back to article Google laying off more 'second class citizens'?

Google is laying off contractors as well as full-time employees in multiple offices across the US, according to a new report. Citing multiple anonymous sources, Silicon Valley WebGuild reports that the company is laying off a "large number" of sub-contracted employees and full-time employees who manage such contractors. …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Google = Evil

    "Do not Evil" is kind of like all those fields which explicitly put the word "Science" in their name, like "Political Science". Real Sciences never put the word in their names. Companies that have explicit slogans about not being Evil do so because they really do engage in Evil.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    No surprises here

    While Goodle does have some useful services, many of us have understood for a long time that there's no way they could ever make enough money to afford to do the things they do for very long. Their computing model is too expensive and difficult to maintain and they can't generate enough money in a bad global economic climate to sustain it. Most of us have understood that Google is overblown and in for a drastic contraction or bankruptcy.

  3. Ed 3
    Stop

    Bah

    Ok all aboard the Google hate train

    Fuck ppl ok so they are not the lovey dovey tree hugging save the fucking whales peta pumpkin eater saviours of the internet

    But while your clubbing the Google seal to death just think about how much Google has helped shape the net. into what i consider a better place….

    A prime example is Gmail. Before Gmail we had what a 10 meg limit then WHAME here have a gig or 7 for free

    Yeah they might secretly be a bunch of cunts waiting to fuck us over but because ot what they have done other companies have had no choice but to say “um yeah we in truth the 10 meg limit on your email was because we did not want to give you more”

    So you all jump up and down about the evils of Google and so on and so forth as for me I will go log into on of my Gmail accounts and check my mail.

    Gawd imagine the net with out the influence of Google…. What a sad fucking place it would be

  4. Norfolk Enchants Paris
    Badgers

    @AC #2 and #1

    Bankrupt? Not for a while yet I would say. They have around $20 billion in current assets (mostly cash and short-term investments) and their normal annual expenditure (on staff, etc) is about $2.8 billion. So, they could run, from reserves, their business with absolutely no income for about 7 years.

    What I would suggest is that Google are seeing income reducing and, in order to maintain their growth and therefore stock price, cost-cutting is the order of the day. But if they are smart, they'll keep treating their permies well.

    As for Google being evil/not evil... they are no better or worse than most other companies. They have just tried to foster a better image, which is now in need of a boost if they want people to think of them differently from MS. To me they operate in teh same way as MS, Apple, IBM and co - they do their thing and try to maximise profit.

  5. IdentityCrisiz
    Stop

    stop papping google!!

    Look, I'm sure they are not squeaky clean but lets not rush in to demonise them either, just a point I found in an article re the shuttle bus:

    "Colin Klingman, 38, who works at Google as an independent software contractor — and hence has to pay a small fee for the shuttle to comply with tax rules — said he waited to apply to Google until there was a stop near his San Francisco house."

    www.nytimes.com March 10, 2007

  6. pctechxp

    Here's hoping

    Google goes bankrupt as they are far more scary than MS ever were and we can do without companies such as them.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    It's all bing.com

    The new search engine is totally freaking out Google as they have seen their web share plummet now that people know of that search results don't have to be cluttered with junk. Or perhaps, Google Android is probably more literal than previously known. In any case, I look forward to seeing the readers' BP rise by 50 points as a result of my comment . Bon mort, Googlephiles.

  8. Iggle Piggle

    Second class

    I'd worked for around 18 years as a contractor until I recently took a permie job (I know, I feel dirty) and believe me paying for a shuttle bus is really nothing to complain about. I've worked for companies that refused to allow me to sit in the same office, or indeed building as the rest of the team, a company that would not allow us to use the company car park, various companies where the subsidised canteen was either off limits or not subsidised, and one place where they had a separate entrance. Again several places either did not extend the Christmas get together to the contractors or did not allow us to bring along a partner. One big car company refused to allow the contractors to share the company aircraft to attend meatings even though they ultimately had to pay for the commercial flights that were used instead, and conversely an airline forced us to use their planes or partners planes for meatings when better routes were served by the competitors even though their own staff could fly with any airline.

    But really I look back at that and see no reason why they should give us the same perks as the permanent staff. Now I need to find out what perks are available to me here :-)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Money in Free

    Well, there's no money in free products...

    Just ask Sun.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    Post-employment terms

    "They also cannot organize with other employees to mount class action lawsuits or side with labor unions against Google."

    Whilst I know this is the US where the $ is king, surely they can't possibly attach strings to anyone that they've just made redundant?

  11. James Hughes 1

    So what?

    These people are contractors. They should be treated differently. They are not employees, and therefor should not get employee benefits. If they want those benefits, they get a full time job there, giving up the higher income generally associated with contract workers. They would gain other benefits, and a better long term employment prospects, but get less money. As the meerkats would say, 'simples'

    They went in to this with their eyes open (or at least their wallets).

  12. JC 2

    @ It's all bing.com

    Don't be silly, only prontards wanted a gander at the animated movie clip hits, now it's back to usual for the rest of the netizens, searching with Google.

    What we're seeing with Google is simply the natural, normal result of any company growing quite rapidly. They cast several lines into the water and pull back those that don't bear fish.

    That doesn't mean Google does no evil by any stretch, but who really believed this marketing blurb in the first place? For now their services are still worth the price paid, which is almost free if you're savvy enough to block most advertisements.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Not allowed to attend TGIF! Oh fie, O rue the day!

    I have been a contractor at a certain large outfit I won't mention.

    We were excluded from any meeting at which 'confidential company business' might be discussed. This included all weekly staff and departmental meetings, of which there were far too many and all of which went on far too long. So, while the staff were competing with each other for inadequate amounts of brackish oxygen, we contractors were getting lots of lovely work done, pushing our productivity level even higher in comparison to the staff than it was to start with. (And anything we needed to know, they told us after the meeting anyway. Just how we like it.)

    This exclusion extended, joyously, to (compulsory for staff) company junkets, pep rallies and the Christmas Party, where 500 spotty, hygiene-deficent nerds would spend hours hitting on 1 girl (who was a lesbian anyway), while we contractors spent lovely evenings at home with Mrs. Contractor, enjoying all those things if it wasn't for which we wouldn't bother working in the first place.

    We were also never asked to work overtime. Paid by the hour as we were, it was too expensive. In my case, it would also have required them to renegotiate my contract, which would have been even more expensive. So while the staff were sitting there all night and all weekend for nothing but a pizza, we contractors got to spend our time in our lovely home with our lovely Mrs. Contractor, etc. etc. (see above).

    TL;DR? Exec summary :- WLB FTW.

  14. regadpellagru
    Alien

    Name a company where it doesn't happen ?

    "One ex-Googler calls them "second class citizens."

    Yeah, like all companies I've been remotely exposed to, during the last 15 years yes ? Pls name a company where it doesn't occur ?

    This, plus what AC wrote just above, which can be true depending on company/contract etc ...

  15. Graham Bartlett
    Grenade

    Reality-check: that's what being a contractor is

    What's a contractor? Answer: someone you take on because they cost you less in overheads than a permie, and who you can get rid of at a moment's notice if the work dries up. As such, a contractor has no commitment to the company beyond doing a good job, because both sides know that they can be out of there next week.

    So why should a contractor be invited to company strategy meetings? If they've got no stake in the company, they're unlikely to be seriously involved, so you're wasting their working time *and* potentially risking leaks of confidential information. And why should contractors expect perks? They're paid significantly more than regular employees because they *don't* get all the benefits (pension, etc.) which a regular employee does.

    As a contractor, I don't expect job security, or benefits, or a stake in the company, or anything like that. I *do* expect to be assigned work to do, and my invoices to be paid on time. Beyond that I don't care. And not only that, I *shouldn't* care.

  16. Richard 102
    WTF?

    Stop Press Shocker

    International conglomerate reduces staff and contractors during global economic downturn!

  17. Sooty

    second class citizens?

    not quite, but they are not entitled to your company's employee benefits, as they aren't employed by your company. Please remember, this is an external company that you are contracting to do a specific piece of work for you, even if that company is a single person. Unless there is a specific reason for it, they shouldn't really even be allowed on the premises*.

    Why should you invite somebody, who works for another company, into your company's strategy meetings, or give them any employee perks.

    *I'm willing to bet that most of their tax returns say they work from home!

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