June 29, 2010 at 12:47 pm
We had a company paid starbucks on site during the pre dot com days..unlimited lattes for anyone who needs them. It went away of course after the bubble burst and everyone knew it would. The best way i think is to make these benefits random and perhaps occasion based such as the completion of a project or someone's birthday. I don't believe it makes sense to fault the employees because they 'take it for granted' or get defensive and say 'take it or leave it' ( Personally I believe if you want to buy something atleast make it healthy not pile on the sugar but that is my opinion). Things like this can never substitute a healthy work environment where people are given creative opportunites to make a difference and where your problems are listened to and addressed to the extent possible.
June 29, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Charles broke down some of the figures, but still nobody has mentioned what I feel is the highest cost... each person's time. Andy didn't mentioned how much time those 20 employees spent down there, but let's take a simple guess. If you include the time it takes to "gather the herd", walk down there, order, eat, then walk back, surly that can come to 30 minutes. Thirty minutes times 20 people is 10 man hours!
The $160 for the cost of the food is probably half of what one person would make in 10 hours.
June 29, 2010 at 1:54 pm
in a "how much does this meeting cost" estimate, recently, the figure of 50.00 per person per hour was used. That'd be a TCO of 650.00 for a snack!
June 29, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I once had a consulting gig at a .com company that managed to (barely) survive the dotcom bust but employed a skeleton crew of about 40 employees, which was a small fraction of what they had a couple of years before. When I got my first team meeting invite, I was curious about the name of their conference room, which they called the "Fuzzball Room". It was as big as a cafeteria and had brightly colored walls. It also doubled as a storage room for boxes of printer paper and tons of old server hardware, workstation PCs, and cubicle dividers that they no longer had a use for. Situated in the center of the room was a cheap foldout table with enough seats for maybe a half dozen people. I was told that, back in the day, they would host corporate sporting competitions there. It must have been a blast.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
June 29, 2010 at 5:08 pm
john.fuex (6/29/2010)
This is straight out of an Organizational Behavior 101 textbook.Essentially any extrinsic motivation like pay raises, breakfast at the office, etc. is at best going to give you a temporary bump in morale until people get used to it, then it becomes the minimum bar for motivating people further. There is nothing insidious about it, or morally wrong with the people who exhibit this behavior. It is just a part of our psychology, and also the reason you don't feel rich despite probably making 2x as much as you did on your first job.
I'm also not saying that it isn't a good idea to do things like this that demonstrate appreciation for employees. I am just saying that you need to recognize that the morale benefits of these types of programs will be temporary at best. In the long term, fostering intrinsic motivation is the key. Some really good ways to do this are (1) Making people feel empowered; (2) Reinforcing for each employee how their contribution fits into the big picture and how important it is; and (3) Allowing people to use their strongest skills frequently and have opportunities to grow intellectually.
Does this professional trifecta actually exist? I'm trying to visualize what this would be like and all I keep coming up with is a Dilbert strip. I'm only 1/2 joking.
James Stover, McDBA
June 29, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I think it exists in more and more places all the time. Companies like 37 Signals, smaller companies that want it to be more than a job are growing. I've heard lots of people feel like this at Zappos as well.
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June 29, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Good point john.fuex.
The human brain is not good at perceiving steady states. It is good at perceiving deltas. You can demonstrate this with a pair of pliars and your own hand. Pinch the flabby part between the pinky and the wrist. Squeeze slowly. You can get quite a grip with little pain if you are slow and gentle. You can do damage if not careful. Now let go fast. Surprising. This is the reason that alarm lights flash instead of just glow.
It's the same with a good eatery that has a limited menu. A great steak is just so much plain meat if it's your tenth in a week.
ATBCharles Kincaid
June 30, 2010 at 8:56 am
Typically our boss brings in donuts on Friday. From time-to-time he doesn't bring any. According to some of the attitudes on this forum (but not exclusive to this forum), it's "human nature" for me to be upset when this happens. So why do I not get upset? I actively remind myself on these days that it's "OK" and the absence of the donut just makes all the past times more memorable and also the NEXT time we get them will be even more enjoyable, though I'm not going to set myself up for failure by expecting donuts next time. Is there something wrong with me? Just my two-cents...I'm not trying to provoke any bad feelings and certainly don't want to sound "holier than thou" but I see people in our office get upset about this and I've never understood it.
June 30, 2010 at 9:17 am
thisisfutile (6/30/2010)
Typically our boss brings in donuts on Friday. From time-to-time he doesn't bring any. According to some of the attitudes on this forum (but not exclusive to this forum), it's "human nature" for me to be upset when this happens. So why do I not get upset? I actively remind myself on these days that it's "OK" and the absence of the donut just makes all the past times more memorable and also the NEXT time we get them will be even more enjoyable, though I'm not going to set myself up for failure by expecting donuts next time. Is there something wrong with me? Just my two-cents...I'm not trying to provoke any bad feelings and certainly don't want to sound "holier than thou" but I see people in our office get upset about this and I've never understood it.
Well, I assume you were wrote that tongue in cheek. If not, then it sounds like some of your co-workers are suffering from a hormone imbalance or something.
Occasionally, maybe once a month, there will be bagles or pizza on the break room table at our office, but we don't attach much significant to it. What usually happens is that sales reps or clients are on site that day, and when the executive meeting and brunch is over, they'll put the left overs on the IT break room table.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
June 30, 2010 at 9:23 am
I have seen worser cases...in our team one of the senior DBAs lived near this famous donut place and made it a habit to bring something in every friday..one friday he misses and the boss is in a terrible mood. It actually took him a few misses to even realize that is what upset the boss..and then we had a good talk and cleared the air. He does not bring anything in now.
This kind of childish immature behavior exists at all levels and there is nothing better than pointing out the fact that it is childish. As for eating - any goodies we get are put on the table. You take what you like and head back to work that is all. Eating does not have to be combined with people having meetings and/or eating together and if so yes that does turn into a productivity issue.
June 30, 2010 at 9:37 am
I'm not sure it's completely childish, and here's why.
If I eat, and someone brings in donuts, then I probably don't participate, don't get any benefit, and while I can let it go, it feels like I missed out on something. That's human nature.
If donuts have come in 4 or 5 times, and I don't eat in the am, anticipating a lovely doughnut and it's not there, then I am
a) hungry
b) annoyed, which is natural
c) have to decide if I need to leave work to go eat, make it up later, etc.
It's a hard thing to do, especially for something like this. I would almost argue that you should announce it the day before, say I'll bring in doughnuts tomorrow, so you don't need breakfast. But not do it every week. Do it periodically.
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June 30, 2010 at 9:47 am
Eric Russell 13013 (6/30/2010)
thisisfutile (6/30/2010)
Typically our boss brings in donuts on Friday. From time-to-time he doesn't bring any. According to some of the attitudes on this forum (but not exclusive to this forum), it's "human nature" for me to be upset when this happens. So why do I not get upset? I actively remind myself on these days that it's "OK" and the absence of the donut just makes all the past times more memorable and also the NEXT time we get them will be even more enjoyable, though I'm not going to set myself up for failure by expecting donuts next time. Is there something wrong with me? Just my two-cents...I'm not trying to provoke any bad feelings and certainly don't want to sound "holier than thou" but I see people in our office get upset about this and I've never understood it.Well, I assume you were wrote that tongue in cheek. If not, then it sounds like some of your co-workers are suffering from a hormone imbalance or something.
....
You'd be surprised what they can get upset about! 😛
June 30, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Steve Jones - Editor (6/30/2010)
I'm not sure it's completely childish, and here's why.If I eat, and someone brings in donuts, then I probably don't participate, don't get any benefit, and while I can let it go, it feels like I missed out on something. That's human nature.
If donuts have come in 4 or 5 times, and I don't eat in the am, anticipating a lovely doughnut and it's not there, then I am
a) hungry
b) annoyed, which is natural
c) have to decide if I need to leave work to go eat, make it up later, etc.
It's a hard thing to do, especially for something like this. I would almost argue that you should announce it the day before, say I'll bring in doughnuts tomorrow, so you don't need breakfast. But not do it every week. Do it periodically.
You do have a point Steve, however, I would not depend on someone bringing me breakfast or lunch unless that is explicitly agreed to. Doughnuts were more of a treat, not an agreement to supply breakfast and a favor someone was doing. And even if it is, there are times when the office cafeteria or the nearest popular eating place is closed/in short supply without notice and where does one go? Find options that is all. Getting annoyed for lack of freebies to my mind is immature and definitely indicates a spoilt person. Then again it is our responsibility too not to spoil anyone and make it once in a while, not regular:)
June 30, 2010 at 1:10 pm
My point is yours, it ought to be agreed to. Announce it's coming. Bringing them in when everyone has eaten, or not bringing them when you have been for weeks, is just annoying. To me it is.
It's a nice gesture, poorly done, IMHO. I'd have personally offered to do something nice in advance, or later that day.
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June 30, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I'm surprised by some of the strong emotions expressed here regarding the issue of doughnuts and bagles. You sound like a Dilbert cartoon and are reenforcing negative stereotypes about those of us in IT.
I do however think that Steve had a point about what to do when someone brings doughnuts into the office at 10am without advance notice. At that time of the day, we've probably already eaten breakfast and lunch is only a couple of hours away. It's not offensive, but it does present a dilemma. One solution is to take a doughnut out of the box (before they are all gone) and then bring to back to your desk for a 2pm snack.
However, it's nothing to get all bothered about.:-P
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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