Doorman Fallacy

OP is about efficiency at the expense of people (e.g. automation that only replaces a fraction of the real function of those replaced) has a very high cost in fact.

The counter to that: the perks and toys, the free lunch and ping pong tables at work, are frosting on top of more significant operational functions. Is the Friday cookout really part of 'company culture'? Or is the smooth operation of departments, decision making, product rollout etc what really keeps people satisfied with the job?