On Perks
5th May 2019
Every day, companies around the world execute a low-risk, high-return arbitrage: they buy the time and attention of some of the most highly-compensated professionals in the world?—?programmers, product managers, data scientists, quants, investment bankers, and lawyers?—?for the cost of a plate of pad thai. Given how much wealth is generated by companies that comp or subsidize employees’ food, and given that for each of those companies, getting smart people to work a little longer is a core competency, free food arguably belongs on the list of important technologies that have a visible impact on GDP growth.