3 ms·

At google in particular isn’t the on-site food and entertainment a big perk? Seems like even a slightly worse employee retention rate could really cut into this

by eli 6y ago

At google in particular isn’t the on-site food and entertainment a big perk? Seems like even a slightly worse employee retention rate could really cut into this savings.

jeffbee 6y ago
This is what I wonder about Dropbox. There wasn’t really any particular reason to work there except the food. The RSUs weren’t going anywhere, the technical culture wasn’t amazing, but the food was incredible. In a 100% remote Dropbox, did they bump everybody’s comp by 20%?
- tdeck 6y ago
  They gave them a debit card that covers $1.75k in expenses (groceries, meals, exercise equipment, etc...) every 3 months. Or at least that's what I heard from my brother who works at Dropbox.
- baetylus 6y ago
  What constitutes an excellent tech culture in your view? Just curious
  - jeffbee 6y ago
    Eh, I could complain about it at length if you get me started but the root cause is they have a process where you have to take all your ideas before a committee of senior engineers and get permission to do anything, and the people who are on the committee are unfortunately not qualified for that purpose, they just happened to have been early employees who blundered into fancy job titles. Aside from that there's also a special clique who do whatever they want to do without regard to that process and the existence of the clique is incredibly corrosive to morale within engineering. Coming from Google, where you definitely do not need to bow and scrape before Jeff and Sanjay, and even if you did they are both gods who are more than qualified to comment on your ideas, the Dropbox system was a big shock.
    - baetylus 6y ago
      Ah, I understand. That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
Bluecobra 6y ago
I don’t give a rat’s behind about free food and entertainment. It’s nice, but being able to avoid the chaos of an open office and a long commute is nicer.
- seedless-sensat 6y ago
  Honestly, I (childishly) felt dependant on the Google office perks. I didn't want to work anywhere else. It was only after the office closed, I reevaluated my priorities, and subsequently quit Google. WFH will impact Google's retention. It is no longer a differentiated company.
  - paxys 6y ago
    On the other hand "Google perks" which were once revolutionary are now standard at every tech company in silicon valley. They stopped being the differentiator a long time ago.
- paxys 6y ago
  These perks are mostly targeted towards younger employees, who don't want to spend time cooking their own food, want to live in the city and use company shuttles to commute, don't care about getting out of the office early to get back to their kids, want to have more options to socialize.
- compiler-guy 6y ago
  The value people find in the Google perks is definitely mixed and vary from person to person, and hard to know what the net-net result is. I personally hate to deal with lunch and breakfast (but cook dinner all the time). So the food was a great bonus for me. I get that this isn't true for everyone.

by eli 6y ago

At google in particular isn’t the on-site food and entertainment a big perk? Seems like even a slightly worse employee retention rate could really cut into this savings.

jeffbee 6y ago

This is what I wonder about Dropbox. There wasn’t really any particular reason to work there except the food. The RSUs weren’t going anywhere, the technical culture wasn’t amazing, but the food was incredible. In a 100% remote Dropbox, did they bump everybody’s comp by 20%?

tdeck 6y ago
They gave them a debit card that covers $1.75k in expenses (groceries, meals, exercise equipment, etc...) every 3 months. Or at least that's what I heard from my brother who works at Dropbox.
baetylus 6y ago
What constitutes an excellent tech culture in your view? Just curious
- jeffbee 6y ago
  Eh, I could complain about it at length if you get me started but the root cause is they have a process where you have to take all your ideas before a committee of senior engineers and get permission to do anything, and the people who are on the committee are unfortunately not qualified for that purpose, they just happened to have been early employees who blundered into fancy job titles. Aside from that there's also a special clique who do whatever they want to do without regard to that process and the existence of the clique is incredibly corrosive to morale within engineering. Coming from Google, where you definitely do not need to bow and scrape before Jeff and Sanjay, and even if you did they are both gods who are more than qualified to comment on your ideas, the Dropbox system was a big shock.
  - baetylus 6y ago
    Ah, I understand. That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

Bluecobra 6y ago

I don’t give a rat’s behind about free food and entertainment. It’s nice, but being able to avoid the chaos of an open office and a long commute is nicer.

seedless-sensat 6y ago
Honestly, I (childishly) felt dependant on the Google office perks. I didn't want to work anywhere else. It was only after the office closed, I reevaluated my priorities, and subsequently quit Google. WFH will impact Google's retention. It is no longer a differentiated company.
- paxys 6y ago
  On the other hand "Google perks" which were once revolutionary are now standard at every tech company in silicon valley. They stopped being the differentiator a long time ago.
paxys 6y ago
These perks are mostly targeted towards younger employees, who don't want to spend time cooking their own food, want to live in the city and use company shuttles to commute, don't care about getting out of the office early to get back to their kids, want to have more options to socialize.
compiler-guy 6y ago
The value people find in the Google perks is definitely mixed and vary from person to person, and hard to know what the net-net result is. I personally hate to deal with lunch and breakfast (but cook dinner all the time). So the food was a great bonus for me. I get that this isn't true for everyone.