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So the premise of this story is this > The financial health of a company can be inferred from the quality, variety and cost to the employee of the snacks and b

So the premise of this story is this > The financial health of a company can be inferred from the quality, variety and cost to the employee of the snacks and beverages it offers its employees. It’s a fun thought experiment, but so obviously flawed. Plenty of failed companies offer these perks, plenty of successful companies don’t. Obviously companies going down-hill will reduce non-essential items to make payroll, and obviously companies on the decline are more likely to fail than others. There is no insight in this article.

MaysonL 8y ago
The insight comes at the end: If the snack and beverage options are better and more varied than they were on your last visit, you know that your client’s management is feeling bullish. If they’re the same, you know that the status quo is still in place. And if they have gotten noticeably worse? Consider yourself notified that you may very well in the near future have to push hard to keep your services or products from being axed too.
ThrowMeDown01 8y ago
The information is not in the thing itself as you say, it is in the first derivative, or in plain English, it is about the change. Not the presence of this or that perk, but when it was there and is taken away.
HenryBemis 8y ago
I agree with that assessment, we cannot be sure if it is the chicken or the egg. Which is the symptom and which is the root cause. Another notion of that is that when companies want to downsize (I have seen this multiple times(e.g. they need to relocate and they want to get rid of the current pool and get a new one in the new/cheaper location), they can/may/are using this tactic do make people "unhappy" with the current environment, make the experience/enjoyment poorer (no more drinks/pizzas on fridays). For this purpose (reduce headcount even while in profit) some anticipated actions are to shrink bonuses/raises, but removing someone's joyful moments definitely helps.
craftyguy 8y ago
In addition, it's just wrong in some cases. I've seen a company offer free beverages and also laying employees off at the same time.

MaysonL 8y ago

The insight comes at the end: If the snack and beverage options are better and more varied than they were on your last visit, you know that your client’s management is feeling bullish. If they’re the same, you know that the status quo is still in place. And if they have gotten noticeably worse? Consider yourself notified that you may very well in the near future have to push hard to keep your services or products from being axed too.

ThrowMeDown01 8y ago

The information is not in the thing itself as you say, it is in the first derivative, or in plain English, it is about the change. Not the presence of this or that perk, but when it was there and is taken away.

HenryBemis 8y ago

I agree with that assessment, we cannot be sure if it is the chicken or the egg. Which is the symptom and which is the root cause. Another notion of that is that when companies want to downsize (I have seen this multiple times(e.g. they need to relocate and they want to get rid of the current pool and get a new one in the new/cheaper location), they can/may/are using this tactic do make people "unhappy" with the current environment, make the experience/enjoyment poorer (no more drinks/pizzas on fridays). For this purpose (reduce headcount even while in profit) some anticipated actions are to shrink bonuses/raises, but removing someone's joyful moments definitely helps.

craftyguy 8y ago

In addition, it's just wrong in some cases. I've seen a company offer free beverages and also laying employees off at the same time.