Totally didn't see that coming coughbubble onecough
Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
21–30 of 96 posts
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#22Some day people will look back and pinpoint that the day the free snacks were taken away was the day that Google started to be just like every other company...
This will bite them in the ass.
Wages are rarely a source of satisfaction in a job. Employees consider them simply the fair exchange for their time.
The perks on the job and the company culture count for much more. I suspect that is everyone was given a 5% paycut, but the perks kept, they would be happier than they are now.
(I refer in general to all employees - not just the engineers)
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of Googlers report 20% time is a bit of myth, because many engineers end up struggling more than 100% time to deliver their principle project.
"A lot of Googler reports 20% time is a bit of myth," I thought it could be accumulated and taken at at a stretch.
I'm pretty sure the major factor is your project manager; some are very liberal with how their managees spend their time, others require 20% can only be used for approved projects and set the bar higher than one would hope.
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#24Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#25Some day people will look back and pinpoint that the day the free snacks were taken away was the day that Google started to be just like every other company...
This will bite them in the ass. Wages are rarely a source of satisfaction in a job. Employees consider them simply the fair exchange for their time. The perks on the job and the company culture count for much more. I suspect that is everyone was given a 5% paycut, but the perks kept, they would be happier than they are now. (I refer in general to all employees - not just the engineers)
Agree. "Just be happy that you're getting paid" is not an acceptable culture - petty things like snacks and freebies count.
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#26"we decided to, for example, we significantly cut down all the snacks that had been available. [laughter]" Sounds more like a joke to me. Are google perks like the gourmet food really being cut? (I heard about the child care changes. It sounded like a reasonable change to me but not being a Googler I wouldn't know and the details are hazy). The head line seems sensationalistic and gives the impression that the folks…
Full quote: "I think it’s important to reset the culture from time to time. And I think several years ago we did that. Clearly, people had extrapolated from our past practices what the vision might be. And having actually been there, and knowing the rationale…we decided to, for example, we significantly cut down all the snacks that had been available."
It sounds like he's talking about a change that's already been in place for years.
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
This will bite them in the ass. Wages are rarely a source of satisfaction in a job. Employees consider them simply the fair exchange for their time. The perks on the job and the company culture count for much more. I suspect that is everyone was given a 5% paycut, but the perks kept, they would be happier than they are now. (I refer in general to all employees - not just the engineers)
Agree. "Just be happy that you're getting paid" is not an acceptable culture - petty things like snacks and freebies count.
As long as the perks are done well :)
eg "Wear a Hawaiian shirt to work day" != perk
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#28The perks were meant to keep people in, to keep them working. I think it's a good thing that they're cutting this crap out.
That said, having worked as an intern at a place where they decided to get rid of free soda makes me positive that I won't do that again, though. IMHO, it's a "screw you" to developers.
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#29Article's rather disingenuous. Google's perks list is still Extensive - trimming services out of fiscal concern isn't the same thing as switching to a minimalistic "be glad we give you anything at all" approach.
And how much of it's just PR from Schmidt to avoid looking like they're out of touch with the current economic situation?
Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in
#30The risk of instituting a new perk isn't the cost over the first N months -- it's the impact on morale, PR, etc. if you ever decide to take it away. Restaurants have "special pricing promotions" to set the expectation that the "lower price" perk won't be around forever (and to motivate people by through the creation of temporal scarcity). During the perk period, the restaurant gets more people in the door by offering a better deal. Google's perk cycle is opposite that of a restaurant. During good times, they have to make working there really attractive. But, right now, they don't have to give away so much, so they can scale back. The problem is that the expectation was explicitly set high (think about the IPO owner's manual).