7 ms·

No shit. I guess Google can no longer assume that there is a single correct world view that all good and smart people hold. Who knew.

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
Maybe they just can't no longer assume that they can get away with it and prevent leaks about their practices from becoming public.
- pgeorgi 7y ago
  > prevent leaks about their practices from becoming public Google is a company that provides gyms, cooking classes, non-work discussion forums, extensive cafeteria service, massages and so on and so on to make sure employees are living within the company as much as possible. But discussions on such random forums don't reflect company practice just as the gyms don't exist to make every employee a professional marathon runner in Team Google. Since the forums became quite the distraction, there are more rules about them now. I'd fully expect gyms to be limited or shut down if they had adverse effects on the workplace, too. (Disclosure: I work at Google, but the above is my very own, personal, slightly cynical take on the company)
  - umanwizard 7y ago
    > Google is a company that provides gyms, cooking classes, non-work discussion forums, extensive cafeteria service, massages and so on and so on to make sure employees are living within the company as much as possible. I would argue these perks exist because they are what top tech workers can command in the market, not because of some nefarious purpose of wanting people to work longer hours. Sort of like how MLB players have all kinds of nice perks written into their bargaining agreement like always flying first class, etc.
    - ryacko 7y ago
      It could be worse, they could allow employees to sleep in trucks or cars in the parking lot...
nostrademons 7y ago
They never really did, but they used to assume Googlers would have "strong opinions lightly held", i.e. while you may have strong viewpoints it wouldn't get in the way of doing your job or allowing your coworkers to do theirs. I guess they're finding that's not really the case anymore.
wanderer2323 7y ago
I am pretty sure they still assume that. Discussing that particular 'single correct world view' will be labeled 'common sense' and allowed, discussing all and any dissenting views will be labeled 'political' and will get you fired.
wutbrodo 7y ago
This is so hilariously wrong that I don't even know where to start. Google's culture was predicated on hiring intelligent, emotionally-continent adults. Free discussion of politics wasn't banned during my time there because everyone was capable of understanding precisely the opposite of what you're describing: that differing views on the world exist and are attributable to more than just whether someone is a good or bad person. When you scale to a hundred thousand employees, you can't keep your bar that high, and you have to start letting in people who more closely resemble the average narrow-minded, maximalizing dumbass. For a little while that meant the company needed to bow to the more culturally-powerful regressive left (esp when things leaked, for PR reasons), but as the culture war heats up, the only winning move for a company with a (classical) liberal founding culture is to discourage political engagement at all.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- the-pigeon 7y ago
  I've worked for a lot of small startups some mid-sized companies in California over the last decade. I would never ever share any views that are non-liberal because when I've seen anyone else do it it didn't go well for them at all. And I'm not at work to change people's political views so there's no reason to take the risk. I don't think this is a new shift at all. I think it's typical when you have smart but insecure people which is most software engineers.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - cheald 7y ago
    "Over the last decade" is a critical qualification, I think. This phenomenon emerged in the early 2010s, by my best reckoning. This sounds an awful lot like nostalgic pining for the good old days, but there was a time not too long ago that daring to hold an opinion that others around you disagreed with wasn't an existential threat to your career. Things shifted really hard, really fast.
lr4444lr 7y ago
I think it's more about avoiding HR problems than a conviction of humility.
xadhominemx 7y ago
I think what’s actually happened is that it’s become more obvious that aome world views are actually more correct, which has reduced the ability to engage in respectful debate

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago

Maybe they just can't no longer assume that they can get away with it and prevent leaks about their practices from becoming public.

pgeorgi 7y ago
> prevent leaks about their practices from becoming public Google is a company that provides gyms, cooking classes, non-work discussion forums, extensive cafeteria service, massages and so on and so on to make sure employees are living within the company as much as possible. But discussions on such random forums don't reflect company practice just as the gyms don't exist to make every employee a professional marathon runner in Team Google. Since the forums became quite the distraction, there are more rules about them now. I'd fully expect gyms to be limited or shut down if they had adverse effects on the workplace, too. (Disclosure: I work at Google, but the above is my very own, personal, slightly cynical take on the company)
- umanwizard 7y ago
  > Google is a company that provides gyms, cooking classes, non-work discussion forums, extensive cafeteria service, massages and so on and so on to make sure employees are living within the company as much as possible. I would argue these perks exist because they are what top tech workers can command in the market, not because of some nefarious purpose of wanting people to work longer hours. Sort of like how MLB players have all kinds of nice perks written into their bargaining agreement like always flying first class, etc.
  - ryacko 7y ago
    It could be worse, they could allow employees to sleep in trucks or cars in the parking lot...

nostrademons 7y ago

They never really did, but they used to assume Googlers would have "strong opinions lightly held", i.e. while you may have strong viewpoints it wouldn't get in the way of doing your job or allowing your coworkers to do theirs. I guess they're finding that's not really the case anymore.

wanderer2323 7y ago

I am pretty sure they still assume that. Discussing that particular 'single correct world view' will be labeled 'common sense' and allowed, discussing all and any dissenting views will be labeled 'political' and will get you fired.

wutbrodo 7y ago

This is so hilariously wrong that I don't even know where to start. Google's culture was predicated on hiring intelligent, emotionally-continent adults. Free discussion of politics wasn't banned during my time there because everyone was capable of understanding precisely the opposite of what you're describing: that differing views on the world exist and are attributable to more than just whether someone is a good or bad person. When you scale to a hundred thousand employees, you can't keep your bar that high, and you have to start letting in people who more closely resemble the average narrow-minded, maximalizing dumbass. For a little while that meant the company needed to bow to the more culturally-powerful regressive left (esp when things leaked, for PR reasons), but as the culture war heats up, the only winning move for a company with a (classical) liberal founding culture is to discourage political engagement at all.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
the-pigeon 7y ago
I've worked for a lot of small startups some mid-sized companies in California over the last decade. I would never ever share any views that are non-liberal because when I've seen anyone else do it it didn't go well for them at all. And I'm not at work to change people's political views so there's no reason to take the risk. I don't think this is a new shift at all. I think it's typical when you have smart but insecure people which is most software engineers.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- cheald 7y ago
  "Over the last decade" is a critical qualification, I think. This phenomenon emerged in the early 2010s, by my best reckoning. This sounds an awful lot like nostalgic pining for the good old days, but there was a time not too long ago that daring to hold an opinion that others around you disagreed with wasn't an existential threat to your career. Things shifted really hard, really fast.

lr4444lr 7y ago

I think it's more about avoiding HR problems than a conviction of humility.

xadhominemx 7y ago

I think what’s actually happened is that it’s become more obvious that aome world views are actually more correct, which has reduced the ability to engage in respectful debate