Tech firm perks: experiences, charity
In the cutthroat technology industry where companies go to great lengths to attract and retain talent, employers have offered workers high salaries, company stock and unlimited vacation time. They’ve done free breakfasts, free lunches, free dinners and free booze. There’s kombucha on tap, Foosball and pool, nap rooms, yoga rooms and on-site gyms.
Once considered lavish perks, they have now become the norm. Which is why tech firms eager to keep employees engaged are turning to Loqules (pronounced “locals”), a Los Angeles startup with $200,000 in angel funding, to offer what a growing number of young employees crave: ways to have fun and do good.
“Millennials make up around 45 percent of the workforce, and they’d rather spend their money doing something cool and having an experience than buying or having material things,” said Jai Al-Attas, the 33-year-old founder of Loqules. “They’re a lot more socially aware, and they want to be part of companies or groups that give back to the community in some way.”
Some of the perks offered by Loqules: a cooking class with noted chef Louis Tikaram, a day of surfing with pro surfer Taylor Knox, a master class in mural making with street artist KidWiseman.
Loqules charges anywhere from $80 per person for basic experiences, such as a night out with a musician, to $10,000 for a small team to have an intimate recording tutorial with music producer John Feldmann. The median cost of an experience is $200 to $500 per person, in categories including art, music, surfing, skating, food, fitness and fashion. A portion of the fee goes to the person offering the experience; Loqules keeps the rest.
But companies also have the option of sharing the experience with a nonprofit such as Safe Place for Youth, a homeless youth organization; A New Way of Life, which works with formerly incarcerated women; or the Salvation Army.
Through these partnerships, companies often foot the bill so those in need can participate in workshops and experiences alongside employees.
Of the dozen or so experiences Loqules has done with firms such as Salesforce, Uber, AdColony, Citibank and Facebook, nearly every company has worked with a nonprofit, and most have used Loqules more than once.
This comes as little surprise to researchers and human resource experts, who have noticed a shift in how employees want to be engaged and rewarded at work. Research from the Brookings Institute estimates that by 2025, Millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce. (It defines the generation as those born in 1982 to 2003.) And it says that as this demographic of workers continues to grow, “Millennial values,” which Brookings describes as an emphasis on corporate social responsibility, a higher worth placed on experiences over material things, and community building, will come to shape the workplace.
“Years ago, you never had a 25-year-old kid making $150,000,” said Karen Ross, CEO of tech firm Sharp Decisions, who has seen her employees increasingly express interest in doing more for the communities in which they operate. “Now they’re making good money. Nobody cares about free food or free beer. They’re more interested in making a difference.”
Companies are responding in kind. In 2014, Airbnb started offering employees four hours of paid time off every month for volunteer work. Last year, it established a dedicated volunteering week to allow employees to devote a larger chunk of time to projects. Dropbox offers employees 32 paid hours a year to volunteer at nonprofits of their choosing, and it regularly hosts company-sponsored events where employees can serve meals at charities. NetApp, a data management company in Sunnyvale, offers employees paid time off to volunteer, and works with nonprofit Rise Against Hunger to package meals.
“The response from employees has been extraordinarily positive,” said Matt Fawcett, general counsel at NetApp. “We sent a note to my team ... asking who wanted to get involved, and within 60 seconds there was a flood of replies.”
For a segment of the workforce who have the means to buy anything they want, an experiential perk gives them something money can’t necessarily buy, according to corporate culture experts.
“When you give someone an award, it’s a short-term thing — you have it, you enjoy it at the time, but there’s no memory beyond that,” said Tina Figueroa, the vice president of human resources at AdColony, which has used Loqules twice to reward high performers and plans to offer its experiences as a perk every quarter. “An experience is emotional. You can relive it over and over again. It’s really good for retention, because people feel good when they tell those stories. It adds stickiness and it bonds people.”
Uber’s Los Angeles management teams have used Loqules’ service three times in partnership with local charities.
“It’s not your off-theshelf team-building exercises,” said Chris Ballard, Uber’s Southern California general manager.
Last year, instead of relying on team dinners and happy hours to bring together its Los Angeles managers, Uber used Loqules to organize a cooking class with Tikaram; arranged a photography lesson with skateboard photographer Atiba Jefferson; and did a workshop with DJ Ducky. Uber sent extra food from the cooking class to A New Way of Life and invited teens from Safe Place for Youth to join them during the workshops.
“These are experiences our youth would never have the opportunity to do if it weren’t for this relationship with Loqules,” said Rachel Stich, the deputy director of development and administration at Safe Place for Youth.
Although many nonprofits need money more than they need one-time volunteers, Stich said partnerships like the ones Loqules is fostering are still valuable because they help build relationships with corporations. Independent of Loqules, Uber now gives Safe Place for Youth 32 free rides a month to help get clients to doctor appointments and job interviews. Employees who have experienced a Loqules perk have expressed interest in getting more involved in their communities. And companies are putting their money where their employees want them to, with Dropbox matching up to $1,000 of each employee’s charity donation.
The closest thing Loqules has to a competitor is Airbnb, which began listing “social impact experiences” in November. Unlike Loqules, which caters to businesses, Airbnb’s offering is consumer-focused, and the company has not signaled intentions to create a version specifically for businesses.
But even if it did, that would just be validation for Loqules, Al-Attas said.
“People want to feel like they’ve had an impact,” he said. “We’re not just saying, ‘Hey, we gave some money to a charity’ and then everyone pats themselves on the back. We get people from the charity into a room with employees so they can share stories and change their perspectives. That’s where this is going.”
“The response from employees has been extraordinarily positive.” Matt Fawcett, general counsel, NetApp