You're probably joking, but the disappearance of fringe benefits like free food or drinks is a very early warning sign that you should polish your resume. Somebody is running a cost cutting exercise for some reason good or bad. In a modern tech company the only way to cut significant costs is to cut employees, so you might be next...

Reminds me of:

https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...

(Slightly startled to learn that was published nearly a decade ago!)

This narrative doesn't fit with GOOG hiring 20k people last year.

I don't think they're trying to cut on their headcount, but probably trying to cut on the cost per head.

This doesn't apply to GOOG, the OP was complaining about food getting worse, not it disappearing.

Free stuff disappearing is an early signal, it often occurs before the hiring freezes and layoffs.

If this article is to be believed, Microsoft does double that every year. I imagine many huge companies do. I realize it probably sounds weird, but Google just ain't that special.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/how-to-land-a-job-at-microso...

Most were contractors, so "hiring" is misleading.

It could be a result of recent tax law changes. Many fringe benefits like on site food service for employees are no longer a deductible expense. So the cost of providing food to employees essentially went up by 40% overnight.

>You're probably joking

I am not. Google had been the gold standard of at-work perks for 20 years. Even Facebook copied them.

Been at Google for over two years and haven't seen the food quality go down in that period at least. Coffee actually keeps getting better everytime I move to new buildings.