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Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

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Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#51

Post by notadoc »

_8j50 wrote: post #23
malvosenior wrote: post #5

I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists are now regretting their decision. For a long time it was common knowledge that you would try to keep stuff like that out of the workplace. The past 10 years have been an about face to that strategy and now we're seeing more or less complete chaos internally at these previously pro-politics (some kinds of politics) workplaces. My guess is th…

Imagine if wikipedia courted specific types of activists. People should take sides but companies should be neutral,and get out of the way of people engaging in political discourse or activism.

Wikipedia is far from neutral and full of activists and people with agendas.

It can sometimes be acceptable for a broad overview of a subject, but it's so full of opinion, inaccuracy, and misinformation that it should have near zero credibility for anyone who is seeking truth and bias-free knowledge. Appropriately, it has zero credibility in any credible academic environment BTW.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#53

Post by triceratops »

manigandham wrote: post #46
triceratops wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the political position picked by the site you provided?

Google and most SV companies are somewhere between left to far-left.

That's not what the site you provided is about though.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#54

Post by Aunche »

malvosenior wrote: post #34
threeseed wrote: post #19

Nobody actively courted activists. It's more just than tech startups generally skew younger and newer generations want their companies to reflect their own values. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And these companies are not in complete chaos. In fact apart from the James Damore incident there hasn't been any significant change in the company cultures.

> Nobody actively courted activists. Yes, actually they did actively court them. Here's one of many examples: https://diversity.google/ Younger generations are not politically homogeneous, Google picked a political position and pushed it hard.

This is just to protect themselves. They need to signal that they're at least trying to hire more under-represented minorities.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#55

Post by techie128 »

malvosenior wrote: post #33
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists You say that like it's a given truth - do you have anything to back up that assertion? FWIW, I don't recall Google courting "activists", though they obviously did court people who were highly invested in their education and careers, and of course there is probably a non-0 correlation with those types of people and "activists". I also would…

> You say that like it's a given truth - do you have anything to back up that assertion? Sure, and this is just one of many examples: https://diversity.google/ They have been very proactive in this space for a long time.

I think their diversity initiatives failed miserable. They created a monoculture that is violently intolerant of diverse viewpoints.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#56

Post by manigandham »

triceratops wrote: post #53
manigandham wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and most SV companies are somewhere between left to far-left.

That's not what the site you provided is about though.

I didn't post the site, but those are the politics involved within the company and its hiring. The connection is pretty clear.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#57

Post by draw_down »

The employees were being too mean to the leadership, I guess.

Obviously companies need to do what they need to do to keep operating. But they should really knock off this "bring your whole self to work" business, because they don't actually want that and it's dishonest to pretend that they do.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#58

Post by m0zg »

arkitaip wrote: post #48
m0zg wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely: employees were attending too much for the reasons inconvenient to the executives. As an ex-Googler: this is the surest indication yet that Google is in deep trouble. TGIF would be canceled from time to time before when the execs suspected things would get confrontational and employees wouldn't like even remotely honest answers. But to cancel them basically permanently is going to blow up in Sundar's face…

What might happen is the rise of an informal communications channel managed by employees that Google executives cannot direct let alone cancel. That's far worse in a way.

Communication implies two sides. If one is not willing to listen, what's more likely to happen is instead of communication channel an echo chamber will form and without the avenue to vent frustrations the rhetoric will get more and more extreme as people assume the worst, often incorrectly.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#59

Post by ltrcola »

notadoc wrote: post #42
markovbot wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, "keep politics out of the workplace" is another way of saying "I'm okay with the status quo, and if you don't like it I don't want to hear about it at work".

Someones job function at work is to perform their job duties. Unless someone works directly in politics, then politics do not belong in the workplace. There are plenty of other impolite subjects that are inappropriate to discuss at work too.

Companies themselves are inherently political though, just by existing. They exist in the context of society and are made possible by the legal structures created by politics. And they generally advocate for themselves within the political system (a good example is lobbying).

So there are certainly limits in the workplace and there is a line to toe for toleration and polite conversation, but saying "politics do not belong in the workplace" is pretty absurd.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#60

Post by filoleg »

paggle wrote: post #25
acruns wrote: post #18

I turned down an offer from Google (cloud) because I didn't want to work for a company that was so focused on politics internally. This was just after they fired Damore, not that I agree or disagree with his opinion, but because Google seems promote internal fighting. That type of culture doesn't appeal to me.

You should consider Microsoft and Apple... employees there don't really care too much about these things

Funny you mention it, because I currently am working at one of those two, and for my next gig am seriously looking at the other one in the pair. Note: I love my current team and project, but nothing is permanent, and it is always good to be on the lookout for the next thing, in case things go sour or if you want to switch things up.

Overall, I agree with you, but it isn't that employees there don't care. It just honestly feels like the overall group of employees at Apple/MSFT is truly more diverse (not just in terms of race and such, but in terms of socioeconomic upbringing, culture, and diversity of thought), hence why they are used to being respectful of other people's views (even if they totally disagree with those) and not succumbing to the monoculture kind of thought, because it would be almost impossible to have a monoculture there in the first place.

There are definitely a few small enclaves like that at Google as well, but it feels more like a giant monoculture with some small enclaves, while I get the inverse feeling about Apple/MSFT (a giant diverse non-monoculture group, with a few small enclaves of monoculture).

Anecdotally, I have many friends working at all 3 of those (Apple/MSFT+Google), and they (independently of each other) brought up the same point when conversations got there.

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