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Google's 'hypocritical' remote work policies anger employees
- ozzythecat 5y ago> But for some Googlers, his relocation email, which was sent on June 29 and hasn't been previously reported, illustrated the inequities of the company's system for deciding remote work. But the inequality already existed. Someone a few years into their career doesn’t have the title or compensation of some distinguished engineer, director, or VP. I don’t see a reason why that model wouldn’t extend towards on site vs remote work. If the company values you enough, they’ll let you work remotely. If they’re willing to part ways, then by definition they believe they can find someone else to fill that role. And nothing will change unless the employee market collectively is turns out to be against working on site. As an aside — I always take these kinds of articles with a grain of salt. My own employer was in the news over “angry engineers”. It was three to five people who vocally spoke on the subject, but CNET and some other news sites reported it as if hundreds of engineers were about to revolt or quit their jobs. A lot of hyperbole and sensationalism.
- ALittleLight 5y agoSimilar to how the executives who decide the rank and file should sit in open floor plans work from private offices. https://goomics.net/247/ https://goomics.net/247/
- fatnoah 5y agoI saw this at a couple previous companies. Top executives didn't have private offices. They had desks in an open area, BUT they also had dedicated conference rooms.
- dekhn 5y agoYep. An intel engineer was proudly telling me their CEO didn't have a private office, and I asked where they sat all day taking confidential meetings, and they said they just squat in an conference room. "So... that's his office, then?"
- dekhn 5y agoWow, urs is retiring to NZ. Don't believe what he's saying- urs is the sort of person who retires over 20 years to ensure stability. Urs was one of the largest promoters of in-office culture, so if he's changed his externally visible approach, that means Google is going remote.
- wiradikusuma 5y agoHeck, even in my team who are mostly same level, I have some people whom I don't trust working from home, and some others whom I'm more than happy to give them WFH. (You might say, "If you think they're not good, why keep them?" Well different country different labor law) I'm not saying Google doesn't trust its employees, but the comparison in the article is not apple to apple.
- supergirl 5y agowhy do you need to trust someone to wfh? because they might not actually do any work? that could happen in the office easily, unless you constantly monitor their screens
- wiradikusuma 5y agowhen a "Senior DevOps" needs 2weeks+ to setup Jenkins, it's hard to trust that person.
- supergirl 5y agoand what would be different if they come to the office and they take 2 weeks to set up jenkins?
- supergirl 5y agogoogle and other big tech already allowed WFH for senior people before the pandemic. it's just a negotiation; you need leverage.
- sunstone 5y agoImperceptibly, over a decade, it seems Google and Microsoft are changing places.