Food can control a workforce. Credit: Mark Wilson / Getty
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“According to Gordon Gecko, lunch is for wimps.” One might expect an icon of the Eighties to be behind the times – and on this issue he most certainly is.
In 2019, corporate America sees lunch not as a distraction, but a tool for attracting, retaining and getting the most out of employees.
It’s a point well made by Priya Krishna in the New York Times:
“Free food has been a formidable presence in the American workplace since the 1990s, when Bloomberg and tech start-ups like Google began to put out snacks in hopes of making employees happier or healthier, more productive and less likely to stray far from the task at hand.
“But today, the practice is almost obligatory, as businesses go to extraordinary lengths to provide food without charge, or at a sharp discount.”
Her report is full of delicious nuggets, like this one:
“Everyone who works at Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in Burlington, Vt., is entitled to three free pints of ice cream for each day of work…
“…employees [also] have an on-site gym to work off what they have come to call the ‘Ben 10.’”
Yes, you read that right. Three free pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Every. Working. Day.
Per person.
Three!
By the way, the unit of measurement alluded to in the “Ben 10” is pounds (of body weight), but I’m surprised it isn’t stones. Talk about corporate largesse.
The Vermont ice cream company has long been associated with progressive political causes, so perhaps giving away free stuff is part of the package. However, Krishna tells us that the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute has a similar policy, albeit one featuring a wider range of food groups:
“…employees are treated daily to an elaborate buffet with appropriately white-shoe fare like prime rib, crab cakes and housemade beignets.”
Very nice, but shouldn’t a free market think tank be handing out this bonus in the form of cash – thereby maximising consumer choice?
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