One of the better jobs I’ve had in my career was at a young software house. It had a great atmosphere, buzzing with new ideas, bright people, innovation. The office was situated out of town, actually on the site of an old mental hospital. As shops were beyond walking distance the firm provided lunch. The lunches were excellent - simple, healthy and fresh, served by professionals who cared about their product and service.  We would all eat along long tables in the Break Out Area. People were happy to come to work in such a positive atmosphere where we felt valued.

The lunches came at some financial cost, but this was more than compensated by happy staff, lots of interaction between departments resulting in problem solving and better innovation, a sense of camaraderie, nobody back in late from lunch, no lunchtime drinking (which was an issue across the industry at the time). On any day you could be eating with the Managing Director or the receptionist. There was huge mutual respect amongst all the staff. Management understood this non-tangible benefit to the business.

Then the firm was sold to American investors. Lunch became a pasta salad box that you ordered each day. People started eating at their desks, not in the Break Out Area.  The cross pollination of ideas started to stagnate. Then there was more cost cutting and the boxes became cheap rolls. People stopped bothering to collect them from the kitchen and brought in their own lunch or drove out to a pub to eat. The place became less friendly, we didn’t all know each other. Staff turnover increased - and management couldn’t understand why.

What the new owners failed to comprehend was that the cost of providing lunch was actually saving the company a fortune in recruitment and goodwill. When chatting over our lunch we would often discuss work issues or arrange meetings for later. Staff satisfaction had been very high and it gradually dissipated and became like any other firm. The sense of identity with the company, the proud feeling of working there was lost.

When a perceived luxury is removed, you can lose far more than the face value.

Is that like:

Why do people wear silk underwear, nobody can see it?

The person wearing it knows!

Susannah

A Moodscope member