Perk Up: Facebook Launches Shuttle Service Between SF And Palo Alto

When it comes to the battle for top talent in Silicon Valley, perks can be a powerful weapon. For years, Google owned this space — you couldn’t read a report on the company without a mention of the search giant’s multiple cafeterias or onsite haircuts. But in the last few years Facebook has been piling on the perks, even going as far as poaching Google’s in-house chef. And today Facebook is taking another page from Google’s playbook: shuttles from San Francisco to Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, provided by Bauer’s — the same company used by Google. A number of pleased employees have been tweeting and updating their Facebook statuses with their enthusiastic responses to the announcement.

The news comes only a week after Facebook announced plans to drastically increase the size of its workforce by as much as 50% by the end of the year, during a time when most of Silicon Valley is not hiring and is cutting back on perks. Clearly, the social network is doing everything it can to make the decision to join as easy as possible.

Facebook has spelled out all of its other perks on its homepage, which include a robust benefits package, free food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), free Caltrain passes, and laundry services. The company also used to offer housing vouchers to employees that lived in Palo Alto, but discontinued that program some time ago.