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Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

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Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#81

Post by CamperBob »

tesseract wrote: post #61
CamperBob wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hewlett-Packard?

Does anyone know whether HP had anything like 20% time in its earlier days? I've never heard that they did, but now that you mention it it does seem like the kind of thing that HP might have done.

Old-school HP was so awesome it would have made Google look like a Communist labor camp. As long as you did what they paid you to do, your time basically was your own, along with a key to the company stockroom.

One (admittedly high-level) guy built a stereo amp -- http://www.hpmemory.org/news/barney_ampl/barney_page_00.htm -- and the company indulged him by allocating some surplus factory capacity to a limited production run.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#82

Post by philwelch »

CamperBob wrote: post #81
tesseract wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know whether HP had anything like 20% time in its earlier days? I've never heard that they did, but now that you mention it it does seem like the kind of thing that HP might have done.

Old-school HP was so awesome it would have made Google look like a Communist labor camp. As long as you did what they paid you to do, your time basically was your own, along with a key to the company stockroom. One (admittedly high-level) guy built a stereo amp -- http://www.hpmemory.org/news/barney_ampl/barney_page_00.htm -- and the company indulged him by allocating some surplus factory capacity to a limited produc…

I remember reading that Woz used his time at HP to invent the first Apple computer. (Then HP decided that microcomputers were a silly waste of time so they gave Woz back the rights to it.)

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#83

Post by dspeyer »

plinkplonk wrote: post #31
blinks wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm still getting free food up here in Google Kirkland, and it's great. The article seemed pretty odd to me, too.

Yes so what perks are being cut exactly? The article is vague about that.

About a year ago the New York microkitchens were shrunk. A lot of variety was removed, though they remained well-stocked and high-quality. Since then they've bounced back a bit.

AFAIK, no perks have been cut recently. I had to triple-check the publication date on the article -- it seemed so old.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#84

Post by dspeyer »

ulf wrote: post #4

Some 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...

More like the day that Google admits defeat and begins preparing for its own death. Not that I expect that day to come anytime soon.

Alternatively, it'll be the day all Googlers depart their biological bodies once and for all and live as pure thought.

I don't know which is more likely.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#85

Post by stcredzero »

netsp wrote: post #72
stcredzero wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great coworkers are the ultimate perk. Really, that should be the primary factor in choosing a job.

It is not often a primary factor largely because it is hard to know in advance. Also because of the above. Given a choice between salary and other things, people choose salary. However, the "choice" is made in other ways. People stay in or leave jobs or even industries for non salary factors. Perks, culture, coworkers, pressure, interest in work etc. While it may be hard to find cases that people choose a job because…

If you can arrange to know it in advance, these are the times when your chance for a really good job are the best!

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#86

Post by wyclif »

zaphar wrote: post #35
blinks wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm still getting free food up here in Google Kirkland, and it's great. The article seemed pretty odd to me, too.

Still getting free good in Google Chicago as well.

Free good is still way better than free evil.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#87

Post by netsp »

white_eskimo wrote: post #60
axod wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as the perks are done well :) eg "Wear a Hawaiian shirt to work day" != perk

I don't know if you were making a direct reference to Salesforce.com's "Employees have fun in the office, participating in foundation/volunteer activities with their peers and wearing Hawaiian shirts on Aloha Fridays." ( http://www.salesforce.com/company/careers/culture/ ) I consider the whole Hawaiian shirt thing to be a "gateway" perk. If the company promotes wearing fun attire, then you can be sure to expect other…

Wear a different shirt day doesn't cost anything and isn't a perk in the sense we are discussing here. It's a conscious attempt at influencing company culture. Nothing wrong with it (unless its a Hawaiian shirt) but it isn't a perk.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#88

Post by netsp »

zaphar wrote: post #35
blinks wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm still getting free food up here in Google Kirkland, and it's great. The article seemed pretty odd to me, too.

Still getting free good in Google Chicago as well.

This is sounding like a response to a report that some data centres are down.

We still have free food here in Aman, who are you up there it Vancouver?

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#89

Post by gaius »

staunch wrote: post #37
zaidf wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't find the link. But I'm pretty sure I saw a survey somewhere that showed the opposite finding: people prefer a pay raise to perks.

I imagine people might say they prefer salary over the equivalent in perks, but that doesn't mean they actually do. Getting paid 50% of market rate, but your boss flies the whole company to Europe for a week? Awesome company!

I knew a company like that - terrible pay, but amazing perks. They really did do stuff like fly the entire company somewhere for a film premiere. Ultimately it's about control. The aim is to make employees utterly dependent on the company in a very basic, primal way, almost literally to the extent of "we clothe, feed and house you" - like a cult. I will always take salary given the choice, it's an honest trade, my time for their money.

Re: Google's new culture: Perks are out. Being grateful you have a job is in

#90

Post by ahoyhere »

Umm... nobody talking about the social contract aspect of this?

Salary is soon forgotten, once it's regular, if you're not focused on it all the time.

But when a company provides so many perks, people feel like it's out of a social contract. Company X is my friend, Company X gives me free stuff, gives me time to work on my own things, takes me on vacations. I don't just work here for a salary -- look at this, they really treat us right. They care. They know that we are addicted to Pocky / need childcare / are too into working to drive out of Mtn View and find a burger.

Take them away and it's like your friend just revealed that they were only into you for your money. Or to find a way to get to your sister.

People feel betrayed.

Betrayal is a nasty, nasty feeling that leads people to do backlashy things.

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