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Comment by jasonshen | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's certainly true that some people work to make money and see their personal time as their own. We're not saying our way is the "correct" one. I'm not sure that a highly restrictive company is necessarily linked to making more money but certainly anecdotes like Siebel's exist.

At Ridejoy, we believe that work is a major part of a person's life and it should be fulfilling and enriching. We believe that create a workplace where people feel respected and cared for is one where people will do their best work.

We have a big goal - making rideshare a ubiquitous and convenient form of transportation for people everywhere - and we aren't looking for worker drones who will follow every rule and wear the company uniform. We're looking for people who believe in our mission and are inspired to come to work toward it.

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I know a lot of people associate dress codes and rules with boring offices and asshole bosses, and there are certainly a lot of companies that have both. But I think that if proper management is assumed, formality shows a respect for your work, your coworkers, your customers, and yourself. That sounds like a headline from a company memo, but think about it for a second.

If I run a company and I expect my employees to come to work and take what they are doing seriously, would I encourage them to drift in and out of the office as they please, take naps if they don't feel up to the task at hand, and wear tshirts and cargo shorts into the office? It is true that if I enact strict policies, people will flee the culture shock to the comfort zones of startups with laid back young employees where they can have nerf gun fights and drink beer on the job. But the fact is that those people are like a disease that spreads and I don't want them in my company anyway. I want the people who are coming in to kick ass and make us successful. There is a symbiotic relationship involved here- people who embrace that culture are going to come and be immensely successful and contribute. People who do not would not have done a good job because they would always be half-assing their work because they don't take it seriously. I'm not sure if the reverse is true for the laid-back work environments, however.

Yes, I don't care for nerf gun fights nor beer on the job, either. I'm generally very serious in corporate environments and never consider them fun.

However, I would nevertheless run screaming from the corporate environment you mention. Unless I were desperate, I would not tolerate some "boss" deciding what is the most effective way to accomplish my work. I would be hired for my judgement and directed productivity; if I happened to judge that a nap was the best next step to succeeding in my tasks, then I know better than this busybody manager.

Just a reminder, these meals are taxable as fringe benefits for your employees.

"Meals provided to improve general morale or goodwill, or to attract prospective employees, are not provided for a substantial noncompensatory reason and are taxable. Reg.1. 119-1(a)(2)"

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