Certainly what environment you have should be a sort of organic / self developed / self serving kinda system. Make it your own.
I do think when folks talk about little perks and the environment they're not talking about how having the right kind of cake, or three kinds of cake vs two kinds of cake available (just a generic example) is important. What they are really saying is "I see this company has put some resources into making this environment better, and that reflects their values and makes ME feel valued." Heck even if you don't eat the cake it is a sign.
It's akin to the story (I can't find it) where a company stopped providing free soda (or maybe they stopped subsidizing the price, I forget). The engineers were very upset, but it was just soda and god knows they could afford it.... but really it wasn't soda, the fact that management thought it was worth their time to pull resources from soda of all things was a very worrisome sign that indicated the company's values and possibly their future. Soda was the canary in the coal mine.
I do think when folks talk about little perks and the environment they're not talking about how having the right kind of cake, or three kinds of cake vs two kinds of cake available (just a generic example) is important. What they are really saying is "I see this company has put some resources into making this environment better, and that reflects their values and makes ME feel valued." Heck even if you don't eat the cake it is a sign.
It's akin to the story (I can't find it) where a company stopped providing free soda (or maybe they stopped subsidizing the price, I forget). The engineers were very upset, but it was just soda and god knows they could afford it.... but really it wasn't soda, the fact that management thought it was worth their time to pull resources from soda of all things was a very worrisome sign that indicated the company's values and possibly their future. Soda was the canary in the coal mine.