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WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

time.com

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Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#191

Post by charmides »

downandout wrote: post #160
poulsbohemian wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love your profile message, you pretty much nailed what's going on with HN. Just keep posting, it's the only way to improve things.

It’s definitely getting more and more extreme around here. The fact that this article made it to the front page, and is generally being viewed as a good thing in the comments section, doesn’t say good things about where HN is headed.

This isn't about where HN is headed. There has been a social shift happening in many countries in the last few years where veganism has stopped being a fringe movement and is entering the Overton window. You should expect to see more and more articles like this in the media, and to see increasingly positive reactions towards them.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#192

Post by cjbprime »

> In an email to employees this week outlining the new policy, co-founder Miguel McKelvey said the firm’s upcoming internal "Summer Camp" retreat would offer no meat options for attendees.

Unlike some commenters, I'm okay with this! But the carbon cost of flying thousands of their employees on transatlantic return flights to the UK for this Summer Camp will be orders of magnitude greater than the carbon cost of any food choices, so it seems like an insincere concern.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#193

Post by curioussavage »

whack wrote: post #142
bunderbunder wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not be hyperbolic here. Serving food that doesn't happen to contain meat isn't forcing you to be vegetarian any more than serving only soft drinks at an event would be forcing you to be a teetotaler.

That's a pretty great analogy. Lots of businesses have a no-alcohol policy. No one even bats an eye when it's mentioned. I hardly see anyone complaining about such companies pushing a lifestyle agenda.

Alcohol is not a good example. Alcohol at work causes so many problems.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#194

Post by spinnn »

PKop wrote: post #45

This is the anti-humanistic mindset that prioritizes "no impact" on nature above all else, instead of prioritizing human well being / human flourishing, which itself would account for environmental stewardship, but not to the level of sacrificing health to avoid eating animals (the healthiest option).

What evidence do you have for this? Along with the environmental devastation and the obscene cruelty of factory farming, the overwhelmingly negative health effects of meat and dairy consumption are the third pillar in the triumvirate of reasons to go vegan, or at the very least to limit and reduce consumption of animal products. For example, the World Health Organization classifies processed meats (bacon, salami etc) as group 1 carcinogens, meaning they are known to cause cancer. Processed meats may be the worst, but the health impacts of other meats and dairy products aren't a whole lot better. Combine those facts with the plethora of meat substitutes and plant-based dining options now available, and plant-based diets are increasingly becoming an easy and obvious choice.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#195

Post by meowface »

jp_sc wrote: post #8
meowface wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, this is the side of history that will eventually win out. In 50-100 years from now, expect this kind of arrangement to be very common with American companies.

I believe sintetic meat will be the most common in 50-100 years, so I don't think so.

My statement is exclusionary of synthetic meat. I was referring to "real meat".

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#196

Post by [deleted] »

charmides wrote: post #93
lozenge wrote: post #19

Is anybody being flown to this summer camp? A couple hours on a plane can match a few months of meat-free lunches. Especially considering employees might partially compensate with their non-expensed meals.

"A couple hours on a plane can match a few months of meat-free lunches." I think you are mistaken there. Maybe if you only care about CO2 emissions, but meat production is also incredibly wasteful on resources like water, and is at least objectionable from an animal welfare standpoint.

[deleted]

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#197

Post by ntqz »

pera wrote: post #92
kozikow wrote: post #14

I and a few of my past co-workers have been suspecting that the facilities team in a big tech company I used to work for had an evil genius plan to reduce costs: 1. Pick the most popular snack (e.g. nachos) 2. Replace it with less tasty alternative (e.g. kale chips) "for your health" 3. Consumption is a few times smaller 4. The company can claim they take better care of their workers and no one can accuse them of bei…

That could easily backfire though (healthier chips are usually much more expensive), specially because kale chips are delicious :)

Plus the increase in toilet paper usage and loss of productive time with all the additional fiber that everyone's getting.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#198

Post by donalhunt »

pcunite wrote: post #65

"New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact," said McKelvey in the memo, "even more than switching to a hybrid car." What research?

Here's one example from the European Commission: http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=2359

the tl;dr is that 2% of overall environmental impact in the EU27 could reduced by switching to a Mediterranean style diet (reduced red meat but not 100% non-meat diet).

And PNAS have another study which used data covering 66% of the global population: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/11/28/1711889114

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#199

Post by throwawayou812 »

munificent wrote: post #184
downandout wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serving food that doesn't happen to contain meat isn't forcing you to be vegetarian Sure it is. There will be situations where employees have no choice but to eat company-sponsored food. Mandatory working lunches, dinner with potential clients (I’d love for them to take me to dinner as a potential client/partner and tell me I can’t order a steak...), etc. In those situations, they are indeed “forcing you to be a vege…

That's a real stretch. If the company refused to pay for an escort, they aren't forcing me to be celibate. They aren't affecting my identity they are just choosing not to pay for a certain act .

I dare say this is a horrible comparison. There are no circumstances under which employees are expected, or even required, to have sex at work (presumably at least not at a mainstream tech startup). There are, however, many situations where employees would be expected/required to eat company-sponsored meals.

Re: WeWork Will No Longer Let Employees Expense Any Kind of Meat

#200

Post by natrik »

downandout wrote: post #186
curo wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, you call false equivalence, I call petty fogging if you need your analogies to be perfect. So to make it a proper example: what if your employer had a job benefit to reimburse gas & electric car expenses to visit clients, and then later decided to stop reimbursing gas. Also, considering WeWork is taking this stance, if a WeWork boss takes you to a restaurant whose only vegetarian option is a garden salad, th…

Again, false equivalence. I’m not being forced to use either form of energy. However, as an employee at WeWork, there are situations where I would be forced to eat WeWork-sponsored meals, to which this policy applies. Edit: Since my comment no longer makes sense because you completely changed yours long after I replied to it (not a cool thing to do), I think your electric/gas car analogy would be extremely problemati…

Individuals requiring “medical or religious” allowances are being referred to the company’s policy team to discuss options.

In the rare occasions where you absolutely need meat it would be available...

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