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One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

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Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#231

Post by dev_north_east »

seibelj wrote: post #11

How about everyone goes to work and does their job and goes home. You can believe X, I can believe Y, and both of us believe Z, but XYZ doesn’t have anything to do with doing our jobs so we shouldn’t let it prevent us from doing our jobs. Super cool that everyone likes their own things though, I support liking things unrelated to job, just weird that people demand that their job adheres to whatever weird thing they l…

To be honest, I'm glad Google and others like them are there for the crazies. My experiences working with ex-Googlers was not positive. Bordering on hysterical, cringe beyond belief (sending site-wide emails starting with "If you're reading this you're probably a white, straight, man... blah blah" etc.), more interested in their own activism than work or actually getting along with other people.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#232

Post by brown9-2 »

skissane wrote: post #28

> The documents concerned a mandatory tool that was recently installed on the Google Chrome browser on workers’ computers, the employees said. In October, some Google employees raised concerns that the Chrome extension was an internal surveillance tool designed to monitor their attempts to organize protests. It would automatically report staffers who create a calendar event with more than 10 rooms or 100 participants…

I don’t think people are considering enough that the people who raised the concerns could simply be wrong.

Note that Google didn’t need an extension to know which employees were tracking other employee’s calendars.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#233

Post by nyolfen »

cryptica wrote: post #214

>> The tracking had made the staff in those departments feel unsafe It's very strange how often this idea of 'feeling unsafe' is coming up in the media now. It seems that either: - People have become more fragile/sensitive; or - People have become more aggressive. I think it may be both. I think corporations create extremely unnatural, oppressive and coercive environments which makes people more outwardly sensitive b…

it's just a fashionable rhetorical lever

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#234

Post by steev »

spaceribs wrote: post #7

As an engineer, I revel in avoiding these monolithic supercorps. I don't know why anyone would want to work in centralizing innovation and creativity into the hands of a few greedy people.

The scale and complexity of the problems is appealing to some people. There are very few companies where you get to work on problems with the same scale problems as Google.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#235

Post by andybak »

PunchTornado wrote: post #220
say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #208

What we are seeing are the consequences of "Employee Capture". Google captured the hearts and minds of its employees for workplace productivity. Its side effects are varied. The real world only sees highlights. Googled created a bubble from which its employees can socialize without ever needing to do so with the outside world. Why talk politics with the outside world? Stay with us, where it is safe, people are intell…

> earlier this month, more than 1,000 employees called on the company to cancel deals with oil and gas companies. what's wrong with these employees? Keep your political opinions to yourself. So they propose that my company lose money because of your activism. Don't agree! What if some employees asked that Google cancel any deals with climate change NGOs? How would these employees feel about it?

Some people care what they do with their lives.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#236

Post by baq »

PunchTornado wrote: post #220
say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #208

What we are seeing are the consequences of "Employee Capture". Google captured the hearts and minds of its employees for workplace productivity. Its side effects are varied. The real world only sees highlights. Googled created a bubble from which its employees can socialize without ever needing to do so with the outside world. Why talk politics with the outside world? Stay with us, where it is safe, people are intell…

> earlier this month, more than 1,000 employees called on the company to cancel deals with oil and gas companies. what's wrong with these employees? Keep your political opinions to yourself. So they propose that my company lose money because of your activism. Don't agree! What if some employees asked that Google cancel any deals with climate change NGOs? How would these employees feel about it?

homo sapiens is a political animal and you can't just pretend (or expect) that for 8 hours in day it isn't true. you couldn't expect that from slaves so why would you expect that from employees?

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#237

Post by baq »

seibelj wrote: post #11

How about everyone goes to work and does their job and goes home. You can believe X, I can believe Y, and both of us believe Z, but XYZ doesn’t have anything to do with doing our jobs so we shouldn’t let it prevent us from doing our jobs. Super cool that everyone likes their own things though, I support liking things unrelated to job, just weird that people demand that their job adheres to whatever weird thing they l…

you find it weird for people to like what their job is for or what their employer says?

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#238

Post by chii »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #182
RickJWagner wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this. Politics in America runs about 50-50. Religion is similarly every person's preference. Taking either of those to work is a formula for disaster. I'm just amazed that companies haven't done a better job of enforcing "Leave that at home" 'till now. It really wasn't a thing until a decade or so ago.

Politics is already at work. The larger the corporation, the more likely it is to be involved in politics in a very direct way. As a minion, you're discouraged from holding an opinion on company time, and even more strongly discouraged from doing anything that might affect the natural corporate power balance. Active political engagement is a privilege reserved for upper management, who certainly won't be leaving thei…

> Politics is already at work. The larger the corporation, the more likely it is to be involved in politics in a very direct way.

politics "at work" is not the same as a company being involved in politics (or pushing for a particular political party).

Work time is time the employer paid you to do a job. Unless said job involves activism, engaging in such activism is not a productive use of your time.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#239

Post by eythian »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #229
normalnorm wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one has a feeling of their privacy being violated, because there's no expectation of privacy when using someone else's (the company's) property. Excellent. Now you only have to remove the expectation of privacy in any situation from the social norms, and another big problem will be solved. You will be able to live under total surveillance without anyone feeling that their privacy is being violated, because there…

Expecting to have the same rights as if using your own devices when using someone else’s device that they are paying you to perform work on qualifies as an indignity to me. Do people in EU countries expect to use any other of their employer’s equipment for personal reasons?

Of course. It's completely normal to use company stuff for your own things, within reason. I print tickets or whatever at work, from my work laptop. Everyone does that, and no one cares so long as it's not abusive.

It's a weird idea that you have to be a complete robot at work and only ever do work things.

Re: One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions

#240

Post by baq »

pas wrote: post #207
flukus wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Advocating for parental leave? Politics. Mothers rooms? Politics. Prayer rooms? Politics. Trans inclusive health care? Politics. Domestic partner benefits? Politics. Yep all politics. As political issues they should be dealt with in the political arena of whichever branch of government is responsible. If you strongly believe in these rights and priveleges you'd be spending your time advocating for universal access…

What this has to do with state/country level politics (sure, besides everything, but)? You are simply saying to your employer (or potential employer) that I have this need (healthcare, mothers' room, 4 day workweek, whatever), and that were they willing to provide that you are going to work there. Naturally if many people band together that constitutes a better bargaining strategy. (Sounds familiar?) But unions and a…

google (or any large organization) feels it needs to be in control of itself. having an out-of-band organization like an union is in direct opposition to that goal. note that HR is an organization that does for employers what the union is supposed to do for employees. no wonder HR will make most aggressive moves to not allow any union to form at almost any cost.
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