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Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

businessinsider.com

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Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#331

Post by craftyguy »

a3n wrote: post #315
craftyguy wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost like we need a system of government where officials are held accountable for decisions they make in office years later when they prove to be incredibly poor decisions. The current system allows them to make long term decisions and get away with it since it does not impact them (term limits, etc help with that)

Which politicians from which decades will we hold responsible for allowing explosive tech growth without a plan for the long time residents, service workers and teachers who can no longer afford to live in the area, unless they live on the sidewalk or the bus? Surely this was foreseeable.

That's silly.

Probably the ones that chose to pick low hanging fruit (cue this article) rather than actually start to plan for long term solutions to big (existing) problems.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#332

Post by s73v3r_ »

thecommentary wrote: post #287
null000 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see these types of comments, and I have a really hard time viewing them as anything but pretty entitled. I mean, yeah, it's unfortunate for those who won't get free lunches anymore (I'm currently part of the group that does, although I'm not in the bay area) but it's not like you deserve free food as a perk any more than any other random worker. If it were my company inflicting the decision on me after a record ear…

Why don't you deserve the free food more? It's a job benefit that the company provides to entice talent (and yeah to keep people at their desks). Do you not deserve the high pay as well any more than any other random worker?

No. I can tell you that most minimum wage workers are working far, far, far harder than most of the people in this board, myself included.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#333

Post by really3452 »

Ummm, just pack a lunch? Really, why would you spend a bunch of time in the middle of your work day to go out for lunch. I just want to get my work done so I can enjoy rest of the day. Seriously, on days I forget to bring lunch I just skip it and eat later, no big deal.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#334

Post by iamdave »

StudentStuff wrote: post #215
iamdave wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And is already stretching that tiny town thin wrt housing. I gtfo. Felt like the San Francisco of Texas, and not in a way I felt like fighting/putting up with.

Its impressive how a whole corner of the city has been rebuilt for Apple. Not saying I'd wanna live down there, that area has basically no bus service, and is straddled on all sides by freeways and highways (making walking/biking risky), but $1k will get you a decent 1 bed/1 bath apartment blocks from the office. That being said, Apple pays people peanuts down there, $32k/yr as a contractor ain't much.

That being said, Apple pays people peanuts down there, $32k/yr as a contractor ain't much.

This is a problem across the entire tech industry. When it comes to staff and employees who don't have three letters following their name, one of them the letter "C", there's the engineers who make six figures, and then there's everybody else.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#335

Post by smokey_the_bear »

justizin wrote: post #188

I can see the motivation here for the SF legislation, it is problematic that we tend not to leave the office for lunch, but there are some major issues that the author, Asha Safai, has clearly missed: (a) Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Genentech are grandfathered into their cafeterias, and it's fairly unlikely any other companies will build cafeterias. (b) This is partially because most companies are too small for a…

I worked at Genentech in 2004. My recollection is that there are zero restaurants nearby, and that I had to park in garage and then ride a shuttle to the office due to limited parking. Not having the excellent cafeteria would have been a hassle there.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#336

Post by orky56 »

justinzollars wrote: post #114

I'm sorry but this is so f*cking stupid. As a Bay Area resident my priorities are the cost of housing, cleaning our dirty streets and alleviating traffic congestion. This is an example of progressivism gone awry. Solving the basics is incredibly important. Our quality of life is in decline (in the bay area) and this is the best our politicians can do? I'm enraged.

Traffic is going to increase since people will be leaving en mass to go from their campuses to local eateries. Local eateries benefit from urban areas with a high concentration of businesses. This works when you have multiple high rises and/or tons of smaller startups in an area, both of which are common in SF. Mountain View is not suburban but outside of Castro, you need a car to get anywhere for a bite if you're on one of those campuses.

With more traffic caused by people leaving their campus more than start/end of day, people will need to account for more traffic. This may cause people to move further out or pay more of a premium for housing in close proximity.

If these companies knew ahead of time that this was not allowed, they may not have built their campuses so sprawling or may have avoided these areas altogether.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#337

Post by s73v3r_ »

dev_dull wrote: post #229
sidlls wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And regressive state politics and terrible culture and weather. Tech companies hiring in Texas is a negative signal.

Regressive is in the eye of the beholder.

Enabling employers to dictate the sexuality of their employees is nothing but regressive.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#338

Post by s73v3r_ »

beenBoutIT wrote: post #65
sonnyblarney wrote: post #23

My bet is that it makes no difference. FB workers are rich, and they'll not want to eat every day in the caf, and they'll be out and about as much as they would otherwise. The alternative won't be 'restos' it will be 'the microwave'.

It's going to make a huge difference in terms of FB's appeal to potential employees. Who wants to work at FB if it means that you'll have to waste time and energy figuring out what to do for lunch every day?

That's literally every other job, though. At least those not in SV.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#339

Post by a5seo »

BurningFrog wrote: post #329
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cool, so start-ups lose a potential hiring perk to the incumbents. They could just do something similar to what colleges do: - increase salaries just a bit - but the increased salary goes to a food card - employees can't easily turn this into cash - you swipe it and "pay" - the company is essentially paying for the employee's food Money changes hands, but no one is at a net loss than what a free food perk would cost…

The benefit of a company cafeteria is mostly that you don't lose half an hour walking to a restaurant, waiting in line, ordering etc. It's not about the money.

This. This is the giant disconnect between muni govnerment planners and tech.

They literally cannot fathom that people in tech are trying to squeeze the most from every minute in the day.

Just. Do. Not. Get. It.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#340

Post by derekdahmer »

Honestly the most offensive part of this is the tired Silicon Valley stereotype that tech workers don't "participate in the local economy" or "interact with their community".

The people I know in SF tech take BART, grocery shop, buy coffee, go to bars, go out for dinner, buy clothes, buy and sell on craigslist, hang out in parks, play soccer, bike, go dancing, date, have kids, etc, all in their city just like everyone else.

We are not that different from any other professional industry and shouldn't let people imply that we somehow contribute less to this city.

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