5 ms·

Please don't refer to people and their livelihoods as "fat." Cheering people losing their jobs is gross.

ProAm 4y ago
> Please don't refer to people and their livelihoods as "fat." Cheering people losing their jobs is gross. Trimming the fat is a commonly used idiom, not only in business but anywhere there is excess and unnecessary items not helping the bottomline. As an investor I care much more about Google's profitability than the ineffective headcount. They can trim plenty of employees and still be an effective ad company. People hardly work there (not all but a significant amount), its been known in the industry forever.
- chickenpotpie 4y ago
  > Trimming the fat is a commonly used idiom, not only in business but anywhere there is excess and unnecessary items not helping the bottomline There are lots of commonly used idioms that are gross, especially in certain contexts. > As an investor I care much more about Google's profitability than the ineffective headcount. And your investments are objectively less important than people putting food on the table.
  - dontblink 4y ago
    Trimming the fat can be used to also be net zero in employment loss. E.g. cutting projects that are not going to make money and reinvest the effort from Engineers into extending more impactful (profitable?) products.
  - ProAm 4y ago
    > There are lots of commonly used idioms that are gross, especially in certain contexts. That is just like your opinion. > And your investments are objectively less important than people putting food on the table. That's just not how publicly traded companies operate. Good luck to these people, I'm sure they can continue to contribute elsewhere, earn a fair income and continue to put food on the table. I feed my family by investing in publicly traded companies, and therefore would like the most amount of profit for the least amount of investment. If these employees truly fear being laid off they can work harder, good, valuable employees are rarely let go in any business.
  - origin_path 4y ago
    People's investments are putting food on their table.
  - telotortium 4y ago
    Trimming the fat primarily means trimming the fat off a piece of steak or pork, which makes sense because there the fat is tasteless and so completely useless (unless you need lipid calories for some reason).
- danaris 4y ago
  Prioritizing investors' interests over employees' interests is one of the biggest reasons our economy and society have been declining over the past while. Investors like you need to realize that your money is never, ever as important as people's lives and livelihoods.
  - junofan 4y ago
    By what measure? Don’t we have the strongest, most productive economy in human history? What exactly is the problem, and what is your proposed fix?
    - danaris 4y ago
      The problem is many people don't have enough money to pay rent, put food on the table, and keep the house heated...while a small number of other people are so concerned that their dollar-denominated high score might not go up quite as high, they demand that the first people be sent to die in the streets so the companies the second group have investments in don't have to pay them anymore. edit: whoops, forgot your second question My proposed fix...is complicated, because there is no simple solution. We need a cultural shift to value people's lives and dignity more than money and profit, and I don't know how to make that happen. In terms of slightly more actionable things...we need a universal basic income, ultimately. In the shorter term, we need stronger and more widespread unions, better legal protections for workers' rights (and much more effective penalties for companies that violate those rights), and a stronger safety net. Just in terms of this thread? What we need is more compassion. Recognizing that when you're asked not to talk about firing thousands of people in such flippant and dismissive terms as "trimming the fat," it's not because your rights to free speech are being eroded, but because you're being asked to care about other people's lives more than you care about adding more zeroes to your investment account balance. Or at least care about them enough not to publicly talk about them as being worthless "fat".
desmosxxx 4y ago
There is a non-trivial amount of people within Google that are taking advantage of the system and getting away with next to no work. No cutback will be perfect and people that don't deserve it will be impacted. But some people really deserve it. The current situation is not fair to people that actually do work and creates perverse incentives.

> Please don't refer to people and their livelihoods as "fat." Cheering people losing their jobs is gross. Trimming the fat is a commonly used idiom, not only in business but anywhere there is excess and unnecessary items not helping the bottomline. As an investor I care much more about Google's profitability than the ineffective headcount. They can trim plenty of employees and still be an effective ad company. People hardly work there (not all but a significant amount), its been known in the industry forever.

chickenpotpie 4y ago
> Trimming the fat is a commonly used idiom, not only in business but anywhere there is excess and unnecessary items not helping the bottomline There are lots of commonly used idioms that are gross, especially in certain contexts. > As an investor I care much more about Google's profitability than the ineffective headcount. And your investments are objectively less important than people putting food on the table.
- dontblink 4y ago
  Trimming the fat can be used to also be net zero in employment loss. E.g. cutting projects that are not going to make money and reinvest the effort from Engineers into extending more impactful (profitable?) products.
- ProAm 4y ago
  > There are lots of commonly used idioms that are gross, especially in certain contexts. That is just like your opinion. > And your investments are objectively less important than people putting food on the table. That's just not how publicly traded companies operate. Good luck to these people, I'm sure they can continue to contribute elsewhere, earn a fair income and continue to put food on the table. I feed my family by investing in publicly traded companies, and therefore would like the most amount of profit for the least amount of investment. If these employees truly fear being laid off they can work harder, good, valuable employees are rarely let go in any business.
- origin_path 4y ago
  People's investments are putting food on their table.
- telotortium 4y ago
  Trimming the fat primarily means trimming the fat off a piece of steak or pork, which makes sense because there the fat is tasteless and so completely useless (unless you need lipid calories for some reason).
danaris 4y ago
Prioritizing investors' interests over employees' interests is one of the biggest reasons our economy and society have been declining over the past while. Investors like you need to realize that your money is never, ever as important as people's lives and livelihoods.
- junofan 4y ago
  By what measure? Don’t we have the strongest, most productive economy in human history? What exactly is the problem, and what is your proposed fix?
  - danaris 4y ago
    The problem is many people don't have enough money to pay rent, put food on the table, and keep the house heated...while a small number of other people are so concerned that their dollar-denominated high score might not go up quite as high, they demand that the first people be sent to die in the streets so the companies the second group have investments in don't have to pay them anymore. edit: whoops, forgot your second question My proposed fix...is complicated, because there is no simple solution. We need a cultural shift to value people's lives and dignity more than money and profit, and I don't know how to make that happen. In terms of slightly more actionable things...we need a universal basic income, ultimately. In the shorter term, we need stronger and more widespread unions, better legal protections for workers' rights (and much more effective penalties for companies that violate those rights), and a stronger safety net. Just in terms of this thread? What we need is more compassion. Recognizing that when you're asked not to talk about firing thousands of people in such flippant and dismissive terms as "trimming the fat," it's not because your rights to free speech are being eroded, but because you're being asked to care about other people's lives more than you care about adding more zeroes to your investment account balance. Or at least care about them enough not to publicly talk about them as being worthless "fat".

desmosxxx 4y ago

There is a non-trivial amount of people within Google that are taking advantage of the system and getting away with next to no work. No cutback will be perfect and people that don't deserve it will be impacted. But some people really deserve it. The current situation is not fair to people that actually do work and creates perverse incentives.