Free booze. Gourmet meals. Gym memberships, unlimited snacks, nap pods, bowling alleys, massage chairs, and complimentary laundry service.
Is it:
- What is normal life like for Harry and Megan?
- How do major college football players get through their week?
- Regular, everyday perks that workers at big tech companies are starting to lose?
If you guessed 3, you are correct, and if you work for Meta, Google, Apple, or other formerly freewheeling Silicon Valley hotspots, you are crying in your pilsner ale, butternut squash soup, and duck l’orange about it.
Inflation and the recession bring pain to all sectors, including employees at major tech companies used to being spoiled rotten at work.
A story in the NY Post questions if the days of the “tech bro” era are over or on their last legs.
Meta dumped the free laundry and dry cleaning. Google said no more expensing lunch deliveries and fitness classes.
The Post story quoted several employees who seem to be struggling with the perk train coming to a screeching halt.
Here’s what Christen Nino De Guzman said in the story. She previously worked at Meta and TikTok.
“The biggest perk of Instagram was definitely food. I really didn’t have to go grocery shopping. All three meals were served in the company’s incredible office. They employed Michelin-star chefs to work in the kitchen. The food was really high quality and made to accommodate every dietary restriction.”
Kenneth Waks used to work at Google. He was traumatized when he had to say goodbye to the keg parties and his favorite amenity.
“The bowling alley. They also had so many game rooms and TV rooms. There was beer and alcohol everywhere; you could just take it whenever you wanted. It was like scouts’ honor with anything there. The fact that the offices were 24/7 was great too. On weekends, I would take the shuttle to the office to use the gym, grab some snacks, sit in the massage chair for a while, then head home.”
Can an industry of entitled workers find a way to survive a corporate work environment that does not include a meditation room?
Time will tell. They could always try to get a job at Twitter, where employees have been told they can work from home the rest of their life – or until Elon takes over.
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