Alterra LLC in Provo, Utah is a company that sells pest-control services. Their office sports an NCAA regulation size basketball court, a TruGolf simulator, and a 90-inch screen television. They bring in food trucks each month to serve their staff lunch and their fridges are stocked with free bottles of Propel water.
Many people are drawn to working at large technology companies like Google because of the perks that they offer. Smaller companies are starting to follow tech giants’ examples to increase their growth and make themselves more attractive to potential employees. Managers are spending millions on perks for the office to make these less glamorous jobs a more desirable option.
David Royce, Alterra’s Chief Executive, is implementing Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s philosophy that employee happiness leads to profits, and he claims that it’s working. Royce invests over 10% of the company’s profits in amenities for his employees each year. Alterra is attracting employees from competing pest control companies who end up increasing their sales by 70% in their first year there, and the company now has a retention rate of 96% for at least a full year.
This company isn’t the only one trying to up their office game. Workplace designer Primo Orpilla, who designed offices for Uber Technologies Inc. and Yelp Inc., says that he has been increasingly hearing from finance and contracting firms looking for Google-esque amenities.