One of my favorite and most missed perk working in tech at Silicon Valley is the free lunch. Before Covid sent everybody to work-from-home (WFH), going to the office was encouraged by employers because it fostered a collaborative work culture. Sometimes the most innovative ideas spawn from impromptu conversations with co-workers that could happen in hallways, breakrooms, or the water cooler.
Free Food at Google
Everybody knows about how Google spoils their employees with perks and free food. Google even has restaurants for its employees where you make reservations and order from a menu without paying a dime. This makes Google along with other Silicon Valley employers (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) very desirable places to work because of the free food. You will never hear me complain about my free food like some whispers I hear while I am in line. You can just hear me rolling my eyes while looking away.
“Oh man. Not sushi again. Why can’t they mix it up for once.”
“The chef made my steak too medium. I asked for medium rare.”
— spoiled entitled Silicon Valley Engineers
Free food is the best part of being Barista FIRE
I consider myself to be “Barista FIRE” because I still enjoy my tech job in Silicon Valley and taking advantage of my employer’s benefits. For most people, the goal of being financially independent mostly stems from not being solely reliant on an employer for money. It requires setting up additional income streams outside of just your full-time job. With that being said, there are several employer-provided programs that have allowed me to build my wealth which is why I stay employed. Employer-provided programs such as:
- always participating in Employee Share Purchase Plan
- receiving stock RSU refreshes
- employer contributions to Health Savings Account
- maxing out 401k contributions per year
- employer matching of your 401k contributions
Food is a major expense that nobody can run away from. You have to eat every day, therefore, food is probably the most important expense you have in your budget. For myself, food equates to $3,600 per month as per my monthly spend when calculating my FIRE number. However, I can save about $600 per month if I subtract lunch and breakfast from my budget just for myself. You can lease a Tesla Model 3 for less than $600 per month.
Find an employer that supports Work from Home
Time is also an investment in yourself so think about time invested at a job. If your values do not align with the company’s mission or you dislike colleagues, it is time to move on. The pandemic has shown us that companies have no trouble laying people off at the first sign of trouble therefore time invested in loyalty and tenure at a job is not considered an important factor today.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to know that employers who offer the best perks like free food are also the ones who allow employees to work from home even some of the time also known as hybrid. Unless you are lucky enough to land a job with an employer that embraces full remote culture. Therefore, instead of being stuck at home waiting for a vaccination, I would encourage you to seek a better employer that offers free lunch. Use this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic to polish that resume and start practicing your interview questions with family or friends.
| Employers that offer hybrid work-from-home | Employers that embrace full remote workforce |
| Google Apple Amazon Micorsoft Adobe | Twitter Square Cisco Ford (I was surprised about this one) Dropbox Atlassian |
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html
Quick Summary
One of my favorite and most missed perk working in tech at Silicon Valley is the free lunch. I can save about $600 per month if I subtract lunch and breakfast from my budget just for myself. You can lease a Tesla Model 3 for less than $600 per month. Before Covid sent everybody to work-from-home (WFH), going to the office was encouraged by employers because it fostered a collaborative work culture. It shouldn’t be a surprise to know that employers who offer the best perks like free food are also the ones who allow employees to work from home. Use this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic to polish that resume and start practicing your interview questions with family or friends.
Let me know in the comments if you want me to add your employer to the list of WFH hybrid or full remote.
