Workplaces supplying food...is this a new thing?

[Liberty Belle]

Our school has free water fountains. That's it. They do supply a coffee machine and coffee, but we have to pay $8 a month for it.

 

[AustinTink]

Actually, DH's company has a major presence in Texas. To our knowledge the situation is the same there, as are the expectations regarding work hours.

The job market is different in Austin. Employees have come to expect a certain level of amenities. Do they have an Austin office? Just wondering.

ETA: about 75% of our friends work in high tech, that's just the way it is around here. Work hours vary. The big corporate entities like Dell and Samsung have very regular work hours, and many of our friends work from home 50% of the time. The smaller software companies are where it varies. We have a lot of game companies in town and they work really crazy, long hours. I used to work one and we were expected to work late into the night a few nights a week. Of course we had dinner and snacks provided.

 

[mrodgers]

It's 12 degrees and snowing outside. Inside work it feels great right now at probably 80 degrees because in the summer, it is usually 115 and about 98% humidity. Went to Disney in June when it was 105 degrees. My wife was absolutely miserable while I was basking in how much cooler it was than being at work.

We have water coolers everywhere. If they weren't provided, they would probably have to provide medical attention instead of cheap water.

The company subsidizes some of the cost of sports drinks available in the snack machines during the hot summer months. Normally it is $1.25 for Powerade and in the summer it is $0.60.

We have a coffee vending machine near the snack/food machines. It is free, but from what I understand, the quality is questionable.

At least twice in the summer, management has a cookout for the employees. We have hotdogs, hamburgers, and sausage plus various sides and cookies. We use to get pizza brought in frequently (as in every few months) to be shown their appreciation of us, but that hasn't happened for years.

Management on the other hand, a vendor or customer is always visiting and lunch is brought in for them at least twice a week. Everyone in management gets to eat while we all can't even get a break from our responsibilities to eat let alone eat company provided food.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My workplace has free coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and bottled water. Our team goes out to lunch every couple of months, and we get food for other special meetings, but not on a day-to-day basis.

 

[MommyJack]

My company has a keurig and other drinks and they may have snacks. I am on the road and rarely go to the office. So I don't get to enjoy these amenities and have to buy my own coffee. I wouldn't trade my freedom for the free coffee though.

Other companies I have worked for provided coffee/tea/cocoa and snacks.

 

[NotUrsula]

If it is just drinks and snacks, it is usually a huge morale/loyalty builder for a very small relative cost. One company I previously worked for provided only one unusual food-type perk, but it was one that people just LOVED: ice machines. It was so nice to have ice easily available all through the day. I got so used to having it over 10 years that for the past five I've been carrying a little cooler bag of just ice to work every day.

Providing full meals *is* a big expense, but in situations where it is done, it is usually viewed as a productivity incentive. If people don't have to leave the premises for meals, they tend to work more hours. My current employer has a subsidized cafe and a subsidized Starbucks, plus a parking lot the size of Montana. People choose to eat in most of the time.

 

[dani0622]

I am fortunate enough to work at a company that provides a $100 meal card to use in our cafeteria or Starbucks kiosk. If you get breakfast and lunch every day, it lasts almost 3 weeks. It's a big benefit that makes employees really happy.

 

[Carnie]

Teacher again.

1). We do not have air conditioning, nor are we provided fans. Super sweet at the end of June.

2). I just remembered, at the last school I was in, the fridge in the staff room crapped out. You guessed it. We actually had to put in $15 bucks each to replace it. "Not necessary", we were told.

 

[bicker]

Dh works in a large computer company. They haven't had free coffee since he started working there almost 23 years ago. They used to be able to buy a cup of coffee for a quarter, but that machine is long gone. There are no free drinks or snacks (other than tap water).

That's an anomaly. As some folks here may recall, this is actually my second career. Before, I was in a job where I traveled 200 days a year, every day a different company, mostly in the high-tech sector. It was very rare when coffee wasn't provided, for free or for a pittance, in office environments.

 

[Disnydad]

We offer our employees free coffee/tea/hot cocco and fresh baked (on location) cookies. Course there is only my wife and I plus 2 full time & 1 part time employee.

 

[liamsaunt]

My office provides free coffee (starbucks), tea, diet coke, bottled water, and hot chocolate. Plus things like creamers, sugar, splenda, utensils, plates, napkins and cups. No free food on a regular basis, though we do have a TGIF every couple of months with snacks, beer and wine provided. When there are full staff meetings of some length scheduled, free food is provided. We have one next week from 8 AM-2 PM and breakfast and lunch will be served.

 

[AndyLL]

I work for a software company and we receive free coffee ( 10+ varities ), plus free pop, popcorn, and soup in a cup, plus others. It's not unusual for the company to bring in lunch for everyone every 2-3 months and any manager can buy in lunch/dinner for their department.

We also have flex time and for those not on the phones it can be really flexible when needed.

Thought out the years ( i've been here 20) the working envirournment has keep many employees here through some really lousy times when they could have made twice the money elsewhere.

There used to be an incredible sense of loyalty to the company/products. With the outsourcing and continually eroding of benefits at the Corp level some of that loyalty is going away.

Companies shoot themselves in the foot by not addressing the envirornment their employees work in.

Happy productive employees do more in 4 hours then typical employees do in 8.

 

[daughtersrus]

A good friend of ours works for a major international company writing computer programs for Wall Street type banks/investments. The perks he has are unbelievable. Their "think tank" is not only stocked with every video game imaginable, they have a fully stocked fridge including adult beverages , food, gourmet coffee...Lunch out is usually a 3 hour event going to places like a Brazilian steak house. They have company outings that include roof-top packages across from Wrigley Field to watch a Cubs games, Black Hawk sky boxes, dinner theater in the city and of course the never ending golf outings in the summer with the typical door prize being a 42" TV.

He is paid very well (using 1 bonus check to pay cash for an SUV), has 5 weeks vacation, unlimited sick days, first class travel expenses... so when he complained about not feeling appreciated or having a corner office, DH told him to suck it up and stop acting like a baby.

 

[cabanafrau]

The job market is different in Austin. Employees have come to expect a certain level of amenities. Do they have an Austin office? Just wondering.

ETA: about 75% of our friends work in high tech, that's just the way it is around here. Work hours vary. The big corporate entities like Dell and Samsung have very regular work hours, and many of our friends work from home 50% of the time. The smaller software companies are where it varies. We have a lot of game companies in town and they work really crazy, long hours. I used to work one and we were expected to work late into the night a few nights a week. Of course we had dinner and snacks provided.

Yes, his company has a significant presence all over Texas and to our understanding the policies are consistent there as well. It's a certainty the working hours are just as long. The only state I know of where they limit the working hours is California, and that's only because they are required to do so.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I work for a church. We get to eat any leftovers from the Lions' Club Suppers held here the night before. Occasionally an evening meeting will also leave their leftover cookies/etc. Other than raiding the communion wafers cupboard, that would be about it.

 

[AustinTink]

A good friend of ours works for a major international company writing computer programs for Wall Street type banks/investments. The perks he has are unbelievable. Their "think tank" is not only stocked with every video game imaginable, they have a fully stocked fridge including adult beverages , food, gourmet coffee...Lunch out is usually a 3 hour event going to places like a Brazilian steak house. They have company outings that include roof-top packages across from Wrigley Field to watch a Cubs games, Black Hawk sky boxes, dinner theater in the city and of course the never ending golf outings in the summer with the typical door prize being a 42" TV.

He is paid very well (using 1 bonus check to pay cash for an SUV), has 5 weeks vacation, unlimited sick days, first class travel expenses... so when he complained about not feeling appreciated or having a corner office, DH told him to suck it up and stop acting like a baby.

You see this quite a lot in the software industry. Especially the skyboxes. My son has never been to a Longhorns game in anything other than a skybox. I told him not to get used to it, because when I have to pay for tickets out of my own pocket, it will be nosebleed section all the way.

 

[PatriciaH]

DH's company provides catered lunches/pizza, subs, etc. for them several times a month when they have meetings, bad weather (so they don't have to go out,) etc. They have a kitchen with snacks, Keurig/K cups, soda, tea, water, V-8, OJ, Vitamin Water, etc. They also have a small gym with showers, yoga classes off and on and great benefits. Very grateful!

Disney professional offices had snacks, coffee, tea/iced tea, soda, OJ, juices, cappuccino/late machine, water (bottled and cooler), hot chocolate, etc. They also had lunches every so often. Most of the hotels and parks had a decent cafeteria some with Subway and good coffee.

When I was a waitress in college, we got lunch every day we worked. It was good too-salad/soup/crab cakes, fried chicken, cole slaw, shrimp, etc.

 

[Buckalew11]

My DH worked for a place that provided lunch on a daily basis for all emplyees. It was a doctor's office!
No long hours or anything. It did keep people in the office and on time and that was why they told him they did it. You weren't supposed to leave the office for lunch!

The office was 2 mins. from our house. I would have loved to have him come home everyday for lunch since I work out of our home but he was supposed to (not sure if they could *make* you stay there or not).

 

[brerrabbit]

Coffee, two kinds of machines, one Kuerig, another pouches that can make cappacino, soft drinks for .25, fresh fruit every day, pretzel sticks, peanut butter filled pretzels and different kinds of hard candies. We used to get soft drinks for free out of the machine but management noticed tons of them laying around half drank and being thrown away and wasted. They started charging .25 and the waste stopped. It's amazing that when it costs something even a small amount people will actually be aware of wasting money and actually only get one when they are going to drink the whole thing. We also get lunches at least once a week when we have meetings over the lunch hour. You better not schedule a meeting during that time unless your ordering lunch or you get in big trouble.