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Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

cnbc.com

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Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#141

Post by KyeRussell »

scarface74 wrote: post #105
CydeWeys wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Googler who very much cares about having my own desk. I hate WFH because I find it to be miserable, strongly prefer WFO, and this would make WFO miserable too. I'm not gonna be miserable for 8 hours every day for any amount of money.

How is WFH miserable and if it is, it’s your home, can’t you make it more comfortable?

That’s assuming that one’s issues with WFH can’t be resolved by not having a bunch of other people around.

It’s lost in me why so many nerds don’t understand that not everyone wants to be wrapped up in their fortress of solitude, peeping out of a Zoom window.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#142

Post by dpifke »

jrockway wrote: post #117
shmatt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd work from a toilet stall for a Google L6 comp band I doubt any Googlers actually care about this stuff

Google definitely doesn't have a spare toilet for you. I remember a group of coworkers threatening to file a complaint with OSHA because the number of toilets was so limited. (I just used the bathrooms that were part of the building but not managed by Google. They were not "nice" so nobody was ever in there, but it was better than waiting in line to use the facilities.)

I worked in a building on the Mountain View campus where they brought in porta-potties to "solve" the bathroom problem. (They were very nice porta-potties, but still...)

For anyone who's curious, OSHA does require a minimum number of toilets per male or female employee (https://www.osha.gov/restrooms-sanitation), and the law doesn't permit co-ed restrooms unless the stall dividers and doors go from floor to ceiling. Office buildings are generally designed around a 50/50 male/female ratio, and when the ratio gets way off, you can wind up not having enough restrooms for one or the other, despite being well within the total design occupancy limit.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#143

Post by scarface74 »

shmatt wrote: post #51
Insanity wrote: post #31

It seems like each day there's an article lately about reasons _not_ to work at Google. Sad to see how they went from an enviable place to work to a place to avoid these past years. (Although internally, things might be better than it looks from the outside of course)

I'd work from a toilet stall for a Google L6 comp band I doubt any Googlers actually care about this stuff

I can’t say the same. I was making $150K in 2020 at 45 years old living in my 4 year old newly built house in the burbs and I completely ignored any chance at working at BigTech if it meant moving.

The only reason I gave a recruiter the time of day at the BigTech company I ended up working at is when she suggested I do a pivot into the cloud consulting department (cloud app dev implementations) and said the position was remote.

But I would go back to my old comp way before I would be willing to ever be in an office again.

I was making “enough” in 2020. Everything else was just gravy.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#144

Post by teachrdan »

flandish wrote: post #140
lasereyes136 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow Crash for those that don't know: https://a.co/d/fXWqXr7

Is that a good read? I liked Quicksilver.

I loved it. I think it's probably Stephenson's best novel, before he went off the rails with books unreadably long to anyone but his most devoted followers. And I say this as someone who also read Zodiac, Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#145

Post by flandish »

teachrdan wrote: post #144
flandish wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a good read? I liked Quicksilver.

I loved it. I think it's probably Stephenson's best novel, before he went off the rails with books unreadably long to anyone but his most devoted followers. And I say this as someone who also read Zodiac, Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon.

Ohh I did read Cryptomomicon too. Forgot that one.

I’ll give it a shot. Thanks!

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#146

Post by VirusNewbie »

scarface74 wrote: post #143
shmatt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd work from a toilet stall for a Google L6 comp band I doubt any Googlers actually care about this stuff

I can’t say the same. I was making $150K in 2020 at 45 years old living in my 4 year old newly built house in the burbs and I completely ignored any chance at working at BigTech if it meant moving. The only reason I gave a recruiter the time of day at the BigTech company I ended up working at is when she suggested I do a pivot into the cloud consulting department (cloud app dev implementations) and said the position…

Low CoL place? 150k doesn’t support paying for a 4 bedroom in the suburbs of coastal cities…

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#147

Post by plaidfuji »

hprotagonist wrote: post #49

So Y.T.'s mom has clacked up the stairs in her black pumps and gone into her office, actually a large room with computer workstations placed across it in a grid. Used to be divided up by partitions, but the EBGOC boys didn't like it, said what would happen if there had to be an evacuation? All those partitions would impede the free flow of unhinged panic. So no more partitions. Just workstations and chairs. Not even…

Have literally been reading Snow Crash for the last couple months and just got to this part in the last week. This is followed shortly by the glorious multi-page memo on toilet paper share pools policy.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#148

Post by VirusNewbie »

amf12 wrote: post #127
astrea wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negative sentiment is in the being forced to return to office then, in the same stroke, diminishing the quality of the in-office experience.

Google let's you apply for remote work, and Hybrid RTO isn't being enforced.

It’s being enforced unevenly is the issue. Some floors are packed and some are mostly empty.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#149

Post by jrockway »

dpifke wrote: post #142
jrockway wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google definitely doesn't have a spare toilet for you. I remember a group of coworkers threatening to file a complaint with OSHA because the number of toilets was so limited. (I just used the bathrooms that were part of the building but not managed by Google. They were not "nice" so nobody was ever in there, but it was better than waiting in line to use the facilities.)

I worked in a building on the Mountain View campus where they brought in porta-potties to "solve" the bathroom problem. (They were very nice porta-potties, but still...) For anyone who's curious, OSHA does require a minimum number of toilets per male or female employee ( https://www.osha.gov/restrooms-sanitation ), and the law doesn't permit co-ed restrooms unless the stall dividers and doors go from floor to ceiling…

I remember that! We had no such luck getting portapotties in the NYC office.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#150

Post by posharma »

whiplash451 wrote: post #131
posharma wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were a lot of other good things going that masked these. The recent "PR botch ups" are creating more damage. The most famous e.g. is reacting to ChatGPT's hype and rushing to do a demo and then messing it up. It wasn't so much messing up the demo that caught they eye; it was how Google rushed/reacted to do it esp. when Google is considered to be at the forefront of AI. Again, optics. Besides Sundar hasn't come…

Actually, I don’t think it’s OK to just keep the lights on.

Hahha. Sure.
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