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Not aware that there will be any cutbacks in perks at Google, Marissa Mayer admitted to the economic justification for the Mountain View company's famous cafeterias was to wring every possible drop of productivity from salaried employees by keeping them near campus. However wage slaves at the Googleplex, like the undocumented workers at those cafeterias employed by subcontractors, probably won't be seeing pay or working conditions improving any time soon.

It is interesting and important to point out that Google has always been a frugal company. We have always spent money in a way that made sense. We provide food to our employees largely for convenience so that they can stay closer to campus. When we were just starting the company and we were all working 120, 130 hours a week, having food on campus was something that was really convenient and fostered better culture because we all conversed over meal time. To have these perks might seem lavish on the outside, but there are usually common sense reasons why we are doing them on the inside. That said, we always want to be frugal and conscientious about money.

It's all in a refreshingly honest interview that makes no mention of "Don't be evil," and only a subtle pretension that the company is doing anything more than trying to make as much money as algorithmically possible. (Photo by Getty/Oliver Lang)