Ask HN: Why don't tech companies build dorms on campus? - Flopsy
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adrusi
There's a history surrounding the notion of company housing. During the
industrial revolution, many factories and mills operated dormatories. The
problem is that when you lose your job you lose your housing as well.

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yummyfajitas
Zoning - in most places this is simply illegal.

Facebook is currently attempting to get some land re-zoned so they can do
exactly this. Local NIMBYs are opposed.

[http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27717752/facebook-
flo...](http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27717752/facebook-floats-idea-
more-housing-menlo-park)

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jacques_chester
I remember driving away from the Facebook campus -- having being creeped out
by the degree to which it is designed to keep you from ever having to leave --
thinking "if they could build dormitories, they would".

It disturbs me, but doesn't surprise me, to learn that my joke isn't that
funny.

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pan69
They will probably also pay 85% of your salary in Facecoins which can only
spend on campus.

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fsk
Company towns ended in the early 20th century, for a good reason.

Imagine losing your job and housing at the same time.

It also doesn't get favorable tax treatment. The value of the housing winds up
as taxable income for the employee anyway.

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angersock
Because it's a really bad idea, and company towns are specifically something
we've tried and found (as a society) to end badly, every time?

More usefully--consider the extra deal of personal bullshit that the company
now has to take on. Think about the sorts of things that happen:

Does HR deal with two people, one who can't get to work because the other is
having really loud sex into the wee hours of the morning?

If you have kids, and they fall over while horsing around, is the company
liable?

Is the company harassment policy violated if somebody leaves the window open
while having kinky sex?

How do renter's rights get invoked in the event of being fired?

It's just all a big headache.

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orian
One explanation may be: living in a golden cage is still living in a cage.

The other may be a society, people want or rather need to be part of society
to be 'normal'.

One may argue that such dorm would be a society and that's kind of right, but
it would be rather a mock of society. It would be super artificial.

FYI: some companies build apartments on campus.

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walshemj
And both the UK and USA have had issues with company towns - what next company
police to keep the workers in check and to run out of town or kill those who
make to much of a fuss

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notahacker
Because they could reasonably be expected to pay their staff enough for them
to have their own home, and not expect them to work unreasonable hours?

Especially if they're well-established and wealthy enough to have a campus.

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arenaninja
Don't they, though? I thought Qualcomm had dorms on campus in China.

Someone landed zoning issues, but I can only think of the deafening echo
chamber this would create. Discrimination against people who are in a
different stage in life and would much rather prefer to not be surrounded by
the same type of environment at work and at home

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a3n
Maybe they don't want to have to be good at, and compliant with, managing
dorms.

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kqr2
Although it isn't on-campus (6 blocks away), the Internet Archive folks
purchased a house in order to rent to employees at cost:

[https://blog.archive.org/2015/03/17/open-source-housing-
for-...](https://blog.archive.org/2015/03/17/open-source-housing-for-good/)

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joshdance
Is this asking why don't tech companies house their employees? Or why they
don't sponsor dorms on college campuses?

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justinzollars
This sounds like a nightmare.

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gorbachev
Because they employ people who wouldn't live in a dorm.

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paulpauper
insurance, zoning

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askhnmuppet
Ask HN: Why don't tech companies put golden leg cuffs on their staff to chain
them to their desk? Ask HN: How do these questions even end up on the front
page?

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fredkbloggs
Great question! Gold is a very poor choice of materials for cuffs; it's soft,
not very strong, and extremely expensive. Since cuffs made of gold would be
easy to break, they would not only be ineffective restraints but would likely
be stolen by escapees as well.

Most companies opt for the more conventional steel cuffs, typically one of the
harder stainless alloys for resistance to corrosion and tool damage. However,
some still swear by simple leg irons of a design little-changed for centuries.
A few have experimented with "free range" employees, bound to their
workstations only by personal debt and vesting schedules, but this approach
has proven much less effective.

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lolpep8
I think the market of employee retention is ripe for disruption with
innovations like these.

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spremraj
Some accelerators do provide housing as part of the program.

