Wow, I wish I knew which tech companies you are talking about. The world I know is one where people work all the time, are lucky to have half decent computers on which to work and definitely never get any of those cushy benefits.
Thing is, people in aerospace in the 50's to 70's had a mission and they worked on cool things. If you're working for a typical software company you have neither (unless you consider refactoring that enterprise app as a mission),
High ranking people love this kind of moralism, because it feels like they're really doing something. But the proof is in the pudding and guilt-tripping people about having reasonable working spaces is not going to make people do good work.
This CEO is lazy. Building a good working culture is mundane and takes a long time with constant little tweaks. But nothing beats the rush of thinking you've ruffled some feathers.
It's the equivalent of parents doling out corporal punishment to kids: it really seems to work, but at best does nothing over a long period and at worst creates distrust and fear. Real parenting takes effort, as does real management.
Thing is, people in aerospace in the 50's to 70's had a mission and they worked on cool things. If you're working for a typical software company you have neither (unless you consider refactoring that enterprise app as a mission),
High ranking people love this kind of moralism, because it feels like they're really doing something. But the proof is in the pudding and guilt-tripping people about having reasonable working spaces is not going to make people do good work.
This CEO is lazy. Building a good working culture is mundane and takes a long time with constant little tweaks. But nothing beats the rush of thinking you've ruffled some feathers.
It's the equivalent of parents doling out corporal punishment to kids: it really seems to work, but at best does nothing over a long period and at worst creates distrust and fear. Real parenting takes effort, as does real management.