lubah
How does the perks of working in a large tech company affecting local businesses?
For example, a lot of them offer free meals and coffee. In the Bay Area, where the rent is sky high, how are the local eateries being effected? #business #technology #tech
4 answers
Tony Beeston
Tony’s Answer
A large corporate has employee's that may use local businesses and therefore boost the local economy.
Perks such as healthcare provision, financial services and philanthropic days will all add to the increase of required services that support the community in which the corporate is located.
In some cases the corporate organisation will be located in cities where the positive impact is not so pronounced but there are many corporates that also have locations in more rural area's thus increasing a companies positive impact to the community.
In addition, accomodation requirements closer to the corporates location drives the economy. This has a far wider economic impact that drives growth.
I have seen this from experience having supplied to, partnered with and worked for Cisco Systems over a 30 year period in a number of countries / continents.
Terence Cheung
Terence’s Answer
How does it affect the local community? I'd say that it has to improve the economics of the surrounding area. Even with all these on-campus amenities, I think the spillover is inevitable. Employees move into the area, or getaway for a lunch or an appointment nearby, these all impact the local community, probably more for the positive side. In terms of small businesses, it comes down to what I think all economics have always come down to - do they offer a compelling service, product, or experience that gets people in the door? There will be an added audience that is available in the area, because of the large tech company, it's still whether or not people want what the small business has to offer.
Techies/foodies, et al, are really into finding those hidden gems. If it's a small restaurant that people like, yes, they'll probably thrive. If it's something that isn't in demand, then they'll probably fall off.
The modern example of a popular restaurant is probably one with a lot of younger professionals (via yelp or restaurant reviews), locals/regulars that are eating there every day, and aunties/uncles that've eaten at the restaurant for decades. It's a telltale sign of a restaurant that has survived the newer players in the community for years and taken on new customers.
G. Mark Stewart
G. Mark’s Answer
As with any situation in a free enterprise society, businesses compete in order to entice the most customers and make the most people happy. Large tech companies tend to have benefits to attract the best employees. In one of my first jobs, we had not only outstanding health and other benefits, but free education, recreation facilities, a stockroom with just about anything you could need, and a purchasing department that would buy things you need that weren't available in that stockroom. Nowadays, these sorts of things are far limited due to streamlining of businesses and cutting costs and the dissolution of monopolies that could afford that sort of expenditure. But perks in large companies still tend to be pretty significant. The affect on local business is two-fold. First, local businesses tend to be much smaller with tighter budgets than large tech companies. The large companies' perks will put more financial pressure on the local businesses to offer competitive benefits. But some folks simply prefer to work at those smaller companies or simply didn't get hired by the larger firms. In other words, in order to compete, every business needs to be creative. The other effect is that large tech companies employ lots of people, and those people will often do business with those local businesses. The end result is that the economic conditions of the local area tend to improve. This is the essence of capitalism. The way to get capital is to do something other people will pay you for voluntarily. That sort of system forces us all to be very conscious of keeping other people happy. And that's a very good thing overall.
Mavis Tham
Mavis’s Answer
a large tech company offers a more evolved/mature work environment to help make the administrative aspect of work easier and allows you to focus more on the actual work to be done.
Wherest a local company offers you the breath and depth of experience, where you might have to do more from scratch, but you feel more directly involved in the success of the company. They might also be more agile when it comes to decision making and less political.
Both has it pros and cons depending on where you are at your career (just starting out and looking for as much work experience as possible or looking to specialise in certain fields), and what drives and motivates you (some people thrive on the challenge of working in start-ups and smaller local companies, but some people prefer to be in a 9-5 team environment with lots of support and backup)