What Wall Street Can Learn From Silicon Valley

CNBC reported on some of the more outlandish on Monday, topping anything seen in decades past. Some examples:

• The video monitoring hardware and software company Dropcam offers each employee (plus guest) a free helicopter ride—piloted by the company CEO Greg Duffy—to the destination of their choice.
• OpenDNS, an enterprise network security company, takes all of its employees, as well as their families, on a paid trip to Tahoe each year where they stay at the Ritz Carlton.
• Weebly, a website creation tool, gives each employee a monthly credit of $50 to Exec, which provides an on-demand errand service.

“Providing employees with free food, as well as alcohol, is probably the most popular perk among startups in the Valley,” the network notes. “OpenDNS, for example, brought in a vintage bar that it keeps full of booze.”

Of course it all comes with a catch. While it fits with the Valley’s hip image, Silicon startups feel happy workers are more productive workers, meaning they’ll work longer hours (sans the caffeine, nicotine and stress).

“The goal with anything perks-wise is about making life easier,” David Ulevitch, founder and CEO of OpenDNS, told CNBC. “Work is stressful; you literally spend the majority of your life at work, so we want to create things that make their lives easier.”