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• Tech companies used to provide generous perks to staff before layoffs hit the industry.
• The cost-cutting measures have caused some tech firms to cut back on employee perks.
• Here are some of the best office perks that employees have enjoyed in recent years.

The tech industry was known for its extravagant perks on top of eye-watering salaries, but now some of the main players are scaling back.

Big Tech companies such as Google and Meta have tried to cut costs by dropping perks and restricting work travel. They’ve also laid off thousands of workers between them. 

From lavish lunches to on-site pampering, here are eight of the most indulgent company perks tech workers have received over the years.

1. Google paid for its employees to go skiing

Google used to treat its employees to ski trips to Vermont, Insider previously reported. 

A few years ago, Google had “fun budgets” for teams, according to Zac Bowling, an engineer who was recently laid off after eight years. The historic allowed teams to spend money on things like team-building activities, alcohol, or a refrigerator for the office, he said.

Sometimes, Google would pull the fun budgets and use them for a company skiing vacation, Bowling told Insider in an interview in January.

“They don’t allow that anymore,” he said. “Perks have definitely become less exclusive to Google, and less interesting.”

CEO Sundar Pichai announced in January it was laying off around 12,000 employees.

2. Twitter’s extravagant lunches

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has become infamous for its drastic cost-cutting. After completing his $44 billion acquisition in October, Musk cut thousands of staff, sold off Twitter’s property, and slashed benefits for remaining employees.

One of the perks reduced under Musk’s early reign was Twitter’s free food, a benefit he claimed was costing the company $400 per meal because “almost no one” was in the office.

According to an email sent to Twitter employees and seen by Insider in November, Twitter’s free food and drink was transitioning to a “partially paid” model. In November, a Twitter employee told The New York Times the cafeteria offered two types of macaroni and cheese and a salad bar, but was missing previous items such as grilled shrimp.

3. Google staff could enjoy on-site massages

Google is known for having on-site gyms and masseuses on some of its campuses. However, some employees may be going without these perks after recent layoffs.

According to court filings, 27 massage therapists were let go from Google’s Mountain View office, two were let go from a Los Angeles campus, and one each in San Bruno and Irvine.

4. Apple hosted live performances from pop stars

Apple treated its employees to regular parties, sometimes known as “beer bashes.” Apple is the only major tech giant that avoided mass layoffs recently.

Employees were reportedly treated to free beer and food at the parties, as well as occasional private concerts by famous artists such as Maroon 5, Demi Lovato, and Gwen Stefani.

5. Google offered financial aid to spouses of deceased workers

Forbes reported in 2016 that if an employee died while still working at Google, the tech company would help take care of their family.

According to the report, which was sourced from Glassdoor, Google will continue to pay a deceased employee’s spouse half of their salary for 10 years — plus an extra $1,000 per month for each child. 

6. Airbnb pays employees to travel

Airbnb gives each employee a $2,000 travel credit each year. 

The perk is paid out on a quarterly basis and can be used to book stays on Airbnb’s platform anywhere in the world. It also announced last year that employees were allowed to work from anywhere.

7. Meta provides on-site healthcare

Meta installed on-site dental and healthcare at its California headquarters. The company, which laid off 13% of its workforce in November, partnered with Crossover Health to create a Wellness Center in Menlo Park.

The perk is listed on the company’s benefits page as being for “employee use only.” Meta, along with Apple, also pays for a portion of their employees’ egg-freezing cost.

However, Meta in December said it planned to cut down on its Life@ benefit, which covers mental health costs and work-life balance needs, Insider reported. The company also scrapped its Lyft subsidy so employees will no longer get free Lyft rides.

8. Asana’s $10,000 workplace furnishing

Asana staff can splash out on a swanky office desk, the latest desktop computer, or a comfortable chair thanks to the company’s $10,000 allowance for workplace furniture, per media reports.

The US software company also offers employees organic home-cooked meals twice a day, per Forbes.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed the spartan room he has lived in since Russia invaded a year ago.
• The small room off his office contains a single bed, a sink, and other modest furnishings.
• Ukraine’s president gave a tour of his office to a journalist for a documentary marking a year of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mainly lived in a simple, austere room in his office since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

“This is my home, I live here,” Zelenskyy said while giving journalist Dmytro Komarov a tour of his office as part of a new documentary.

The small room contains a single bed, a sink, and other modest furnishings.

—ҐРУНТ (@grntmedia) February 24, 2023

Zelenskyy recounted waking up at home with his family on the day of the invasion and how he came to his office, where he has since spent most of his time as a wartime president.

“I love my family, but for me, as president, being here was a priority,” he said.

In April of last year, two months into the war, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska said that she had not seen her husband in person since the war began.

In the documentary, Zelenskyy also showed off his closet, filled with his now signature casual and mostly khaki-colored clothing, as well as some suits that he said he is looking forward to wearing after the war.

He also showed the journalist the back room from which he made international phone calls and spoke to dozens of world leaders on the morning of the invasion.

One leader he said he did not speak to was his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy said that while he had made efforts to speak to Putin directly before the invasion, he had been repeatedly rebuffed.

When asked if he would now speak to Putin, Zelenskyy said: “No. Now I am not ready to talk to him.”

The Ukrainian president also explained why he chose to stay in the country despite being warned that he was a target and that he should pack up and leave.

“I didn’t think about what would happen, about myself,” Zelenskyy said. “Again, this isn’t about bravery. I thought about the consequences of my leaving and what would happen.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his personal life, and has fought hard to prevent the media and the world from knowing much about his family.

Putin has long made a concerted effort to shield his personal life from the spotlight.

He has rarely publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have for years speculated and reported about the two daughters he had with his ex-wife.

Further reports center around rumors that two extramarital affairs may have produced other children.

Putin’s family affairs are so secretive that reports of the second marriage of one of his daughters only emerged in April 2022, thanks to investigative reporting published at least eight years after they reportedly got together. 

But as international pressure mounts on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, sanctions have closed in on his personal networks — and in particular, his children and rumored girlfriends.

One daughter from his first marriage, Katerina Tikhonova, has been entrusted with a key job overseeing import substitutions as Russia reels under sanctions.

Just weeks before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s rumored girlfriend Alina Kabaeva praised the state’s war correspondents, saying their work is as effective as “a Kalashnikov.”

Here is what we know about the lives of Putin’s secret kids and partners.

Pat Ralph contributed reporting to previous versions of this article, which has been updated with new information.