unlimited guests to meals, with an open bar. As well as something like a gym washing service. It's clear in the article that there were more than meals, with these given as specific examples of cuts.
- x0x0 10y ago
  I did. You'd have to average every employee having a guest for every meal to just double meal costs. Believe that? No? Even then the above math still leaves you well shy of $25k. How much do you think gym laundry costs? The wash & fold near me costs a couple dollars per pound. Your gym shorts, shirt, and socks do not weigh much.
yuhong 10y ago
because I remain anonymous on HN after a prick / top 10 poster here threatened my employer over my opinions on software development Which kinds of opinions were they?

ChuckMcM 10y ago

I found the $25K per employee per year estimate difficult as well. However, having been at Google while things were being 'scaled back' I did get a chance to see how some money was not being well spent. I am constrained from giving exact details however snacks (at least at the time) ended up going through a number of distribution "hands" each adding a bit of mark up which was doubling or tripling the cost to the company. At the scale of their consumption direct connections to manufacturers would have cut a ton of expense out of the snacks. Still, if we assume that the number does not include the wages for 11 paid days off and 2 weeks of vacation, (nominally "perks") 25,000 / 50 weeks is an even 500 a week or $100 a day in consumables. Paying for additional staff for massages etc adds up quickly but its tough to hit those numbers.