Live data from Hacker News

Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

theverge.com

201–210 of 210 posts

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is only easy for about 1% of the country... Most of us are barely surviving

This isn't meant to diminish the plight of those suffering in America, but it takes approximately $32,000 to be in the top 1% for worldwide incomes. Much of America's poor are relatively wealthy when you consider the global scale. I don't know that there's any object lesson in that, but it's worth remembering that most of us live positively enveloped in so much privilege that we take for granted how much more difficu…

Well sure if you look at income alone and disregard cost of living. 32k is barely enough to live on here in CA (yet somehow I survive on well under half that). At min wage you have to work hard for at least 40 hrs/wk to make 32k, and then you can hopefully break even if you're healthy and don't have kids/family to take care of.

We're all suffering. Americans are very spoiled in certain ways, but we miss out on basic human things like buying homes, starting families, self actualization in general. People living in shacks are generally much happier than most people I know here, despite all the struggles one faces in such conditions.

It's all relative. It doesn't matter if I would be the richest man in some village in Belize if I don't and can't live there. The reality is that we have the resources for everyones basic needs to be taken care of, but that would be socialism which is a sin. Instead we let a small percentage of the population hoard all of those resources and force us to work ourselves to death to get back just enough to survive. It's horrific, and it's even more horrific to see working class people defending that system. There is no reason everyone can't sleep in a warm bed with clean sheets tonight and eat a warm meal of their choosing.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#202
post #3

> It’s not clear if Facebook will also give a bonus to contractors who are content moderators. Let me guess: it doesn't. Have Facebook contractors been given the right to work from home yet?

By definition, don't all contractors have to generally not work from an office? Otherwise it's very easy to deem them full-time employees and they are entitled to benefits. Not sure of Facebook's specific situation or what roles they are contracting, but I'd imagine most of them aren't at HQ.

These contractors at tech companies typically are full-time employees, they're just full time employees at other companies. The setup is that Facebook, or Google, has a contract with company like Accenture, which in turns provides its own full-time employees to do some work on FB/Google projects.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#203

The much bigger news here is that they're suspending performance reviews for this half and giving everyone an "exceeds expectation" rating. This is huge for working parents who are having to give up family responsibilities just to grind for their employer.

The other thing that wasn't really covered is that contractors are getting paid even if they're unable to work (for example, people that work in security and culinary teams that aren't required because the offices are closed). That's one of the best things IMO.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#204

The title misses the other, and more impactful/unprecedented change of giving everyone "exceeds" rating and skipping perf review for them (except for those high performers who will get separate review). That does far more than $1000 to relieve everyone and make it fair for those who have to take care of others in the family during such time.

Yeah, this change is easily worth something on the order of $20k this year and then $10k per year for the three following years for every engineer who wouldn't have otherwise achieved this rating. It's huge. Interestingly, I assume they're doing this because it means they can skip the performance cycle entirely. That's a good way to save process. It's gonna harm some people who were on track to do better than exceeds…

> It's gonna harm some people who were on track to do better than exceeds, though.

There's no news about this yet, but I've heard that people that are on track to do better than exceeds will likely still have a review so that they don't miss out.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#205

Meanwhile Facebook relies heavily on contractors for catering, security, cleaning, and content moderation. The first 3 of these will be severely cut back during the virus as offices are closed.

> The first 3 of these will be severely cut back during the virus as offices are closed.

Facebook are still paying all contractors their regular pay, even if they're not needed at the moment:

> Facebook will pay contingent workers that cannot work due to reduced staffing requirements during voluntary work from home, when we close an office, when we choose to send an employee home, or when they are sick

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/facebook-commits-to-paying...

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#206
post #191

The much bigger news here is that they're suspending performance reviews for this half and giving everyone an "exceeds expectation" rating. This is huge for working parents who are having to give up family responsibilities just to grind for their employer.

To the point. It removes the pressure when pressure is everywhere else. I hate defending FB, but these measures are really good.

To be fair, even though a lot of people rightly or wrongly criticize Facebook, I don't think most of the criticism has been about their treatment of employees. I'm pretty sure it's always been pretty great.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#207
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that a call you make when you sign on as a contractor though? At least at my company, contractors make a boatload more money, with the provision that you don't get any of the normal benefits provided by the company.

I make less than everyone around me because all that extra money goes to my agency. This is the the main entryway for the poor man to get into a company these days. After a year or 6 months I'm eligible for becoming a real employee if the bosses feel like it and maybe then I can get health insurance too!

Ah that sounds rough! The contractors at my company aren't from agencies, they get paid more in place of getting company benefits. Didn't realise there were other kinds - Thanks for explaining!

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Childcare is explicitly listed as an essential service :/

In SF it's actually a bit more nuanced than that: https://sf.gov/stay-home-except-essential-needs "Are nannies permitted to be used? What about other in-home child care? In some instances. If the nanny provides medical/health care for the child, then yes. If the nanny lives with you, then yes. Otherwise, nannies not necessary for medical care are not permitted. Also, parents required to work away from home for essent…

I have been following this and the wording here appears to have changed in the last couple of days. The wording you quoted has been removed.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#209
post #98
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Bay Area, you’re no longer allowed to have a baby-sitter who doesn’t live with you while current covid-19 measures are in place.

That’s not my understanding. Child care professionals are considered ‘essential’.

See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22609375

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#210
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In SF it's actually a bit more nuanced than that: https://sf.gov/stay-home-except-essential-needs "Are nannies permitted to be used? What about other in-home child care? In some instances. If the nanny provides medical/health care for the child, then yes. If the nanny lives with you, then yes. Otherwise, nannies not necessary for medical care are not permitted. Also, parents required to work away from home for essent…

I have been following this and the wording here appears to have changed in the last couple of days. The wording you quoted has been removed.

I just checked in on this and noticed that it seemed like the FAQ language changed as well. I can't find the old wording anymore, and the new wording has done a 180
Post reply on HN