Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings • Hacker News Board

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#521

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 3:45 PM UTC

tomnj wrote: post #513

gerbler wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The badging for meals is to show to the IRS that it's not a taxable perk. AFAIK it's just something that happens in the US.

Out of curiosity, why wouldn’t that be a taxable perk? (Not that I think tax codes make any sense)

If it's provided because of its benefit to the employer, it's not taxable (same reason company computers are a business expense and not a taxable perk to the employee).

The logic is that the company gets benefits from providing meals that exceed the costs, e.g. shorter lunch breaks since employees don't even have to leave the building. And given that meals can be provided at scale for under $10/head, then even shaving 5 minutes off a lunch break is worth it at Big Tech compensation levels. There's also benefits to having employees eat more meals with other employees, and thus some work gets done over lunch.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#522

Post by shadowgovt » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 3:59 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #462

googlerx wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an engineer at google and this bit about hiring someone because of their genes is false. All candidates must past the same hiring bar, no one gets extra points for "diversity". So no, I never wonder why a coworker was hired.

Right, there is a lot of talk about things but ultimately the strongest political side at Google are still the ones clamoring for meritocracy.

It's less "meritocracy vs. diversity" and more "meritocracy factors in diversity."

They aren't opposed goals; an organization with a meritocracy that over-optimizes on too few metrics is fragile and collapses in a dynamic market.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#523

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

djohnston wrote: post #494

fooker wrote: post #202

RIP I'm one of those people who go work at Google once every few years. The transformation of culture from about 2013 onwards has been somewhat sad to experience. Interestingly, most people who have been continuously employed there have not felt the very slight gradient. However, the changes in culture, freedom, food quality, etc are fairly obvious when one returns after ..say.. 18 months. Here are some semi-concrete…

I think this is basically par for the course as a company becomes massive. A small percentage of employees will abuse perks, and once the absolute number hits some threshold the financial cost of that abuse requires revision. Same thing happened at a company I watched from from about 100 to 5000, albeit on a smaller scale.

That's not what cafe badging is about. It wouldn't catch that anyway; you're just badging into the cafe. There's no way to know how much you actually ate.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#524

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 4:11 PM UTC

darkwizard42 wrote: post #393

fooker wrote: post #202

RIP I'm one of those people who go work at Google once every few years. The transformation of culture from about 2013 onwards has been somewhat sad to experience. Interestingly, most people who have been continuously employed there have not felt the very slight gradient. However, the changes in culture, freedom, food quality, etc are fairly obvious when one returns after ..say.. 18 months. Here are some semi-concrete…

which doors you are allowed to enter from is a security protocol... badging in for meals is for IRS tax purposes... The two things you facepalmed are absolutely easily explainable.

The real issue with the security "protocol" was that directors and up were exempt from it, creating a two-class system. That's supposedly since been rescinded.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#525

Post by AllanHoustonSt » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 4:29 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #517

buzzkillington wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pay is well above average Depends on what you mean by average. When I talked to google I was looking at L5 for just over 300k with stock and bonus. In Evil Inc I was making well over over 500k all cash for the same job description.

What's Evil Inc.?

If I had to guess, Goldman Sachs

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#526

Post by fat_turdsicle » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #517

buzzkillington wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pay is well above average Depends on what you mean by average. When I talked to google I was looking at L5 for just over 300k with stock and bonus. In Evil Inc I was making well over over 500k all cash for the same job description.

What's Evil Inc.?

Monsanto/Bayer

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#527

Post by djohnston » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #523

djohnston wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is basically par for the course as a company becomes massive. A small percentage of employees will abuse perks, and once the absolute number hits some threshold the financial cost of that abuse requires revision. Same thing happened at a company I watched from from about 100 to 5000, albeit on a smaller scale.

That's not what cafe badging is about. It wouldn't catch that anyway; you're just badging into the cafe. There's no way to know how much you actually ate.

I think it's more about the 22 y.o hire who decides he and his 5 mates should all get dinner at the new office

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#528

Post by notatoad » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

ColanR wrote: post #436

scarmig wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google throws away obscene amounts of money on non-adtech things. Some of those are pretty interesting and useful for humanity. You can say, well, those don't count, because Google isn't making money from them! But if you take that route, you also have to exclude all the startups working on "interesting" problems that don't and won't make money. You're left with a very small set of companies. I wouldn't be surprised…

Google is an ad company with delusions of grandure. It's nothing more, until it finds a way to turn a profit on its other ventures. (Just like those startups - realistically, until they turn a profit, they're just in the exploratory stage.)

I was under the impression that Youtube, G-suite, Cloud Platform, and hardware were all quite profitable. Not to the same degree as ads maybe, but they would all be considered successful if they were standalone businesses.

Calling google just an ad company is ignoring a large amount of reality.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#529

Post by hgytr » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 5:36 PM UTC

thibautg wrote: post #483

buzzkillington wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pay is well above average Depends on what you mean by average. When I talked to google I was looking at L5 for just over 300k with stock and bonus. In Evil Inc I was making well over over 500k all cash for the same job description.

300k is average? That’s more than the ceiling for CEOs of public companies in my country. Tech salaries in the US really seem out of proportions.

That's more like the low end for L5, honestly. And 500k is the high end, for a top performer L5.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#530

Post by ltrcola » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #446

ltrcola wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 b…

My coworker is free to march against gay rights on his free time, but if he brings it up every meeting as a topic we can't ignore then I'd call the workplace toxic and quit. The same goes for any other political topic people feel strongly for.

Why would someone bring it up at every meeting? That's a pretty big straw man argument. I'm sure there are outliers that do that, but they are rare.

On the other hand, many gay folks are afraid to even mention their partner at all at work, even casually in the what that most people do. In that case, the belief that "gay rights are political" that some folks have are creating a toxic environment.