Google HR hounds threaten 'next steps' for slackers not coming in 3 days a week
- Reference: 1686247394
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/06/08/google_three_day_week_enforcement/
- Source link:
Much of the workforce were asked to come into the office three days a week from spring last year, and in a memo to the great unwashed – seen by [1]CNBC – Google chief people officer Fiona Cicconi said: "There's just no substitute for coming together in person."
"We've heard from Googlers that those who spend at least three days a week in the office feel more connected to other Googlers, and that this effect is magnified when teammates work from the same location," the memo states.
'What's the point of me being in my office, just because they want to see me in the office?' [2]READ MORE
"Of course, not everyone believes in 'magical hallway conversations', but there's no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference."
Google tried to bring more employees back to the office in 2021, which wasn't well received. Now it is being more forceful, as are [3]Meta , [4]Dell , [5]Amazon , and many other tech companies which espouse the benefits of remote working to customers.
[6]
The plan is to track the office badge of employees – at intervals – to confirm attendance, and Cicconi said the three days a week in office baseline will be folded into performance reviews. Managers will send reminders to staff "who are consistently absent from the office."
[7]
[8]
"For those who are remote and who live near a Google office, we hope you'll consider switching to a hybrid work schedule. Our offices are where you'll be most connected to Google's community."
Google will, from time to time, review staff attendance, and should any Googler not stick to the three-day-a-week rule, after an unspecified extended period, they'll get a call from HR to outline the "next steps."
[9]
The offices for Google Cloud were described as a " [10]ghost town " by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in March, which he said some employees had complained about. "It's not a nice experience."
In a statement sent to The Register , a Google spokesperson said: "Our employees have been in our hybrid work model for over a year now – spending three days a week in the office and the other two working from home. It's going well, and we want to see Googlers connecting and collaborating in-person, so we're limiting remote work to exception only."
Traveling into the office was a daily routine for many people prior the pandemic, and people working at Google were offered numerous perks including free gym passes, free meals, snacks, and stress-busting massages. In a new [11]cost-conscious culture , Google is now paring back some of the freebies it dished out.
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In April, staff were asked to put PC refreshes on hold, and it was looking for other ways to cut costs. "We set a high bar for industry-leading perks, benefits and office amenities, and we will continue that into the future," said CFO Ruth Porat at the time. "However, some programs need to evolve for how Google works today."
Some [13]12,000 employees are being made redundant , Google confirmed in January, and the business expects to incur [14]$500 million in costs in 2023 related to "exiting leases to align our office space with out adjusted headcount," said Porat.
[15]Results are in for biggest 4-day work week trial ever: 92% sticking with it
[16]Microsoft highlights 'productivity paranoia' in remote work research
[17]Most Londoners would quit before they give up working from home
[18]Salesforce's new hires are less productive, says CEO Benioff
As outlined by the San Francisco Chronicle last week, Google is [19]downsizing office space in the Bay Area by 1.4 million square feet. In the US, Google Cloud asked staff to [20]share desks , given that fewer people are coming into the office full-time.
As for the policy, requests to stay at home to work are now deemed exceptions. That doesn't count for this week, though. The wildfires in Canada and the subsequent bad air policy on the East Coast of the US mean that Googlers are advised to stay at home.
Microsoft is also in post-pandemic cost-cutting mode, [21]laying off staff and [22]freezing wages . The business [23]reportedly wants to sublease 42,000 square feet on New York City's Times Square. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/08/google-to-crack-down-on-hybrid-work-asks-remote-workers-to-reconsider.html
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/wfh_report/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/meta_return_to_office_mandate/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/10/dell_remote_work_revision/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/20/amazon_mandates_return_to_office/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZIJPflHhfiHNUD2rZ4fAdQAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZIJPflHhfiHNUD2rZ4fAdQAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZIJPflHhfiHNUD2rZ4fAdQAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZIJPflHhfiHNUD2rZ4fAdQAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/07/wfh_google_clouds_offices_empty/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/google_cost_cutting/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZIJPflHhfiHNUD2rZ4fAdQAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/20/google_to_chop_12000_employees/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/07/wfh_google_clouds_offices_empty/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/21/4_day_work_week/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/15/wfh_pulled_quit_survey/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/19/salesforce_new_hires_less_productive_claims_benioff/
[19] https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/googled-downsizing-bay-area-office-space-1-4m-18128281.php
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/23/google_staff_asked_to_share/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/18/microsoft_job_cuts/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/microsoft_pay_freeze/
[23] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-07/microsoft-puts-times-square-offices-on-market-amid-pullback
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Still trying.
Horse has bolted, the genie has escaped
Ergo, it's not gonna happen.
My ex company has haemorraged its entire permanent tech staff by forcing a 5 day in office rule, now populated by contractors who
1. Don't care
2. Get paid for mediocre results
And the company suffers
.. yet the company claims they believe that in office is better for collaboration.
That'll be why each office worker uses Teams even when they are all in the office.
This is a mandate of companies that overpaid and over expanded with associated overpriced office space... Nothing more
Coming together in person.
Barbarella anyone?
The era of perks as bribes is over
People don’t care about a free lunch if they have to endure an unnecessarily long commute or inflated living costs. If the carrot doesn’t work, the stick won’t either. Folks will just migrate to less fancy jobs with lower overheads for an easier life, even if the pay is slightly lower.
People also don’t believe in the lie of working hard for a nice retirement, so stock options don’t carry the same favour they used to either, folks live long enough to know that their quality of health will fail them long before they can enjoy the rewards…
if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it
Employees are adults, and if they think they can do better work at the office they will do so. (I for one might prefer a change of scenery on occasion to prod some "new" thinking, but that's solely my opinion.) Do companies really think that forcing commutes and office-babble-noise in order for employees to do the same thing at the office that one can do at home is going to raise morale?
Re: if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it
Yeah right. That explains why productivity has fallen off a cliff due to "W"FH.
The free lunch is nice, but...
Spend your entire income competing for housing next to a Google office or say "goodbye" with your remote work savings? With the tech industry being so focused on short-term profits, getting fired when you have money sounds like a better bet than being laid off when you're broke.
Companies aren't getting good human interaction and productivity because people are bad at managing time spent in meetings.
""Of course, not everyone believes in 'magical hallway conversations', but there's no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference.""
C'mon then, show us the data. Where is it? You being lonely is not a crisis.
Interesting
So another employer has now decided that populating that fancy head office is more important than getting the most work possible out of their staff.
If people WFH, they use their own facilities, electricity, heating/cooling, water etc. They don't expect coffee machines and, in Googland, free food, masseurs and yoga classes etc. They do however work better and longer.
The only excuse for calling them back is that prestige offices really are shown for the white elephants we knew they were!
Hey Google!
Love to see how you intend to enforce this, and what "next steps" you would take to bring a recalcitrant [1]Vint Cerf to heel come into the office.
Oh, of course . He will be "an exception"....
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf
Showing your North Eastern Employees How Little You Care
With the North East of the United States under air quality advisories for people to stay indoors, it's a bad look for a company to give its employees a diktat to come into the office. I can't think of a better way I could convey to my employees that I don't give a damn about them than demand they drive through health damaging air because I want them to be in the office. Tracking badge usage to enforce this? Talk about being stuck in the 20th century. The sooner these dinosaur managers retire, the better.