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Googler... ex-Googler

nerdy.dev

341–350 of 1001 posts

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having experienced layoffs in both US and EU companies, the difference is massive. In my experience there is very little respect for "the human" being laid off in US companies People literally would just disappear day to day. I've had several instances where I only found out a colleague had been fired because I tried to write them on Slack only to find that their account had been deactivated Personally I felt constan…

> I don't want to work for another US company again if I can help it You can work for a US company in the UE. They have to follow the local rules like anybody else.

[dead]

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#343

> But I was also immediately ripped away from my calendar, docs, code, and more. Layoffs are never easy. I've been through a few myself and it really takes the wind out of your sails. That being said, this sentence made me pause a bit. None of these things mentioned are actually yours. They are the property of Google. One thing that helped me immensely in my career is understanding that my relationship with a company…

> I recommended learning how to separate your value from your employer. This is a very recent development. Through the entirety of human history you'd keep working for the same employer for your entire life, which means it was very much worth it to cultivate that relationship, it's only now that we change jobs every two years. A friend of mine has a company in a very small town, and was complaining about an employee…

> Through the entirety of human history you'd keep working for the same employer for your entire life

Just looking at the Western world that breaks down during industrialization and falls apart if you go further back then that, journeymen (i.e. tradesmen who had completed their apprenticeship) would often literally travel from town to town for several years to work under different masters before submitting their work to a guild for evaluation and becoming masters themselves. I guess you could say serfs worked "for the same employer" because their feudal lords owned them as part of the territory but that seems like a stretch.

It's not so much that employees used to "keep working for the same employer for their entire lives", it's more that the people running and operating businesses used to be part of a local community and there used to be an understanding of a shared responsibility beyond private property claims.

This isn't something employees can change, either. Even employers aren't really able to change this because they too have to operate in the same economic system that contributes to this effect. It's probably more extreme in the US (and some places in the US more than others) but the economic system does not care for such sentimentalities and a business that does will put itself at an economic disadvantage, especially where the social fabric has already been sufficiently eroded to avoid bad optics (e.g. WalMart arguably failed in Germany because its attitude to employees felt extremely off-putting both to workers and consumers at the time but that resistance may have been eroded by the behavior of other companies since to the point where it would no longer make them stand out the same way if they tried to re-enter the market now - economic changes making this unfeasible notwithstanding).

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also get a few months pay in the US unless the company is truly broke.

Incorrect. It's at-will employment.

"At-will employment" is a meme here. In reality, the company gives you a few months of pay and you sign a document saying you won't sue them for firing you during a layoff.

If you get fired for fraud or for being incompetent, for example, it's often different.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#345
post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US laid off employees also get 3-6 months of full pay and benefits. They just lose access to the building and their work devices immediately. I imagine it's no different in France.

> I imagine it's no different in France. He literally just told you it’s different in France?

He said that with incorrect information about how layoffs in America work.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he meant is that the whole capitalist culture, less regulations, creates a more thriving economy which creates more jobs and hence more options to go to.

Indeed, but that is just ideology, not based on any facts.

low eu salaries implies finding job is hard. fact.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#347
Similar thing happened to me, after almost 27 years, but my company was a great deal more respectful, in the way that they did it. I left on the best of terms; which is extremely rare, with layoffs. To this day, I still have a lot of respect for my old company.

Also, the writing had been on the wall, for years. I was quite prepared.

What I wasn't prepared for, however, was my post-layoff treatment by the modern tech industry. That was an eye-opener.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#348
post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US laid off employees also get 3-6 months of full pay and benefits. They just lose access to the building and their work devices immediately. I imagine it's no different in France.

> US laid off employees also get 3-6 months of full pay and benefits. Some employers may decide to give a few months of pay and benefits to laid off employees (although 6 months would be unusually large) but it is definitely not required and is not always done. Mass layoffs of 100+ people need to be announced 60 days ahead (but without naming who will be laid off) but there are no requirements for any kind of severan…

There's no legal requirement, but literally every company that is not bankrupt does it because otherwise they will face huge numbers of wrongful termination suits.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#349
post #144

> Relationships that took me years to cultivate… mostly going to be gone too. I don't want to sound condescending, but if being forced out of the job means end for your relationships built for years, maybe these relationships weren't built as they should. They should have been built with the people as people, not coworkers, and definitely not using company as the communication ground.

That sentence caught my eye too. First thought was whether they meant corporate political capitol transactional relationships. Second thought was maybe they meant that, inevitably (or so it seems, probably thinking depressed), they'd drift apart, since everyone's busy with family and work, and around the workplace was the only times they'd have to interact. In the latter, even if you have beyond-work social relations…

Corporations like Google certainly encourage a focus on in-group relationships between employees to reduce churn (i.e. increase stakes for disgruntled employees who might consider quitting). The entire idea of having scheduled leisure activities, daycare, laundry services, etc all provided either by the company or facilitated through the company encapsulates current employees and gently excludes former employees, which likely helps reduce their ability to spread or air negative sentiments following their departure (which apparently can be fairly rapid, which also means fired employees will be stunned and possibly in shock for the limited duration where they may still have access to other employees directly).

There's a reason the "employee retention" behavior of companies like Google and Facebook during the web 2.0 craze was often compared to actual cults.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#350
post #110

Layoffs are a difficult thing for employees and their managers. I have seen people (one was a VP of Engineering) escorted out of the building, sent in a cab to home along with a security guard (this was in India), not allowed access to computer or talk with other employees. But, recently have had a very different experience. The current company I work for announced 30% layoffs. The list was made public within one hou…

Weird, as someone from Europe I've never experience anything else. Layoffs here are always done in conjunction with the unions. People are moved to different jobs, helped with training etc... Only in very critical jobs they'd walk you out immediately but then you still get the pay.

I worked a at large European company. They announced there would be layoffs. But not who, just the date. On that date, they came round during the day, tapping people on the shoulder, who walked out of the room and were never seen in the office again. Grown men were crying, who weren't even let go.

I never felt good about that company ever again.

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