In the movie Ready Player One the main character has to find a safe place to plug in. He cares not about how nice his apartment is, any place where he can sit quietly and enter the simulated world would do. You never have to leave your home, and in our new work from home world post Covid world, many former office workers are feeling a little like Wade/Parzival.
"I just need to be somewhere I can zoom from." Said everyone in 2020.
And all of a sudden corporate America finally said work from home is allowed. For years I preached this reality to bosses and superiors, only to be told no, I must sometimes come to the office and sit there to prove I'm really working. I saw it as this complete lack of trust in a twenty-five year old, or twenty-six year old, or… I was a kid trying to get to stay home sick. But after experiencing a full year of getting exactly what I wished for, the future of office workers can’t be just this.
Corporate America finally said work from home is allowed, and at the same time noticed, wow, this is a lot cheaper! So what does the future of office perks and attracting the best talent with free lunch look like post Covid?
I mean once I mention this idea, I think it’s inevitable a race starts of companies that can bring this to market first. In fact, gasp, I might not be the first to think of this. Are tech workers that used to get the Google Plex Cafe and the Facebook Gym really going to be okay with this balance of perk just going away? They vote with their feet and what your post-Covid all-remote place of employment offers you, is going to vary drastically as boards and CEOs try and figure out what’s right for them.
But one pretty nice perk is going to have to be free catered lunch at various restaurants at least three times a week.
I mean, I can tell you with 100% certainty that a young man still in his twenties, me, would quit one high paying programming job and accept another if he heard the programmers at place X got this.
And once Covid is a distant memory, just like after 1918, the roaring twenties will be here. So I donate to the internet this business idea:
“The Rotating Delicious Office”
No one really wants to stay isolated in their Ready Player One setup it’s crazy and not healthy. My company used to fill this part of my life. They stopped paying for office space and are not going back to any sort of same setup they had before. Let’s go back to that win-win deal labor worked out with management a long time ago: humans love food, and work better after being fed in small groups of the same humans over and over. Call me crazy, but I think, the standard perk of the future is: having a place to go and get fed with a large group of friends.
And The Rotating Delicious Office, RDO, helps HR managers at companies with more than 50 employees, plan, organize, and book these rather expensive but important food events.
It’s not something one person can just take on and make happen. Giving your special pack of 50 humans their safe space to eat and mingle, week after week, it’s a full time job. Let RDO do all the scheduling and price negotiations for you. All you have to do is enter into office space lease agreement with RDO and pay a guaranteed monthly rent. RDO takes care of:
Giving you a two week out calendar with when and where each lunch is booked.
A Fancy App to help Employees navigate and park at locations.
Providing some very nice fancy places you’ve never been to before.
Keeping the list of restaurants changing often.
Restaurants are ready for a party of 50 from 11am to 2pm.
Restaurant provide food + lots of tables and wifi, think tech conference setup.
Is all that worth a price similar to what you were paying for real office space before?
I am interested in an RDO. I would like a place to go and get fed catered food with a large group of friends (co-workers). I think my co-workers would like it too. Beats going to the local food court.