Why is Salesforce so stingy with "flashy" perks?
The NYC tower just had its Ohana Floor opening. It’s REALLY nice, spacious, incredible view, custom Steinway piano....And Free coffee.
That's it. We get free coffee. That's nice, but I just came from a tour of the Google office in NYC and wow did it make me almost bitter going back to my office that looks like a stale call center.
They have several cafeterias where they eat for free, here at the ohana lounge they might put out a tray of cookies. This is Midtown NYC we're talking about, eating out every day is a serious investment, and I don’t want to start bringing a lunchbox to work. I actually stopped working from our office when I realized that my coworkers and I spent roughly $30 a day on lunch and usually an afternoon outdoor coffee run. Working from home is saving me ~$500 a month
Another thing is the various employee rooms we have to unwind. They're just rooms with furniture. Nothing else, so that we can exercise "mindfulness". Wtf.
We don’t even get to personalize our desks, it’s literally a call center layout, look and feel.
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Think of it this way:
The company has a budget for hiring you. From their point of view you cost the sum total of your salary, bonuses, stocks, benefits, and perks.
The finance guy doesn't care whether you get your money as a perk or a direct deposit. Hits the bottom like just the same either way.
So would you prefer an extra $500 in your bank, or free food?
The Google guys get more perks and more salary than you. They just get paid more. But even there, if I get a choice my own preference would be extra money rather than extra perks.
I eat most of my meals at home with family and have a very light lunch so the free food isn't worth as much to me as more money. A single guy with no family probably does value getting dinner at work, not me though.
Think whatever you want but that’s the official reason we don’t have cafeteria inside any of our buildings.
Having said that, just start getting invited to lunch time meetings and we’ll almost always have lunch brought in of some sort.