Big Thumb: Google Has A Less Modern Work Environment Than Little Old Me
I work over Skype three (short) days a week with my part-time editor and for about half an hour one day a week with the grammar ninja who copyedits my column. I have seen each in person probably fewer than six times over the years. Of course, I have no need to indoctrinate them in AmyAlkonthink.
And that's what separates me from Google -- uh, among a few other things (starting with bajillions of dollars).
Tom Foremski writes for ZDNet that Google doesn't allow telecommuting. In fact, they're investing billions of dollars into office buildings.
Google is a surprisingly old-fashioned company since it insists on keeping its workers in its environments for as many hours of the day as it can -- developing among other things: remote working technologies such as Google Hangouts, Google Docs, Sheets, and Google Drive.With such powerful collaborative telecommuting technologies why isn't Google eating its own dog food? Why is Google insisting on bussing its Silicon Valley workers in daily three-hour-plus commutes between its Mountain View HQ and San Francisco?
Google has said that it has tested the productivity of remote teams and on-site teams and found no difference in performance. So why are there no telecommuting jobs at Google?
There is only one reason Google insists on its workers being under its control: keeping them separate from non-Google environments as much as possible with the aim to create company culture and prevent conspiracy.
...Cities need to ask Google why it doesn't allow telecommuting and insist it is vital to stemming commute times for everyone; and it is vital to fighting division in their neighborhoods. The same should be asked for all the other giant employers, imho.
That, the sheer volume of output required to keep you in business vs. the volume required to keep Google in business, the global reach of the each of you, and the number of employees to be managed.
The people you described, grammar nazi and copy editor, are not really employees as much as contractors, so there's that, too, that separates you from Google. You're not managing them, you're managing your relationship with them, the tasks at hand that need to be completed.
That said, I agree with you that if Google is pushing remote office technologies on the rest of the world, it should implement some of them for itself, if for no other reason than the same reason you want your broker to own the same stocks he's pushing you to buy.
Conan the Grammarian at February 11, 2018 4:43 AM
This--
--is a weird and silly passage of text. We recognize the pretense of a junior high student casting an aura of wizened intrigue... At the door of McDonald's.Crid at February 11, 2018 8:12 AM
I for one would love to have a job where I get paid for six hours to sit on a bus on do nothing
lujlp at February 11, 2018 8:13 AM
Both Google and Microsoft very much try to enforce a 'company town' atmosphere. They are hardly the only companies like that in the US. Schlumberger is the famous one in the oil patch. If they could such companies would pay you in company script and forbid relationships with non-company people.
As for getting paid for those six hours on the company bus, nice dream Lujlp. Salaried are still expected to put in your 8+hrs in addition to bus time. For the few hourly workers you get paid when you clock in, not when you are on the bus. Tradition is you don't get paid for your commute, for good reason.
As for why some companies do this, protecting IP is only part of it. A lot of it is making sure workers don't know what other environments are available to them. They don't want their workers being aware of what other people are paying. It keeps people from demanding higher wages or lower stress.
Ben at February 11, 2018 8:43 AM
Tradition is you don't get paid for your commute, for good reason.
Nope, if I have to get on company property as part of my job then I consider that work
lujlp at February 11, 2018 8:51 AM
If you want to do evil, a good slogan is 'do no evil'.
Google was one of the tech companies in the famous anti-trust hiring agreement case.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 11, 2018 9:53 AM
Companies ought to have to pay for commuting time, because it is their decisions that determine both where work is located and where you can afford to live.
As for "...Cities need to ask Google why it doesn't allow telecommuting and insist it is vital to stemming commute times for everyone; and it is vital to fighting division in their neighborhoods." -- what is wrong with division in neighborhoods? We would all be much better off if at least some of the laws against discrimination in housing were repealed, so that folks who wanted their own private gated communities could have them. (For example, child-free ones.) Of course it would help if we first end the scam and cartel known as urban planning.
jdgalt at February 11, 2018 11:08 AM
I am instantly reminded of Conan's gem: "We demand perfection of those other people admire."
It's not my business how Google conducts business. By extension, it isn't yours, either.
Considering what they do... make a truly tiny effort to think about IT security at the premier IT provider on Earth. Physical access is the #1 threat to the security of a network accessed by personal computer.
Now, tell me you want to put thousands of company-access computers - the ones employees use, not those directly executing searches - out in your neighborhoods. On Time-Warner cable.
I didn't think so.
Radwaste at February 11, 2018 12:21 PM
And yet Cisco has tens of thousands of contractors securely working remotely via the Cisco VPN.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 11, 2018 2:34 PM
I eliminated "telecommuting" for standard employees, with great results.
If actually coming in to work is too onerous for some, I suggest contract employment or freelancing, which provides more flexibility — and that's what Amy's editor and copy editor are.
Kevin at February 11, 2018 2:35 PM
"If actually coming in to work is too onerous for some"
Ah, yes, the 1950s. Good times.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 11, 2018 6:00 PM
> Companies ought to have to
> pay for commuting time
Why would you think they don't?
Oh:
> because it is their decisions
> that determine both where work
> is located and where you can
> afford to live.
I don't understand why you don't see it as precisely the opposite: They put their facilities in the places where they can get the staff to show up. You discuss "decisions" as if they were pitiless hammerblows by The Man against the lumpen Little Guy: They can just as easily be regarded as desperate prayers by a uncertain competitors, with gambles happening up and down the economic perspective.
If you made it to work and the check cleared, you've been paid for your commute.
Crid at February 11, 2018 6:12 PM
- a
Sorry.
Still a great comment.
Crid at February 11, 2018 6:14 PM
Conan the Grammarian at February 11, 2018 7:09 PM
"I eliminated 'telecommuting' for standard employees, with great results."
Tell us more. What were the issues you were encountering? Work just not getting done, or something more insidious?
Cousin Dave at February 12, 2018 6:43 AM
"And yet Cisco has tens of thousands of contractors securely working remotely via the Cisco VPN."
Cite the differences between Google's work and Cisco's*, please.
Also, it would be nice if you defined, "securely", since it isn't really a single value.
Thank you.
*another company which policies are not my business
Radwaste at February 12, 2018 11:34 AM
"Nope, if I have to get on company property as part of my job then I consider that work"
Please document which companies pay for daily commute time.
The Fair Labor Standards Act specifically states that companies are not required to pay for 'an ordinary commute to and from work'. I don't know of a single company that pays hourly workers from the time they get into their car. They all pay from the time you clock into the office. If you are referencing salaried positions then you are just speaking nonsense. Salary is paid irrespective of the hours worked. Time commuting gets the same pay as time in the office and time sleeping at home, $0. Instead you get a fixed wage.
Ben at February 12, 2018 4:42 PM
Tell us more. What were the issues you were encountering? Work just not getting done, or something more insidious?
Productivity went way up.
Kevin at February 12, 2018 6:38 PM
Tell us more. What were the issues you were encountering? Work just not getting done, or something more insidious?
Productivity went way up.
Kevin at February 12, 2018 6:38 PM
"Cite the differences between Google's work and Cisco's*, please."
LOL! No.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 12, 2018 7:04 PM
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