Do Developers Need Free Perks To Thrive?

jammag writes "Free sodas, candy and energy bars can be surprisingly important to developers, says longtime coder Eric Spiegel. They need the perks, not to mention the caffeine boost. More important, free sodas from management are like the canary in the coal mine. If they get cut, then layoffs might be next. 'The sodas are just the wake-up call. If the culture changes to be focused more on cost-cutting than on innovation and creativity, then would you still want to work here? I wouldn't.' Are free perks really that important?"

Comments

Re:rather have money

[atriusofbricia]

A single illness can change that, or a single broken limb. Granted it depends on how high the deductible is and what your total out of pocket is. Never forget that many of these plans only pay 80% even after the deductible is reached until you have spent a good bit of change.

A high deductible plan is good if you're in reasonably good health and can plan and save like an adult. If on the other hand you want to make sure that others will take care of you then not so much.

There was once a time when health insurance was exactly that, insurance. It was there to cover those things that were beyond the average person's ability to pay in a reasonable period of time. Just like home and car insurance. Over time it's been morphed into something that's supposed to pay for everything from the sniffles to major heart surgery to mental issues and anything else people want. Then they're shocked when it costs a bloody fortune.

On top of that why does your employer owe you health insurance in the first place? That also used to be something that was a fringe benefit that people then started to expect and demand like it was owed to them.