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Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

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Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#121

Post by jsnell »

lazyant wrote: post #115

"it laid off thousands by email" I know that the laying off thousands is the worst part but I also saw some people taking exception to the "by email" part (as inhumane or something; what's the alternative? also of course people were not able to log in right away all at the same time, it would be tremendously irresponsible to do otherwise.

The alternative is to shut off access to anything that could cause harm: production systems, version control, maybe Drive. But leave them access to tools like email, Meet and chat for a reasonable period. Let people actually say goodbye, hand their work off properly if they choose to. Make sure nothing personal is tied to their corporate account, and migrate anything that is in an orderly manner. Give them a bit of notice before bricking their corp phones and laptops.

They definitely have the capability to do access control at that granularity, as well as ample time as they had clearly been preparing for months. They just chose not to

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#123

Post by Incipient »

mc32 wrote: post #102
munificent wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true for spherical employed human resource units in a vacuum. It is less true for living breathing members of Homo sapiens .

For a small organization with single digit employees, it's possible to give the layoffs a human touch. For mass layoffs that does not scale. Then there is the aspect where we can't have nice things because someone somewhere took advantage of some discretion and now HR sees any discretion as a potential liability so they don't afford that discretion but for rare exceptions.

Essentially every worker should have a manager of some description, in not-massive teams (generally). That manager can convey to the employee, in human terms, what's going on.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#124

Post by mingus88 »

holografix wrote: post #98
mingus88 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the doubleclick merger, Google was absolutely the ideal place to work as an engineer. I feel that perhaps after 2007 a lot of Google's reputation was still held up by what the culture was like in the years surrounding their IPO. But of course, this is ancient tech history. I haven't entertained a Google recruiter in probably a decade now.

From the lofty heights of your high horse I doubt anyone on earth would even hear you and run risk of being “entertained” by you.

Whatever dude. I'm the one getting frequent inMails from Google recruiters. I have never once applied for a role there.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#125

Post by [deleted] »

mingus88 wrote: post #8
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

Before the doubleclick merger, Google was absolutely the ideal place to work as an engineer. I feel that perhaps after 2007 a lot of Google's reputation was still held up by what the culture was like in the years surrounding their IPO. But of course, this is ancient tech history. I haven't entertained a Google recruiter in probably a decade now.

[deleted]

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#126

Post by tdeck »

tpmx wrote: post #73
mwest217 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lots of coworkers for whom I don't have personal contact information. It's very common to just use work email or work phones.

Linkedin is a hellscape but it has its usefulness once in a blue moon.

When I worked at Google a lot of people didn't have LinkedIn. I guess because they'd been there so long and expected to stay for life.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#127

Post by tdeck »

aix1 wrote: post #9
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

Overwork? Toxic teams? Project managers running teams? I've been at Google for a very long time, in quite a few orgs, and none of those things ring any bells. (Some probably exist in some pockets, though the last one sounds particularly implausible. It's just not how Google job ladders and the management structure work.) Now, I have to admit to having not read the article, but the headline does resonate. I've spoken…

Did you hear about "megablocks"? They ran the shuttles and cafes on the weekends and "encouraged" engineers to work through the weekend until that project was done. I wasn't in that org and joined Google a bit after the project concluded, but it had an infamous reputation that stuck around.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#128

Post by aix1 »

tdeck wrote: post #127
aix1 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overwork? Toxic teams? Project managers running teams? I've been at Google for a very long time, in quite a few orgs, and none of those things ring any bells. (Some probably exist in some pockets, though the last one sounds particularly implausible. It's just not how Google job ladders and the management structure work.) Now, I have to admit to having not read the article, but the headline does resonate. I've spoken…

Did you hear about "megablocks"? They ran the shuttles and cafes on the weekends and "encouraged" engineers to work through the weekend until that project was done. I wasn't in that org and joined Google a bit after the project concluded, but it had an infamous reputation that stuck around.

No, never heard of "megablocks".

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#129

Post by jjav »

mwest217 wrote: post #64
deltree7 wrote: post #35

The only thing that matters in a layoff is "severance package" Everything else is useless. If your co-workers liked you and wanted to say goodbye, they will call and throw a party. If I'm fired, there is no reason for me to log on to my workstation. All relevant documents are given to you anyway. Your personal items will be shipped to you.

I have lots of coworkers for whom I don't have personal contact information. It's very common to just use work email or work phones.

This is where LinkedIn shines. I try to connect there with everyone I work with and have been doing so since 2004. Build a great network, keep in touch with people I appreciate as coworkers and hopefully future referrals.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#130

Post by midoridensha »

twelve40 wrote: post #113
tpmx wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linkedin is a hellscape but it has its usefulness once in a blue moon.

funny enough, it's probably the least hellscape of a social network by now. At worst it's just a bit spammy and dull, all others are dumpster fires by now

LinkedIn is great; I really don't see the problem with it.

1. It has your resume posted for recruiters to see. You get emails from recruiters scouting you for jobs you might never have found on your own. Many recruiters are useless 3rd-party recruiters, but some are useful 1st-party recruiters.

2. You can keep in contact with your old coworkers; people you aren't close enough to have as friends through some other venue.

3. It doesn't actively spread conspiracy theories and destroy society. You get some recruiter spam, and that's it. The site is nothing more than a tool to aid your professional life and career, and it doesn't try to be anything more than that.

What's the problem, exactly?

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