#ESIEats

 

ICYMI I'm reposting an excerpt from my company's blog post, in which I discuss our new initiative to give employees an allowance to eat out.

 

Earlier this year, I made the call to bring us back into the office. Part of that is because I believe that as a firm we work better together in person, both in terms of doing the work and in building our culture. But maybe a bigger reason, which I kept coming back to as we deliberated the matter, is that as a firm that purports to be about cities and that is working towards a brighter future for our cities, it feels good for us to be putting that into action by contributing our own foot traffic to the downtown scene and our own discretionary spending to local businesses.

In this regard, coming back to the office and giving staff a monthly allowance to dine out is the natural consequence of the notion that our existence as a firm is not as an island, but in relationship with a physical location, an ecosystem of businesses and residents and commuters and tourists. We benefit from the setting in which we’re located, and the shopping options and public amenities and street life that we can access here. And, in turn we benefit the setting by being physically present, for it’s our eyes and ears and dollars that help make the city safe and vibrant.

Now, practically, who doesn’t love getting some money to eat out? So I guess you could call this an employee perk. But it’s also an invitation to come together around a set of shared values that we are trying to foster in the firm and among our staff, which is that who we patronize and where we spend our money is a reflection of what’s important to us. It’s why I’ve encouraged people and asked our marketing team to amplify the support of local businesses and entrepreneurs of color and places that prioritize the environment.

I acknowledge we’re a small company, so the magnitude of our impact is relatively minimal. But it’s meaningful for us. And maybe it sparks similar actions by other organizations, big and small. We believe in the future of cities, and we’re committed to the future of Philadelphia. This is one way we’re putting those values into motion.