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I'm pretty sure in the Bay Area most larger tech companies cargo-culted offering employees free fruit (and sometimes vegetables / crudite) -- the argument being
by cbhl 2y ago
I'm pretty sure in the Bay Area most larger tech companies cargo-culted offering employees free fruit (and sometimes vegetables / crudite) -- the argument being that having employees eat these instead of bagged chips/candy would reduce your health care spend in the long run.
- jszymborski 2y agoAm I wrong in thinking that this sounds sensible? I would imagine a corp can even probably directly negotiate a discount with their insurance provider by instating such measures.
- tomcar288 2y agoit sounds super sensible since metabsolic syndrome diseases people go to a doctor for are mostly preventable. But, these days I think most companies have sufficient layoffs to where the employees don't last long enough for it to matter.
- polotics 2y agowell, not quite: more fiber in your diet => less time per day spent on the toilet
- canadianfella 2y ago[dead]
- water-data-dude 2y agoFiber supplements are life changing. You go into the bathroom, you SCHLOOP out your business in ~15 seconds, and you’re done, like a deer in the woods! Wiping is practically a formality! It’s like getting years of your life back.
- red-iron-pine 2y agoyears of your life back? bro how long were you spending on there before?
- AlexeyBelov 2y agoFor some people 15-30 minutes per day is normal. Of course they are also browsing on their phone as well, it's not only shittin' time.
- tomcar288 2y agofiber supplements may well help that and more but if you want to get all the benefits, eat actual real food. Well informed researchers will tell you there's a lot of research that shows those supplements aren't nearly as helpful as actual fruits and vegetables.
- barbazoo 2y agoIt would make perfect sense in a world where employees get to stay with their employer for a long time. That's not tech though.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoEating healthy can have immediate health benefits in the same calendar year. Not everything is about long term disease. Besides that, the average tenure at intel is >10 years.
- ThrowawayR2 2y agoTech is bigger than just coders. Electrical engineers have not had the cornucopia of job-hopping opportunities that web developers have enjoyed over the past couple of decades.
- tgma 2y agoAlmost certainly at their scale they are the risk bearer of their primary employee health insurance offering and pay flat fees for administration of the plan. No negotiations necessary, just internal modeling.
- marcuskane2 2y agoIt's also just what the employees want. I don't want to eat a bag of processed garbage full of sugar, hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings and preservatives. But a banana or an apple, sure, good mid-afternoon snack. I'm probably a fairly normal eater for the demographic.
- barbazoo 2y ago> the argument being that having employees eat these instead of bagged chips/candy would reduce your health care spend in the long run. Source? It seems far fetched to assume employers making long term decisions in a world where people get laid off on a whim. What's the average seniority, couple of years? To me it seems more likely that it's what employees want.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoThe average tenure is about 10 years at intel. 50% of Intel has tenure over 5 years, 35% over 10 years, and 20% is over 20 years. The argument obviously isn't validated with RCT, but fruit is cheap so the financial argument is at least plausible and employees like it. Also, not all benefits of healthy eating are delayed.
- zifpanachr23 2y agoAt web companies maybe, but not tech in general (however we define that nowadays). At least that's been my experience. My mentors have each been 10+ years seniority at their respective companies.
- andrei_says_ 2y agoIt’s uncanny how much large employers’ treatment of employees at scale resembles the attitude farmers have toward cattle.
- red-iron-pine 2y agotreat your employees like you treat your docker containers
- watwut 2y agoThe argument I heard was that people like to have it available and it does not cost a lot. Kinds the same thing as having a free coffee, milk or whatever.