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At least speaking to just cafeterias, if Google can forecast what their employees would've wanted to spend their money on, and then purchase that more efficient
by threatofrain 6y ago
At least speaking to just cafeterias, if Google can forecast what their employees would've wanted to spend their money on, and then purchase that more efficiently than they could, then that is a way for Google to transfer increased value to their employees.
- sokoloff 6y agoIf the cafeterias were for the employer convenience, they can purchase it more efficiently by 1/(1 - Tm) where Tm is the marginal income tax rate, which for Googlers is generally over 40% (combined federal and state and Medicare). If the lunch is worth $12 to the employee, Google would have had to otherwise pay them $20 to leave them with enough to buy lunch after tax if their marginal rate was 40% combined. Google can probably provide it for $10, which is likely at least 50% deductible to Google.
- tdeck 6y agoAlthough in an odd twist Google catering charged teams $40+/head for a so-so buffet dinner. I assume the ordinary culinary is much more cost effective.
- shaftway 6y agoMan, they forecasted that a *lot* of us wanted to eat kale.
- sdenton4 6y agoThe less obvious nicety of company cafeterias is that employees can talk about confidential things without worrying about being overheard... It's very good for encouraging collaboration.