Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do they switch to stools in bad times?
Standing desks.
I was going to make a crack about how standing desks could get expensive, and then I checked Amazon and was impressed.
Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
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Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#22Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only if having a ping pong table (or free food) improve productivity. That's a rather strong assumption.
Is it? Employee retention certainly has strong correlation with productivity.
It's certainly not linear, though; I think it will be interesting to see what's better in the long run. It's obviously impossible to measure, due to unpredictable factors such as changes in industry and market and competition.
As a whole, though, I think people, especially in our industry, aren't stupid. Free food would certainly be a more competitive retention factor (than ping pong) -- barring that your company's biggest competitors in terms of hiring aren't also offering free food.
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#24“If you don’t have a ping-pong table, you’re not a tech company,” says Sunil Rajasekar, chief technology officer at Lithium Technologies, a San Francisco software startup." I really hope it was tongue in cheek quote out of context.
This clearly illustrates what's wrong with the San Francisco tech culture: it is stuck in the 20th century, and assumes that 'tech' means white or Asian male in their 20's.
Actual cutting edge tech companies order foosball tables.
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#25Can we use the classic metric of aeron chair sales?
hah, those have been turning up cheap on craigslist lately
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#26"Startups pay up to $2,300 for a high-end Butterfly-brand table."
Oh shit we've been doing it wrong. When PacketZoom moved to it's current office space (with a bit of spare room), we plonked down ~$130 for something like this bad boy.. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productI... and put it on top of an ikea table we inherited from the previous occupants. Perfectly good playing surface with decent bounce and no obvious defects after a year of use:
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
It makes sense in terms of cost to benefit. A ping pong table is a few hundred dollars at most. An employee performing well is $100,000 at minimum. Little things like free food and ping pong tables actually offer a massive return on investment.
Only if having a ping pong table (or free food) improve productivity. That's a rather strong assumption.
Free food is also a recruitment tool. All things being equal, I'll go with the free food place. It's at least $2500 a year to buy lunch.
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#28That ping pong table chart is largely useless
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#29“If you don’t have a ping-pong table, you’re not a tech company,” says Sunil Rajasekar, chief technology officer at Lithium Technologies, a San Francisco software startup." I really hope it was tongue in cheek quote out of context.
It reminds me of https://twitter.com/php_ceo/status/492089140201406465
Re: Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
#30This blew me away: "Venture capitalist Michael Cardamone, the tournament’s co-organizer, approves of young companies buying tables with venture funds. “You absolutely should,” he says. “It’s part of building culture.”"
In my current company, ping pong table is the strongest day-by-day teambuilding activity — something that different team members do together, not related to work, something that builds positive relationships between anyone. Most of interactions with some people in the company are intense and have potential for conflict (just because our respective roles), and ping pong offers us a chance to have a different kind of interaction.
In previous company, it was a pool table and game room with Rocket League. In one before that, foosball. Regardless of the game, having some game that is played regularly by coworkers together really helps to build positive relationships and create a team. Definitely worth investor's money.