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I understand the unwillingness for Google employees to engage is unpleasant discussion, but it's been mentioned that Google is grossly over-staffed by people th

I understand the unwillingness for Google employees to engage is unpleasant discussion, but it's been mentioned that Google is grossly over-staffed by people that simply "rest and vest" rather than do anything of value. I could never get any reasonable answer as to why these people think their role is justified. Instead the discussion would always get downvoted and flagged into oblivion. I always found it peculiar for the need of censorship brigading rather than having a reason. I guess management has started asking the same question, and short of a convincing answer, are cutting the dead weight.

ein0p 2y ago
During my recent second stint there I have not seen anyone who was resting and vesting in engineering. I’ve seen a lot of people under tremendous stress working really hard on bullshit that’s not even remotely necessary, but resting and vesting was not something I saw. It could be happening among managers, directors and execs, of whom Google has a tremendous number, but not among ICs, who are impacted by this layoff
- nine_zeros 2y ago
  I think the problem is not "rest and vest" but an immense amount of red tape and performative work that just eats time from anything productive. When you have so manye levels and each level needs to demonstrate impact by creating meetings, documents, reviews etc - everything is roadblocked. Not to say we don't need reviews but people get discouraged when management doesn't actively try to make lives easier. This shows up as "rest and vest" aka no one is going to care about roadblocks if the people above won't care about it.
jeffbee 2y ago
Who "rests and vests" more than a VP or SVP, in other words the people making these layoff decisions? The whole upper part of the org does no useful work and vests at rates hundreds of times higher than the people being fired.
emodendroket 2y ago
> I could never get any reasonable answer as to why these people think their role is justified. Instead the discussion would always get downvoted and flagged into oblivion. I always found it peculiar for the need of censorship brigading rather than having a reason. Everyone always thinks their coworkers aren't doing anything. It's tired and evidence-free so what's to discuss?
- infamouscow 2y ago
  I believe you have mischaracterized my point in the least charitable way possible and foolishly tried to just dismiss it rather than simply engage in the point. Your low quality response is a shining example of my quote because you haven't justified anything. Steering the conversation frame to something else might trick the stupid, but you're not pulling a fast one on anyone with an IQ over 100.

ein0p 2y ago

During my recent second stint there I have not seen anyone who was resting and vesting in engineering. I’ve seen a lot of people under tremendous stress working really hard on bullshit that’s not even remotely necessary, but resting and vesting was not something I saw. It could be happening among managers, directors and execs, of whom Google has a tremendous number, but not among ICs, who are impacted by this layoff

nine_zeros 2y ago
I think the problem is not "rest and vest" but an immense amount of red tape and performative work that just eats time from anything productive. When you have so manye levels and each level needs to demonstrate impact by creating meetings, documents, reviews etc - everything is roadblocked. Not to say we don't need reviews but people get discouraged when management doesn't actively try to make lives easier. This shows up as "rest and vest" aka no one is going to care about roadblocks if the people above won't care about it.

jeffbee 2y ago

Who "rests and vests" more than a VP or SVP, in other words the people making these layoff decisions? The whole upper part of the org does no useful work and vests at rates hundreds of times higher than the people being fired.

emodendroket 2y ago

> I could never get any reasonable answer as to why these people think their role is justified. Instead the discussion would always get downvoted and flagged into oblivion. I always found it peculiar for the need of censorship brigading rather than having a reason. Everyone always thinks their coworkers aren't doing anything. It's tired and evidence-free so what's to discuss?

infamouscow 2y ago
I believe you have mischaracterized my point in the least charitable way possible and foolishly tried to just dismiss it rather than simply engage in the point. Your low quality response is a shining example of my quote because you haven't justified anything. Steering the conversation frame to something else might trick the stupid, but you're not pulling a fast one on anyone with an IQ over 100.