Faisal Masud gave an interview with "Innovation Leader". The entire article was a web of self promotion but the most interesting is the following. Some of the chosen ones get to work remote, have flexibility, catered lunches, and gym time. In HQ I work under constant stress and my boss knows little about what to do, but it is more business casual. My boss wears sports jerseys to work. At least the dress code is gone.
"Masud: Look, it’s very difficult. I’m in the process of hiring a CSO and a CIO on my team, and it’s been quite the task. It’s not easy to get these people, especially the talented folks that are not looking, but that’s at the highest level.
If you go further down, what’s really helped us has been building out our labs in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and Cambridge, because these folks don’t want to move, they want flexibility. They want the benefits that they would get out of a startup, and they also want the ability to be autonomous wherever they are.
Masud: I have to say, I’m pretty happy with what our HR organization has done. It’s very different to other HR [groups] I’ve worked with.
…You’re talking about changing the way you pay these people, the equity cash breakout, the benefits. At our office in San Mateo, we have catered lunch, and gym is included in everyone’s daily routine, because those are the kinds of benefits that they were used to, and we have to come out and do that.
Educating HR on what Silicon Valley offers and taking them on these trips to actually visit VCs and startups really, really helped, because they saw it live, how people worked on the west coast. Until somebody sees things live, it’s very hard for them to believe you on just face value."