[manimino]

There's an influential article from 2009 called "The Sodas Are No Longer Free": https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...

Small conveniences and tokens of appreciation really help with employee morale. Many people, even those who believe they cannot be bought so easily -- definitely can be swayed by this stuff.

[Xeoncross]

It doesn't take much to invest in relationships in a way that returns much larger dividends than the stock market can offer.

Offering to take someone out for a $20 lunch can move mountains.

[danaris]

Conversely, though, if you've already lost the trust of your employees—by overworking over the course of years, underpaying them, and generally treating them poorly—those small gestures suddenly seem very paltry and, in some cases, insulting. Because it makes it seem as if you think you can make up for all that abuse just with a few free lunches and free donuts in the conference room.

[Xeoncross]

I was speaking about you personally. I've never known a company to take out a single person for a $20 lunch.

Fill the void for your friend when their own company is letting them down.

[ryandrake]

I think the main point of the Steve Blank article was about the people who are actually not swayed by these tokens. The mere removal of a perk could cause someone who doesn't even use the perk, and is happy with his job, to wake up and think about leaving. The removal itself is a signal to start looking, regardless of whether you care about the actual thing being removed.

[whywhywhywhy]

It’s not that you’re swayed. It’s that if the company is tightening the purse on something as insignificant as soda then alarm bells should ring.

Even if you’re cost cutting there should be a million places to make huge savings than the few $ of free drinks an employee goes through a month.