Parents get peek at kids’ tech jobs
Bay Area companies, in effort to bridge generation gap, give glimpse into younger workers’ environment, perks
When Lou Nicolella’s daughter called last year to tell him she was leaving her current job for a finance startup called LendUp, his first question was: “What’s a LendUp?”
For 64-year-old Nicolella, who works in a more traditional job at Wells Fargo in Iowa, the idea of a typical San Francisco startup — with pingpong tables, free snacks, relaxed dress codes and dogs — was an unfamiliar concept.
In an attempt to bridge the generation gap between employees and their parents, LendUp is among the Bay Area tech companies that host a Bring Your Parents to Work Day. These events are in a similar vein to Bring Your Kids to Work Day, where sons and daughters can see how their parents spend time out of the house.
Not only can parents get a glimpse into their children’s lives, but they can also learn about a work environment that wasn’t common in their generation.
“I wanted to know what this was all about,” Nicolella said, while sitting on one of the many couches in LendUp’s sprawling San Francisco office during its first Bring Your Parents to Work Day this month.
More than a dozen parents came to LendUp’s San Francisco office in the Financial District for a day of presentations and activities. The startup indulged in stereotypes with its list of suggested activities: play pingpong, take a selfie, visit the parent “swag shop” for T-shirts and other gear with company logos. During one session, co-founders and stepbrothers Sasha Orloff and Jacob Rosenberg spoke about how the
company — which helps customers with financial challenges obtain loans and credit cards and, hopefully, build up their credit — has grown over the past few years.
“There’s a gap of what parents think your kids are doing,” Orloff said as he sat with Rosenberg and their mother, Rebecca Orloff. “Startups are risky and crazy — and why would your kid want to leave their comfortable corporate job for this uncertain path?
“We want people to feel comfortable that their kids are making an impact and taking an active part in shaping a company,” Orloff added.
On the same day, LinkedIn hosted its annual Bring Your Parents event, which it has been doing for the past several years. Mary Anne Viegelmann, a global events program manager at LinkedIn, said the company initially decided to hold the event because of a report that said parents often have no idea what their children do all day at work.
“We wanted that opportunity to bridge the gap,” she said. And, on top of it, “the more (parents) know about LinkedIn, the more they can be brand ambassadors for us as well.”
Google also hosts one of these days every other year. “It’s a way for Google to show gratitude to the people who raised the people at the heart of our business,” Ty Sheppard, a company spokesman, said in an email.
Back at LendUp, as Lindsay Nicolella showed her parents around, they were enthralled by how many kitchens there were and how dogs were allowed to hang around the office.
As they entered the pingpong room, Nicolella’s mom, Cathy Nicolella, couldn’t help but giggle.
“I’m envious,” she said of the company. “It’s very fitting for the time . ... Back then, you just needed a job, so long as it paid the bills. And if you were happy, that was just an added bonus.”