Perks are a poor substitute for a culture built on a stronger, more inclusive foundation.

An excellent article on Model View Culture by Etsy’s Melissa Santos and Rafe Colburn on how startup perks can inadvertently be massively divisive, and harmful to a diverse culture. Really interesting analysis and introspection, plus advice on more inclusive activities and rewards.

From the article:

[Free lunches, free dinner, beer in the office] are generally most appealing to one particular demographic – young, unmarried guys. All too often, they are intended to make companies appealing to candidates who are members of that demographic, and they reinforce the monoculture that is often a huge problem in our industry.

P.S. For a larger list of “URLs that interest me” check out Flame Links - I’m not about to turn my blog into a link feed, but I am going to start including short posts pointing at other people’s content that I find particularly interesting.