&gt; &quot;The trend can be traced back to Google and Zappos&quot;<p>Or Apple in the 1980s. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.folklore.org&#x2F;StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&amp;story=Make_a_Mess,_Clean_it_Up!.txt" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.folklore.org&#x2F;StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&amp;story...</a> describes it as &quot;In the center of Macintosh work area in Bandley 3 we had a ping pong table, a nice stereo system, and a Defender video game machine. We found that competitive play gave us a jolt of adrenaline, and a refreshed mind-set when we resumed work. We also learned a lot about our coworkers and how they excel during competition.&quot;<p>&gt; &quot;and defined their workplace cultures with the help of beanbag chairs&quot;<p>Sorry, I meant PARC in the 1970s. Here&#x27;s a picture of PARC&#x27;s &quot;famous&quot; beanbag chairs from 1971 - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hightechhistory.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;06&#x2F;02&#x2F;a-brief-early-history-of-xerox-parc-and-the-development-of-the-personal-computer&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hightechhistory.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;06&#x2F;02&#x2F;a-brief-early-history...</a> .<p>&gt; &quot;Perks have since proliferated at startups&quot;<p>See, problem is, now that I&#x27;ve shown that these sorts of office perks have been around for at least 45 years, it&#x27;s hard to really agree with a timeline which starts with Google and grows from there.<p>The references to millennials is gratuitous. It&#x27;s not that they are millennials but that they are young. Twenty-something Gen X&#x27;ers in the dot-com era had their own set of perks, and turnover rate. Here&#x27;s an InfoWorld article from 2000 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=QD0EAAAAMBAJ&amp;pg=PA75&amp;dq=silicon+valley+perk&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=QD0EAAAAMBAJ&amp;pg=PA75&amp;dq=si...</a> which talks about extended vacation time, laundry services, and on-site doctors as perks.<p>Stick in &#x27;Silicon Valley perk&#x27; into a Google Book search for books before 1990 and out pops, &quot;The chip war: the battle for the world of tomorrow&quot; (1989) which says &quot;Salaries, stock options, bonuses, and perks grew to astounding proportions, leading demographers to dub Silicon Valley workers &quot;gold collar&quot; workers.&quot; There&#x27;s also &quot;Book of perks&quot; (1984) which talks about sabbatical leaves for Silicon Valley engineers.