So stumbled across the article on common ways bankers game Seamless to gain unintended benefits and got me thinking why do banks even give meal allowances?
It's not like anyone working in an IB doesnt have the money to feed themselves every day, and it's not like removing the meal allowance is going to reduce people's willingness to work in the industry. So why do they bear a cost they dont need to?
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Might be a different reason, but I imagine because it is a relatively cheap benefit. Most analysts will not game the system, making it a perk that costs banks little compared to other perks that could be offered.
I can say that in my group getting dinner is a huge morale booster every night. We order together and go into a conference room and eat and talk and watch some tv for 20-30 minutes. It's banks way of saying "hey we understand you're working the equivalent of 2+ work days everyday, here's a little perk to keep your spirits up (and make sure you stay at the office). Whoever thought up the idea to cover dinners at banks was a genius.
Plus a big thing to remember is that banks aren't always footing the bill. It gets charged to the client when a deal closes.
^^^
Other white collar professional employers do this too eg law firms, accounting firms.
The additional revenue you can extract from workers who are more incentivised to work back late by a free meal, plus the revenue and margin benefits of better morale, more than outweigh the costs.
Company paid meal is a huge morale boost especially after dealing with terrible people on the job...
Agreed, meal stipends are one of those little things to look forward to every day.
There's no such thing as a free lunch (or Seamless dinner).
If you are an IB analyst "gaming the system", then I am led to believe that there is something deeply wrong with you.
It's cute if you think banks do this to "boost" morale. Everything the bank does is financially worth it to them, including the meal which is usually charged to a client.
By law, organizations have to give a dinner break at some point during a 18 hour workday. Imagine hundreds of analysts who are allowed outside into the city around 7-8pm, and the nightmare of tracking these slaves down and bringing them back to the bullpen. Not to mention adding numerous liabilities, such as traffic, slow restaurant orders, allowing analysts to reflect on their shitty lives, etc.
Banks are a casino, they can't risk letting you outside to see the bustling city and the amount of fun everyone else is having. The risk of you "waking up" and having an epiphany is simply not worth it. You might just jump in front of a cab (excuse me, I meant Uber).
Also, restaurants fuck up shit all the time. Let's pretend a seamless order is messed up, at least the analyst was still chained to his desk working the whole time and can reorder. If that same analyst was forced to go out to the restaurant and wait, you've lost hours of time and you've got a hungry analyst who now has to go elsewhere.
The free delivery dinner was created in order to keep the analyst chained at his/her desk which is totally worth it to the bank even if they had to pay it out of their own pocket. It's a low cost way to reduce risk and squeeze more mileage out of each analyst before 90% of them eventually churn out.
Makes sense
This was pure gold. Please @ me the next time you have something this amazing to say.
Seriously? To keep you chained to your desk.
Loved the TP for beer switch though.
For the same reason that Google and Facebook have arcade games, free snacks, and climbing walls in their offices.
It makes you able to stay at work with fewer interruptions.
Even feudal lords fed their serfs
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