At an all-hands meeting last week, Google executives responded to employee questions about declining morale even with financial performance improving.
Company-wide email: “We’ve had our best year EVER and it’s all thanks to YOU!”
Me: “Great. Can I have a raise?”
Company: “Oh, we can’t afford THAT.”
“Due to current market conditions . . .” is the line my group has been given. There never seems to be market conditions where the workers get to win.
“Despite the company’s stellar performance and record earnings, many Googlers have not received meaningful compensation increases” a top-rated employee question read. “When will employee compensation fairly reflect the company’s success and is there a conscious decision to keep wages lower due to a cooling employment market?”
With this leadership, when you unionize. It’s literally what they’re for.
It’s also why there’s no way Google can sustain these numbers. They pay workers like a random startup, just without any possibility of striking it rich on stock options. They are likely to be hemorrhaging talent at all engineering positions.
You would be mortified at how many people in big tech, including those that have directly experienced injustice or unfair treatment at work, simply want no part of a tech union.
Frankly, some industries absolutely need it (e.g. games). If they’ll put up with what they put up with and still choose not to unionize I don’t really know how software engineers will…
Am I dumb or does th article not mention the executive’s response to this question?
If it’s like a lot of other tech companies, likely this was posted in a questions thread during a large meeting, and while everyone can see the questions being posed, Execs pick and choose which questions they’re interested in answering, ignoring the ones they don’t like. It’s a good way of determining employee morale while avoiding all accountability.
Do no evil.Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Beatings will continue until the stock price improves.
The stock price has improved yet the beatings continue
This is the same company that fired a bunch of people for opposing genocide, right? That didn’t help morale? \s \s \s
Knowledge workers need to get out of this ego-driven complex that they don’t need unions. You’re working class and chattle, believing anything else is delusional and pathetic.
I feel like I’ve been having whiplash at work every other month. One month we’ll get word of record profits or cheery news about how we’re beating performance targets or whatever, but then the next month we’ll hear about some new internal cost-cutting initiative that feels like we’re having to tighten our belts with a hint of desperation to it. I never actually know how we’re doing because it feels like I’m getting two conflicting impressions.
This is the best year we’ve ever had, also there won’t be any bonuses anymore.
A decline in morale after record profits? I think a pizza party is an order.
My firm threw a staff BBQ at one of the satellite sites yesterday. My director was texting me about going…45 mins away…for a hot dog… standing in a field on a rainy day…
Sorry boss, deadlines to meet gotta prioritize my work here.
Yet, there’s managers who very likely pay attention to who shows up and who doesn’t and judge their work based on it.
Google is using artificial intelligence to summarize employee comments and questions for the forum.
Well, isn’t that a good start?
Anyway, the TLDR “answer” from CFO Porat is “We were spending too much”, while Pichai’s answer is “We hired too much people”. Way to dodge the question, assholes.
Alphabet’s full-time headcount climbed to over 190,000 at the end of 2022, up almost 22% from a year earlier and 40% higher than at the close of 2020.
So they had around 135k employees in 2020. Why the fuck did you overhire, then? Just to lay off and show off to investors as someone who increased profits in the most asinine way?
Pichai then joked that leadership should hold a “Finance 101” Ted Talk for employees.
Yeah, nevermind me, Sundar Pichai, earning way more money year after year while you’re all begging for raises, it’s just finances, you guys!
Ah yes, employees are only mad because they don’t understand the finances. Like, no, we’re disgruntled by layoffs no matter what. Layoffs trade morale and productivity for cash
