The Myth of the Cool Office

Definitely a pessimistic view of office perks. Not wrong, just a bit pessimistic.

At my last startup, whenever there was free lunch or dinner, people definitely spend more time together chitchatting about whatever comes up. As an employee, those 40 minutes are way more fun and stimulating than an hour away my desk with just 1 or 2 co-workers. In the end, it's just how you look at the situation.

On the other hand, I do agree with the points made about the unlimited PTO policy. It's a great recruiting talking point :)

I don't think anyone ever really believed that an open vacation policy meant that you didn't have to show up for work. Rather, I took it to mean that the company trusted me to be able to look at the deadlines for which I was responsible, and manage my own time accordingly.