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July 09, 2004
Bring your own towel
Here is an article on Microsoft's current cost-cutting efforts. And here's Scoble's opinion. Since going through similar cost-cutting times back at the end of the 80's when working for the (then) hugely successful German computer company Nixdorf, I've always wondered at companies trying to cut back on costs by getting rid of employee "perks" (such as the towels in the locker-room in Microsoft's case). At Nixdorf it was pens and paper. Is that sort of cut-back really effective? Doesn't it make the moral of the employees even worse? I've always been under the impression that corporate bosses don't understand just how important "small" things like free soda are to employees. Cut back on that and you'll cause more waves and more angered talk than if you go for the big money savers. To the cost-cutter it looks as though this is just a small thing you're doing away with - but the "employee value" of free soda or towels in the locker-room far exceeds the "monetary value".
Posted by Matthew at July 9, 2004 09:45 AM