Tech companies around the world are known to offer interesting perks to keep their employees happy. Especially the companies in Silicon Valley area have been known for their work perks including a practice to offer free lunches to their employees. Lawyers in the Bay Area are coming together to stop this practice as it hurts local businesses.
Tech industry in the Silicon Valley is at the heart of global tech innovation and employs thousands of talented tech employees. With a majority number of companies offering a free meal at the office premises, the local restaurant business was getting affected. Ahsha Safai and Aaron Peskin, two lawyers from San Francisco have introduced a new registration that will ban tech campuses from offering free lunches.
The legislation has an interesting argument to make. The lawyers believe that by banning this practice, they are promoting a healthier work-life balance. These lawyers don’t want employees to drive into their offices and stay there all day long. This is about getting people out of their offices.
The data suggests that there are 51 in-house employee cafeterias in San Francisco. Local restaurants expect the support from the tech employees to run their business. Despite having thousands of tech employees within a block radius of the restaurant, these businesses have not been benefitted by the tech industry in this area.
The social networking firm, Facebook has been banned from subsidizing meals as a perk on the Silicon Valley campus of the company. The agreement between Facebook and city officials dated 2014 includes a condition of approval that limits the extent to which Facebook can provide free meals to its employees.
Facebook’s office is part of the Village at San Antonia Center project. The project passed the ban on fully subsidized meals to promote nearby retailers. The proposal put forth by the lawyers would not heavily affect tech giants but it will prohibit them from offering free meals at their new office spaces.