I’ve heard from friends in finance that it’s very intentional that firms provide complementary car service (or now, Uber credits) if you’re staying in the office past a certain hour. Sure, they could just pass that to you as cash compensation; they have decades of data to predict how often you would stay late. But it’s one less tradeoff for the employee to need to worry about, which translates into that much more focus.
This is an extreme example - it’s Google saying “we don’t want you to even need to think about the tradeoff of ‘do I spend my comp on a more sunny living space with a quicker commute, or save it so my family can be taken care of if the worst should happen.’” They want that latter part to not be a consideration.
Elite firms invest in their employees’ focus. They’ll always do things like this. Call it paternalistic or morbid, but it’s logical and intentional and not at all about whether it’s efficient vs. additional cash comp.
This is an extreme example - it’s Google saying “we don’t want you to even need to think about the tradeoff of ‘do I spend my comp on a more sunny living space with a quicker commute, or save it so my family can be taken care of if the worst should happen.’” They want that latter part to not be a consideration.
Elite firms invest in their employees’ focus. They’ll always do things like this. Call it paternalistic or morbid, but it’s logical and intentional and not at all about whether it’s efficient vs. additional cash comp.