Dot-Coms Turn to Fun, Games to Keep Workers.

LET'S face it. Working for a dot-com just isn't as slick as it used to be. Options are worthless. The IPO's a pipe dream. And the long hours are getting grueling.

So what's a struggling dot-com to do in its unending quest to keep its flighty talent from bolting?

Bring on the fun. And while we're at it, how about a group hug?

These days, working at dot-coms is less about getting rich quick and more about getting along. Where dot-coms once dangled monster salaries and lavish bonus and stock option packages, they now offer paintball privileges, jungle trips and visits from "the Candyman."

"A year ago people were taking the leap to startups thinking they were going to make money quick," said Marijo Bos, senior vice president of people at Santa Monica-based incubator eCompanies LLC. "Now, it's much more focused on environmental issues within an organization, what the support tools are, who the people are."

Toward that end, eCompanies hosts loosely structured social gatherings at least twice a week. There's "Feedback Friday," where all employees are invited to incubate ideas with management. Dinners are offered on site for all employees once a week. And then there's the Candy-man, who shows up with gum and chocolate on most afternoons.

"It has weeded out those who really want to work in an entrepreneurial environment vs. those who want to get rich quick," Bos said. "If they come in thinking that, they're not right for the job."

Still, getting rich is what matters most to employees, according to a recent survey released by Bridge-Gate LLC, an executive search firm based in Irvine. Of the national respondents in the survey, 46 percent reported that a raise would convince them to stay; just 18 percent cited improved benefits as a retention factor.

"With the cooling of the dot-com economy, we're witnessing something of a return to fundamentals," said Bridgegate managing director Dudley Brown. "For many workers, the so-called intangibles -- notably flexible work schedules and training -- are taking a back seat to more concrete concerns. In any period of uncertainty or change, compensation and its equivalents tend to rise to the top."

In other words, "cash is king and options are not," said Jonathan Funk of Media Technology Ventures, a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm. "The environment is completely different. We're in a very harsh adjustment period on compensation."

Throughout the dot-com world, salaries have leveled off since the Nasdaq plummeted last spring, forcing cash-strapped tech companies to get creative with perks in order to stay competitive.

Despite tumult on Wall Street, Razorfish Inc., a New York-based Internet consulting company with offices in Santa Monica, ramped up its efforts to keep employees happy with unique perks.

Driving that effort is the fact that Razor-fish is dependent on technical staff to stay competitive.

But the staffers, or "fish" as they are known to each other, have reason to be skittish. Following a warning about declining earnings, Razorfish saw its share price fall 43 percent in early October. The company responded by eliminating 200 positions at offices in New York and elsewhere, including 'in Santa Monica, where it now employs 180 people. Also, the company's president resigned in September.

"You have to give people a reason to want to be here and to work within the business," said Razorfish director of operations Charlie White. "It's not just a job anymore. A paycheck is not enough anymore."

So how about a round of paintball?

As part of its effort to excite its Santa Monica fish, Razorfish recently held a surprise staff meeting over paintball, an outing that White called a major success because it delighted employees and built team spirit.

The fish are also lured by an array of voluntary leisure pursuits, such as daily breakfasts, yoga, morning beach runs, afternoon rowing and evening bowling.

But the crown jewel of all Razorfish perks began last week, when 30 lucky employees, including several from Santa Monica, landed in Costa Rica for a week of rafting, rappelling and hiking in the rainforest. The company-funded wilderness adventure, dubbed "Catapult," is part of an effort to reward employees, who were selected by other Razorfish workers, and offer them leadership training in a fun environment.

Even though the company is facing financial problems, officials considered the outing part of the cost of doing business.

"This is how the Razorfish culture has grown up over time," White said. "We look to dazzle ourselves and our clients with hot projects."

Hot projects, as opposed to hot stock options, drive the work environment at another species of fish, Enfish Technology Inc. in Pasadena, which makes desktop software.

"We focus on having it be a good place to work, not on the extra perks that don't make sense," said Enfish founder and CEO Louise Wannier. "As everyone has seen, there are enormous challenges in the marketplace, and it's going to take longer for companies to grow and get successful."

Rather than luring talent with the promise of riches, Wannier said, she entices them by offering a chance to make a difference.

"The key to being a great place to work is that you're listened to and involved in building the company," she said. "That's a hard thing to accomplish. But we're trying to engage everyone."

When Wannier recently hired 15 tech-savvy employees for the launch of Enfish's new desktop portal software, Enfish Onespace, she said the candidates were drawn primarily to the democratic work environment.

"Companies are increasingly becoming distributed in their thinking and building," Wannier said. "Everyone is here voluntarily and could go get another job. When you think of everyone as volunteers, all with different scopes of responsibility, we're all then on the same team and contributing to the end result."

And that, Wannier believes, is what hooks her fish.43