[jychang]

It makes sense in terms of cost to benefit. A ping pong table is a few hundred dollars at most. An employee performing well is $100,000 at minimum.

Little things like free food and ping pong tables actually offer a massive return on investment.

[cylinder]

Who are these people who play ping pong during work hours? I want to finish my work and go home. If I have a break, I want to go outside and get some sun and air because I hate being inside all day. I'm not looking for a frat.

[hfaran]

Likely people who enjoy taking a break at some point during the day and also enjoy playing ping pong? I don't see how going outside to "get some sun" is objectively any better in general.

[gambiting]

Hmmmmm I work at a large games publisher, and it's normal that everyone plays games during lunch(1 hour lunch is normal). I usually have 30 minutes for food then play something for the other 30 minutes(currently trying to get through Dark Souls 3). I guess it's the same with ping-pong or any other in-office activity.

[toomanybeersies]

My attitude to a T. My workplace is for working, it's not a playhouse.

[dabeeeenster]

In London a Ping Pong table would cost around £10k/year in floorspace used.

[runholm]

A company often spend some floor space on areas where employees can take a break from work to disconnect for a few minutes. Why not put a ping pong table there?

[jon-wood]

Because it then stops being a space where people can take a break, and becomes a space where two people are playing ping pong, with everyone else crammed along the wall.

[jonnathanson]

"Little things like free food and ping pong tables actually offer a massive return on investment."

Yes, provided everything else about the company is working. People are productive. The product is showing signs of fit. People believe in the founder(s)' vision and in the CEO's direction. Under these circumstances, things like ping pong tables and free meals can offer amazing ROI.

But when your first few business moves are shopping for fancy digs and filling the space with ping pong tables, your priorities are questionable. Morale can't be bought with trinkets. Morale is earned with a strong sense of collective mission and product traction. The rest is icing on the cake.

This distinction is often lost on people, who rush off to buy foosball tables as though the mere presence of such will trick employees into being happy and productive. It's a very '90s attitude: "People want to work for a startup that looks startupy." Well, sure. But the best people want to work for a startup that has a real shot at success, first and foremost.

[bnegreve]

Only if having a ping pong table (or free food) improve productivity.

That's a rather strong assumption.

[zeemonkee3]

Agreed:

1) Playtime is for after hours, with friends and family. Ping pong's a fun game but it's noisy and disruptive when you're trying to get work done.

2) Don't care about your free food, I have a strict diet and don't usually eat lunch. Ditto free booze which is frankly a dumb idea (see 1). Free non-alcholic drinks is fine.

[toomanybeersies]

Free booze during meetings is a great in my opinion, makes them tolerable.

[jonathankoren]

Free food is also a recruitment tool. All things being equal, I'll go with the free food place. It's at least $2500 a year to buy lunch.

[mbbean]

It's also a tax break in the UK. An employee and the employer aren't taxed on the provision of food but would be taxed on a bonus, so you can offer what amounts to £x worth of free food per year rather than (or in addition to) a cash bonus.

[duaneb]

Is it? Employee retention certainly has strong correlation with productivity.

[fintuple]

It's certainly not linear, though; I think it will be interesting to see what's better in the long run. It's obviously impossible to measure, due to unpredictable factors such as changes in industry and market and competition.

As a whole, though, I think people, especially in our industry, aren't stupid. Free food would certainly be a more competitive retention factor (than ping pong) -- barring that your company's biggest competitors in terms of hiring aren't also offering free food.

[zeemonkee3]

Personally, a decent salary & benefits, interesting projects, learning opportunities and sane management would keep me in your company for life.

But, given these things are so difficult to deliver on, let's just throw them kids' games, energy bars and craft beer on tap.

[lmm]

It's not like having B makes A harder.

[zeemonkee3]

No, but it's when they are used as substitutes.

"Hey, we have a dysfunctional CEO, a runway shorter than the one at Hong Kong airport, and a legacy codebase that reduces the most experienced developer to a gibbering wreck. But look - we have foosball and whiskey tasting nights!"

[duaneb]

Ok, so I agree with you that ping pong isn't a replacement for a salary, benefits, or interesting problems. I'm also sure this is a straw man.

[joelrunyon]

From the article

> Startups pay up to $2,300 for a high-end Butterfly-brand table.

Your point stands, but the pricing is quite different.

[duaneb]

The quote makes it clear that's the upper bound, which doesn't offer any information about the rest of the purchases, let alone the mean.