It definitely wasn’t the plush office that enticed Kristin Sverchek to take the general counsel job at Lyft Inc. in November. Her workspace — a simple Ikea desk and swivel chair — is no different from anyone else’s at the San Francisco startup.

Sverchek has no office — and little privacy. When she needs to make a confidential call, she grabs her cellphone and walks down a flight of stairs to the parking lot next door. There, beneath a large Lyft billboard, she can speak without being overheard.