5 ms·

This reminds me of the holiday gifts at Google. By the time I joined, Google had already switched from physical gifts (e.g. a new Pixel) to allowing each emplo

This reminds me of the holiday gifts at Google. By the time I joined, Google had already switched from physical gifts (e.g. a new Pixel) to allowing each employee to choose a charity to which Google.org would donate $1,000. Even years later, there was still bitterness among the employee base about the holiday gift. It was a bit mystifying to me (as I never had the expectation of a $400 electronic for a holiday gift from my employer), but really shows the power of anchoring. Once people have an expectation for some reward or benefit, any downward deviation from that expectation is met with great distress.

hrocha1 5y ago
Step 1. create a charity that would "adopt" Google employees and give them Pixel phones Step 2. choose that charity and pick yourself for an adoption
- lazyasciiart 5y ago
  Step 0: remember that people have been creating scam charities for a long time, so the IRS looks for it, knows more than you do about it, and does not like it.
  - hrocha1 5y ago
    It was just a joke. I'm not from US and have no idea how any of this work :) To me the whole idea of a gift where the employer donates money to charities in a name of a employee seems like "The Human Fund" sketch from Seinfeld rather than anything that would actually exist in a real world.
  - dboreham 5y ago
    Create a church instead..
- jefftk 5y ago
  That's not going to qualify for 501(c)(3) status: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organiz...
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
Hm, but it was the way they managed the transition. When I joined (actually I believe I joined literally the day before the cut-off for the holiday gift so got it even tho I started in December 2011)... it was "free Nexus" (and so on, choose from a list, etc) and then it was "very cheap hardware devices we have excess inventory of" and then it was "donation to a charity we chose" and people got miffed because it just smelled like a big tax write-off. They would have been much better off just eliminating the holiday gift with a heartfelt letter from Larry explaining that he didn't want a creeping culture of entitlement and we were all aware we were compensated handsomely anyways so happy holidays, you'll get your annual bonus soon anyways. Pretending the charity thing was a gift was a bit weird. At that point I was giving 5-10x that amount in my own cash to charities anyways. It's handled a bit better now, because you get to choose the charity, and it's accompanied by a good matching charity drive program etc.
Oneiros512 5y ago
There was a story I read a while back about Veterans being unhappy with the red cross for not offering free donuts because they had back during WW2. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-cost-of-free-doughnuts-70-years-of-regret https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...

hrocha1 5y ago

Step 1. create a charity that would "adopt" Google employees and give them Pixel phones Step 2. choose that charity and pick yourself for an adoption

lazyasciiart 5y ago
Step 0: remember that people have been creating scam charities for a long time, so the IRS looks for it, knows more than you do about it, and does not like it.
- hrocha1 5y ago
  It was just a joke. I'm not from US and have no idea how any of this work :) To me the whole idea of a gift where the employer donates money to charities in a name of a employee seems like "The Human Fund" sketch from Seinfeld rather than anything that would actually exist in a real world.
- dboreham 5y ago
  Create a church instead..
jefftk 5y ago
That's not going to qualify for 501(c)(3) status: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organiz...

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

Hm, but it was the way they managed the transition. When I joined (actually I believe I joined literally the day before the cut-off for the holiday gift so got it even tho I started in December 2011)... it was "free Nexus" (and so on, choose from a list, etc) and then it was "very cheap hardware devices we have excess inventory of" and then it was "donation to a charity we chose" and people got miffed because it just smelled like a big tax write-off. They would have been much better off just eliminating the holiday gift with a heartfelt letter from Larry explaining that he didn't want a creeping culture of entitlement and we were all aware we were compensated handsomely anyways so happy holidays, you'll get your annual bonus soon anyways. Pretending the charity thing was a gift was a bit weird. At that point I was giving 5-10x that amount in my own cash to charities anyways. It's handled a bit better now, because you get to choose the charity, and it's accompanied by a good matching charity drive program etc.

Oneiros512 5y ago

There was a story I read a while back about Veterans being unhappy with the red cross for not offering free donuts because they had back during WW2. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-cost-of-free-doughnuts-70-years-of-regret https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...