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My wife was a software engineer at a very big company (Fortune 50 / Dow Jones Industrial). At one point they decided to take the water coolers out of several b

My wife was a software engineer at a very big company (Fortune 50 / Dow Jones Industrial). At one point they decided to take the water coolers out of several buildings -- a move estimated to save half a million dollars a year. But one top-notch software engineer adds a lot more than that to the company's bottom line, so the move can very quickly become value-subtracting if it pushes someone over the edge to "I'm going to go to [competitor]" or "I'm going to go become a contractor". Even if they don't leave, there's a morale penalty applied every day when someone walks past where there used to be refreshments, and has to keep walking another 30 feet to the water fountain or vending machine. If there's one thing every company should understand about software, it's that top-notch people operating at high levels of morale are great for your bottom line. Being cheap about things like refreshments and office equipment ("you have to buy your own second monitor") is a morale killer.

pjungwir 13y ago
It occurs to me that it's not just about morale and retention. Refreshment sites are also where people communicate. So I wonder how many dollars someone in the company was paying management consultants to foster better internal communication when someone else pulled out the water coolers!
- kabdib 13y ago
  The place I work understands this. We have a company-wide lunch every week (not every day), and the intention is to get people together who wouldn't ordinarily be talking. It seems to work. I try to sit with new people then, rather than with my immediate cow-orkers, and I usually learn interesting things.
- sixothree 13y ago
  I work for a small company looking for a more space. When the president asked what one thing I would request from a new office space my answer was a dedicated place to sit and eat. What we lose by not socializing and chatting about projects is immense. And standing in the hall or in our small kitchen can really be a disruptor.
VLM 13y ago
"there's a morale penalty applied every day when someone walks past where there used to be refreshments, and has to keep walking another 30 feet to the water fountain or vending machine." True, but there's a measurable labor cost. My dept bathroom is at least 300 feet away. (You'd think that would be a building code violation or something). Anyway its a good extra 2 or 3 minutes of walking per visit. Lets say I stretch my legs 4 times per day. Thats perhaps 6 minutes per day for me, but in a 20 person department that's 2 developer hours per day. Lets say 2 hrs/day * $50/hr * 5 days/week * 52 weeks/yr = 26 grand per year. Remodeling to put a door in the wall to cut 2 minutes off the walk via a direct route might cost $5K, only 10 weeks till pure profit for the company. From a health standpoint I get up and walk every couple hours (no interest in experiencing leg embolisms or whatever, plus plain ole health reasons) so this wouldn't actually work, I'd just find another way to walk for about 1 minute every hour. But it shows the math is pretty fuzzy. In your situation the cooler situation was "several" and 500K/yr. Either you were getting overcharged or we're talking about more like 50, not "several". I live in an area where we have more fresh water than we know what to do with, I know its not like that out west, so I could see costs being a little higher, but not like Frank Herbert "Dune" level. Anyway from a purely financial standpoint I'm not sure in your example that they're actually saving even one penny of money.
- lotharbot 13y ago
  > "Either you were getting overcharged or we're talking about more like 50, not "several"" I don't know the number of buildings, but I suppose "many" is more accurate than "several". The company had over 80,000 employees in the region, and worldwide revenue measured in the tens of billions. Not surprisingly, there were some layoffs shortly after the water cooler cost-cutting debacle.
  - VLM 13y ago
    Assuming the $500K hydrated all 80K employees, that's over $6 per employee which sounds about right for bottled delivery. You can buy a bottle-less cooler for about $400 but then you pay for filters and repair, or pay about $10/mo per cooler but they take care of everything. So about right for bottles, a big high for bottle-less.
skore 13y ago
> If there's one thing every company should understand about software, it's that top-notch people operating at high levels of morale are great for your bottom line. Being cheap about things like refreshments and office equipment ("you have to buy your own second monitor") is a morale killer. You write "in software" and I thought about whether that applies to other areas as well and I do think there is a universal truth concerning creative work. But then it reminded me of the discussion about manager bonuses in banking around 2008 (and there has been one, occasionally, ever since). Now, in their case, we were talking about a constant stream of million dollar bonuses with the occasional hookers and blow. I guess the bottom line is: There are limits to what is sensible.

pjungwir 13y ago

It occurs to me that it's not just about morale and retention. Refreshment sites are also where people communicate. So I wonder how many dollars someone in the company was paying management consultants to foster better internal communication when someone else pulled out the water coolers!

kabdib 13y ago
The place I work understands this. We have a company-wide lunch every week (not every day), and the intention is to get people together who wouldn't ordinarily be talking. It seems to work. I try to sit with new people then, rather than with my immediate cow-orkers, and I usually learn interesting things.
sixothree 13y ago
I work for a small company looking for a more space. When the president asked what one thing I would request from a new office space my answer was a dedicated place to sit and eat. What we lose by not socializing and chatting about projects is immense. And standing in the hall or in our small kitchen can really be a disruptor.

VLM 13y ago

"there's a morale penalty applied every day when someone walks past where there used to be refreshments, and has to keep walking another 30 feet to the water fountain or vending machine." True, but there's a measurable labor cost. My dept bathroom is at least 300 feet away. (You'd think that would be a building code violation or something). Anyway its a good extra 2 or 3 minutes of walking per visit. Lets say I stretch my legs 4 times per day. Thats perhaps 6 minutes per day for me, but in a 20 person department that's 2 developer hours per day. Lets say 2 hrs/day * $50/hr * 5 days/week * 52 weeks/yr = 26 grand per year. Remodeling to put a door in the wall to cut 2 minutes off the walk via a direct route might cost $5K, only 10 weeks till pure profit for the company. From a health standpoint I get up and walk every couple hours (no interest in experiencing leg embolisms or whatever, plus plain ole health reasons) so this wouldn't actually work, I'd just find another way to walk for about 1 minute every hour. But it shows the math is pretty fuzzy. In your situation the cooler situation was "several" and 500K/yr. Either you were getting overcharged or we're talking about more like 50, not "several". I live in an area where we have more fresh water than we know what to do with, I know its not like that out west, so I could see costs being a little higher, but not like Frank Herbert "Dune" level. Anyway from a purely financial standpoint I'm not sure in your example that they're actually saving even one penny of money.

lotharbot 13y ago
> "Either you were getting overcharged or we're talking about more like 50, not "several"" I don't know the number of buildings, but I suppose "many" is more accurate than "several". The company had over 80,000 employees in the region, and worldwide revenue measured in the tens of billions. Not surprisingly, there were some layoffs shortly after the water cooler cost-cutting debacle.
- VLM 13y ago
  Assuming the $500K hydrated all 80K employees, that's over $6 per employee which sounds about right for bottled delivery. You can buy a bottle-less cooler for about $400 but then you pay for filters and repair, or pay about $10/mo per cooler but they take care of everything. So about right for bottles, a big high for bottle-less.

skore 13y ago

> If there's one thing every company should understand about software, it's that top-notch people operating at high levels of morale are great for your bottom line. Being cheap about things like refreshments and office equipment ("you have to buy your own second monitor") is a morale killer. You write "in software" and I thought about whether that applies to other areas as well and I do think there is a universal truth concerning creative work. But then it reminded me of the discussion about manager bonuses in banking around 2008 (and there has been one, occasionally, ever since). Now, in their case, we were talking about a constant stream of million dollar bonuses with the occasional hookers and blow. I guess the bottom line is: There are limits to what is sensible.