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Yoga, Meals And Mutts Are Perks That Work

Zeeto is a thriving downtown technology company that optimizes Web-based registration for lead generation and ad auctions.

They might have the most Silicon Valley-like employee perks of any San Diego company (which undoubtedly helped them earn the No. 2 ranking in the San Diego Business Journal’s Best Places to Work event for companies with 50 to 249 employees).

In addition to being able to bring their dogs to work, the 60 or so employees also get free Uber rides and free yoga classes and massages. Zeeto also provides free breakfast and lunch.

CEO Stephan Goss estimates the cost of the free food at about $11 per employee per day. He rattles off the benefits: employees arrive early; they mix easily among themselves which promotes camaraderie, teamwork and problem solving; and few people leave the office for lunch and are happy not to spend $15 somewhere else on lunch.

He hasn’t tried to quantify the ROI, but he is convinced it has contributed to the company doubling its revenue in each of its first four years.

“Now the massages, yes, that’s time away from work,” he said, almost as if he hadn’t pondered the indirect costs. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “But people really like free massages.”

• • •

Speaking of hip workplaces, office trendsetters Bixby Land Co. and the Irvine Co. have decided the term “creative space” is so passé. Bixby, whose current local projects include The Oberlin in Sorrento Mesa and Aero on Aero Drive, uses the term “progressive space.”

Market leader Irvine Co. prefers the term “next generation.” Emmes Realty, a newcomer whose four downtown buildings include 1 Columbia Place and 2 Columbia Place, avoids the clichés and promotes its modern amenities.

We’re more traditional here at the SDBJ, walled off in the Classic Cubicle Culture.

• • •

Assemblyman Brian Jones of Santee deserves some kind of recognition for perseverance in pushing California to adopt the federal standard used by 49 states for “Made in America” labeling.

It only took five years to get that simple manufacturing-friendly step. He credits Carlsbad-based Vinturi Inc., which makes wine aerators, with getting the initiative started.

• • •

Most of us would never dare share our ambitious plans with our competitors with a goal of negotiating some sort of mutually acceptable path for the future.

But watching the millions being spent on initiatives by developers Kilroy Realty Corp. and Donahue Schriber over One Paseo, and now Caruso Affiliated and Westfield Corp. in Carlsbad, what do developers have to lose?

Editor-in-Chief Nels Jensen can be reached via njensen@sdbj.com or 858-277-6897.

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