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We had something akin to this happen at my company. For context, this is a well established mid-sized company with around 5000 employees. Some beancounter dec

We had something akin to this happen at my company. For context, this is a well established mid-sized company with around 5000 employees. Some beancounter decided that they could no longer afford to subsidize the plastic spoons in the break rooms. So they announced that when the current stock ran out, they would not be replacing it. The backlash was pretty strong. Not because engineers can't afford plastic spoons of their own, or some other alternative, but because it was such a petty thing. These spoons come in cases of 1000 for under 10 bucks, so nobody can argue with a straight face that it was about the cost. I don't know that anyone actually quit over it, but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

conradfr 4y ago
They should have said it was to save the planet.
jmharvey 4y ago
This reminds me of a startup CFO I worked with, who could see the big picture. In the early days of the company, they worked in an office that shared a bathroom with a half dozen other companies. And the toilet paper in said bathroom was terrible. Like, not just standard-office-building terrible. Really, really bad. So CFO takes it upon himself to rectify the situation. He orders a couple dozen rolls of standard-issue "premium" office toilet paper (still not that great relative to home-use TP, but good by office standards) and leaves it in the bathroom. Two days later, it's gone: someone (not clear whether it was someone at the startup or one of the neighboring companies) decided to take it home with them. Everyone in the office starts grumbling about the state of the TP situation again. Not to be outdone, CFO places another order; several cases this time. And it takes a few more days, but sure enough, it all disappears. At this point, CFO is fed up. He orders two full pallets of TP. After lunch one day, several volunteers unload the toilet paper. Multiple stacks, floor to ceiling, in the bathroom. More stacks in the supply closet. Stacks in the hallway. Stacks in the lobby. Everywhere you look, there's toilet paper. And if people were stealing TP after that, it wasn't at a rate that anyone could notice. Including the ongoing costs for the subsequent 18 months until they moved out of that building, the "unlimited TP" policy might have cost the company $10k. But it bought a lot more than that in terms of employee goodwill. Knowing that the bean counters are focusing on "our employees are producing a product worth $x; let's figure out how to have them do more of that" makes a big difference.

conradfr 4y ago

They should have said it was to save the planet.

jmharvey 4y ago

This reminds me of a startup CFO I worked with, who could see the big picture. In the early days of the company, they worked in an office that shared a bathroom with a half dozen other companies. And the toilet paper in said bathroom was terrible. Like, not just standard-office-building terrible. Really, really bad. So CFO takes it upon himself to rectify the situation. He orders a couple dozen rolls of standard-issue "premium" office toilet paper (still not that great relative to home-use TP, but good by office standards) and leaves it in the bathroom. Two days later, it's gone: someone (not clear whether it was someone at the startup or one of the neighboring companies) decided to take it home with them. Everyone in the office starts grumbling about the state of the TP situation again. Not to be outdone, CFO places another order; several cases this time. And it takes a few more days, but sure enough, it all disappears. At this point, CFO is fed up. He orders two full pallets of TP. After lunch one day, several volunteers unload the toilet paper. Multiple stacks, floor to ceiling, in the bathroom. More stacks in the supply closet. Stacks in the hallway. Stacks in the lobby. Everywhere you look, there's toilet paper. And if people were stealing TP after that, it wasn't at a rate that anyone could notice. Including the ongoing costs for the subsequent 18 months until they moved out of that building, the "unlimited TP" policy might have cost the company $10k. But it bought a lot more than that in terms of employee goodwill. Knowing that the bean counters are focusing on "our employees are producing a product worth $x; let's figure out how to have them do more of that" makes a big difference.