Does anyone know if Tech companies do similar things to what banks and law firms do in terms of golden handcuffs?
It really helps to motivate you when you realize that most of your net worth is tied up in the fund:)
Stock options to hot pre IPO companies like Facebook, twitter, etc are very similar. It's hard to leave before all your options vest( and they never do as you always get a new grant each year) as it's always in the back of your mind that the big IPO is just around the corner.
That is the dark side of perks.
Another way to keep people stuck is to pay them too much, much more than they could ever earn elsewhere. They will then rationalize that they are doing it just for the money, which leads them to hate their job, even tho they will not leave (because of the money). Then you see worsening politicking, squabbling, dark humor about "at least it pays well" and general "acting out."
I saw both of these in action at my last real job, at a tech co. you've heard of. The wild parties, the liquor cabinet, the gourmet kitchen, the rooftop deck in TriBeCa, and more importantly, the excessively huge amounts of profit-sharing... it was like geek summer camp, until it turned into a teen drama because of the "poor little rich boys."
I knew I could never work at another place after that, because (in most ways) it was just so great. We were all spoiled rotten.
I read "golden handcuffs" as extending a line of credit to employees to support and _encourage_ living beyond their actual means. This is very very different from being pampered and spoiled as you describe.
"They encourage up-and-comers to spend extravagantly; they extend lines of credit to their rising stars. You need a big house with a jumbo mortgage; you cannot pull up to a business meeting in anything less than the best luxury car. It is part of their corporate culture."
"Golden handcuffs are a system of financial incentives designed to keep an employee from leaving the company. These can include employee stock options that will not vest for several years but are more often contractual obligations to give back lucrative bonuses or other compensation if the employee leaves for another company."
-- Wikipedia
I would like to hear arguments about how a doubled salary, thanks to profit-sharing, does not count as a "system of financial incentives designed to keep an employee from leaving the company."
It is merely the carrot and not the stick.
(Does nobody Google any more?)