5 ms·

I think laying off employees without offering to move them to where they are shipping the jobs to is an example of poor treatment. While the employees acted wit

by pylua 2y ago

I think laying off employees without offering to move them to where they are shipping the jobs to is an example of poor treatment. While the employees acted with the utmost professionalism in their social media posts, you can tell that they are hurt. I get it, it is just business, but the reality is that the world of business is built upon goodwill.

yunohn 2y ago
> laying off employees without offering to move them to where they are shipping the jobs to is an example of poor treatment I don’t think that offer would’ve made much sense, when the goal is to build a full low cost team elsewhere. Why would the high cost employee agree to such a transfer? Who would it benefit?
- pylua 2y ago
  For one, a high cost employees savings could go a very long way in a low cost of living country. Obviously, google sees something there — why wouldn’t the employee? If you have built your life around your trade, and the center of the trade moves, maybe you should consider moving. That may be easier than finding a new trade.
  - PebblesHD 2y ago
    Still doesn’t really answer the question as to why an employee in a high HDI country would move to a lower one for reduced pay when they could remain in their existing one and get a different job? Not sure any amount of money could convince me to move to a place with potentially unreliable plumbing and sewage and away from my support networks where I am now, and that’s coming from someone who spends their time between two diametrically opposed cultures already. The value Google sees in these places is lower cost labor. This is not valuable to the current employees and is not a reason to move there.
    - pylua 2y ago
      Bangalore is a very nice place. I have not had an issue with those things there, granted the level of inequality is very high. I also assume Munich does not have those problems either. Moving away from support networks is one major challenge, however, there is a strong expat community there, not to mention people may have relatives in those places. To the original point, if google just sees people as fungible cost centers,they will eventually dump their users, too. It will eventually be a Boeing, where employee / employee good will has been eroded, and no one takes pride in their work .
      - PebblesHD 2y ago
        I see your second point as exactly where Google and many other hyper-scale companies are going. They seem to legitimately see all employees as spreadsheet rows to be shuffled around to achieve maximum efficiency. Outsourcing in general comes and goes in waves, and Australia is also certainly on the upswing towards outsourcing at large corporations as well, but it will likely come back the other way once time cost and quality is considered, before a different MBA comes in a few years later and starts the whole process again.
- yodsanklai 2y ago
  > Why would the high cost employee agree to such a transfer? Who would it benefit? I don't know Bangalore, but Munich (mentioned in the article) may be a cool place to live and the compensation may be in the same ballpark than in the US after taking into account cost of living. It's actually not uncommon to see people working in US offices transferring to Europe. And most employees in Europe don't necessarily want to transfer to the US even though they often could. Reasons could be interest in a different culture, not adjusting to US culture, better work life balance, better job security.
mrastro 2y ago
If Google did this, it would 100% be framed as "Google offers demotions to dozens of employees" because salary is adjusted based on the cost of living in the area. So it's still bad press not to mention the employees have to uproot their lives to move if they were to accept (move countries, get legal permission to work there etc.).
- pylua 2y ago
  It’s only bad press in the us. There’s not a way to have good press here from a U.S. perspective. Its positive news for the other countries.
- coldtea 2y ago
  >If Google did this, it would 100% be framed as "Google offers demotions to dozens of employees" Which is what they did, even if they didn't offer it. They demoted those positions - and gave a clear signal they don't care for those projects.

by pylua 2y ago

yunohn 2y ago

> laying off employees without offering to move them to where they are shipping the jobs to is an example of poor treatment I don’t think that offer would’ve made much sense, when the goal is to build a full low cost team elsewhere. Why would the high cost employee agree to such a transfer? Who would it benefit?

pylua 2y ago
For one, a high cost employees savings could go a very long way in a low cost of living country. Obviously, google sees something there — why wouldn’t the employee? If you have built your life around your trade, and the center of the trade moves, maybe you should consider moving. That may be easier than finding a new trade.
- PebblesHD 2y ago
  Still doesn’t really answer the question as to why an employee in a high HDI country would move to a lower one for reduced pay when they could remain in their existing one and get a different job? Not sure any amount of money could convince me to move to a place with potentially unreliable plumbing and sewage and away from my support networks where I am now, and that’s coming from someone who spends their time between two diametrically opposed cultures already. The value Google sees in these places is lower cost labor. This is not valuable to the current employees and is not a reason to move there.
  - pylua 2y ago
    Bangalore is a very nice place. I have not had an issue with those things there, granted the level of inequality is very high. I also assume Munich does not have those problems either. Moving away from support networks is one major challenge, however, there is a strong expat community there, not to mention people may have relatives in those places. To the original point, if google just sees people as fungible cost centers,they will eventually dump their users, too. It will eventually be a Boeing, where employee / employee good will has been eroded, and no one takes pride in their work .
    - PebblesHD 2y ago
      I see your second point as exactly where Google and many other hyper-scale companies are going. They seem to legitimately see all employees as spreadsheet rows to be shuffled around to achieve maximum efficiency. Outsourcing in general comes and goes in waves, and Australia is also certainly on the upswing towards outsourcing at large corporations as well, but it will likely come back the other way once time cost and quality is considered, before a different MBA comes in a few years later and starts the whole process again.
yodsanklai 2y ago
> Why would the high cost employee agree to such a transfer? Who would it benefit? I don't know Bangalore, but Munich (mentioned in the article) may be a cool place to live and the compensation may be in the same ballpark than in the US after taking into account cost of living. It's actually not uncommon to see people working in US offices transferring to Europe. And most employees in Europe don't necessarily want to transfer to the US even though they often could. Reasons could be interest in a different culture, not adjusting to US culture, better work life balance, better job security.

mrastro 2y ago

If Google did this, it would 100% be framed as "Google offers demotions to dozens of employees" because salary is adjusted based on the cost of living in the area. So it's still bad press not to mention the employees have to uproot their lives to move if they were to accept (move countries, get legal permission to work there etc.).

pylua 2y ago
It’s only bad press in the us. There’s not a way to have good press here from a U.S. perspective. Its positive news for the other countries.
coldtea 2y ago
>If Google did this, it would 100% be framed as "Google offers demotions to dozens of employees" Which is what they did, even if they didn't offer it. They demoted those positions - and gave a clear signal they don't care for those projects.