Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

This isn't float desks. This is an assigned desk that requires you to share and coordinate office time with a co-worker. This is so much worse than float desks.

I don't understand the negative sentiment with this. Do people expect employers to assign everyone a big desk, which is not completely open office and also have the flexibility to come to the office 1-2 days a week?

I hope there are exceptions for people who come in everyday, but otherwise it's a win-win the way I see it.

What is an easier solution?

Google's South Lake Union campus cost $802 million[1].

Google's parent company, Alphabet, spent $70 billion on stock buybacks[2].

I know I'm drastically oversimplifying the complexities of accounting required for a trillion-dollar empire, but this comes across as more of a punitive measure than a cost-saving measure.

I acknowledge that being able to take the force of money and apply in a direction that results in growth at Google's scale is arguably one of the most difficult problems in business at the moment. But how does downsizing your offices do anything but make the hard times for Googlers a bit more uncomfortable? How does this news attract the talent that could help Google grow?

It feels as though Sundar and the board decide stray away from doing things that keep their employees at the happiest (and most loyal to the company) because that doesn't help the company grow at a rate that would please shareholders. The Lindy effect[4] suggests that Google will probably be around for another twenty years. To his credit, Sundar has spent the last 3 years navigating one of the largest companies in the history of mankind through an event that society hadn't seen in 100 years. So, Sundar, when do we start thinking about where Google will be in 20 years instead of the next quarter?

Google was revered in the media for decades as being one of the best places in the world to work at, you can look Xooglers talking as far back as 2008 and see stories of people who went to work there and left disappointed because of the homogeneous mindset and work benefits failing to match the competition[3].

1: https://curiocity.com/seattle-google-lake-union-campus-sold-...

2: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/26/alphabet-announces-70-billio...

3: https://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/

4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

part of it, for me, is that this policy says, 'hey googlers, we order you to _not_ come to the office -- at least, not at the same time or day as your desk friendo, or your desk friendos.'

so when CEO 'x' says, 'everyone back to the office, we need to whisper sweet idea nothings to each other on our way to/from the bathroom, in the office, so that we can $$$$$' -- ceo google just said, "that's obviously untrue, and completely ridiculous, besides".

either that, or ceo google just said that the money we save by creating desk friendos will surpass the alleged value we gain by whispering sweet idea nothings to each other in the hallways, or at our covid- and flu-covered desks.

but one commenter said 'stackable desks' like bunk beds - which makes sense - kind of like that vertical pig farm in china. not sure how productive that will be -- for the desk jockeys, not the pigs -- but worth a try i guess.

https://medium.com/halting-problem/open-office-floor-plans-g...