As Christmas Bonus, Google Hands Out "Dogfood" 366
theodp writes "You know times are tough when the best place to work in America replaces holiday bonuses with a request for unpaid labor. Blaming the economic crisis, Google management has canceled the traditional cash holiday bonus — reportedly as much as $20K-$30K per Googler — and substituted an unlocked Google Android cell phone, retail price $400. An accompanying email calls for employees to celebrate the 'chance for us to once again dogfood a product and make it even better!'" Update: 12/23 01:09 GMT by KD : A reader pointed out that comments to the article note a couple of inaccuracies: the Android phone being offered is an unlocked dev model, which goes for $400; and the reporter may have confused holiday bonuses with performance bonuses. The former have traditionally been in the range of $1,000, according to two comments.
who cares (Score:3, Insightful)
Is this suppose to be a "don't be evil" article or something? Thousands of people have become unemployed and you people are bitching about a Christmas bonus, pathetic.
Briar Rabbit (Score:5, Insightful)
I know it's no $20-$30k, but I wouldn't be upset over an unlocked smartphone. It's a hell of a lot better than many past employers gave me.
Kudos to Valleywag for taking a non-issue and trying so valiantly to spin it negative. And a tip of the hat to the submitter for managing to paraphrase without getting in the way of the spin.
Public relations filter is needed (Score:4, Insightful)
This story demonstrates the need for some type of public relations filter on Slashdot stories. Too often, a company's PR statements are taken as fact. Here, perhaps the people who run google may have been wanting to end yearly bonuses for a long time. Fearing employee backlash, they needed a plausible cover story. The economy is easy to blame. Look, I know that it's entirely possible their motivations are accurately stated in the press release. I contend, however, that it is equally likely that the economy gives Google the opportunity to change its bonus program without suspicion. Given past violations of the "don't be evil" rule, this wouldn't be surprising.
Re:Just as I said earlier (Score:4, Insightful)
sensationalist summary much? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd still take a job with them. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hey, if google wanted to hire me, I'd totally take it.
Re:who cares (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly, Google doesn't really have to worry about the economy.
Uh. Yeah. They do.
Unless people stop getting internet access, Google has a rather steady source of income via ads and no one but the businesses pay a cent (and really, advertising is only going to slightly increase with a slowing economy as more people want to get more customers).
1) The public doesn't give Google any money.
2) The businesses that buy advertising don't automatically have the money to increase advertising budgets in a 'slowing economy'.
Google isn't like the car manufacturers in which consumers voluntarily have to pay a large sum to get a car and taking a large amount of money to make the car.
Google's customer ARE the businesses.
Google isn't in bad financial shape.
It only lost 60% of its value this year. If you think that isn't having a MAJOR impact on it you are on crack. Yeah, its a long way from bankrupt, and I think we all agree it will weather this relatively well, but still... a REALLY big chunk of that ad revenue came from companies that are suffering badly right now... from AIG and Bear Stearns to Ford and GM. Their revenue is definitely shrinking right now.
Cry me a river. (Score:2, Insightful)
My Christmas bonus was a reduction in pay.
My ex's Christmas bonus was a reduction in work days.
My friend's Christmas bonus was a pink slip.
You'll forgive me if I fail to care that Google game their employees a smaller than expected bonus.
Re:who cares (Score:1, Insightful)
1) The public doesn't give Google any money. 2) The businesses that buy advertising don't automatically have the money to increase advertising budgets in a 'slowing economy'.
On number 1, yes they do. Every click on a Google ad gives Google money from a business. On number 2, no they don't automatically have the money, but in a slowing economy, advertising budgets are going to be one of the last to be completely eliminated in hopes of attracting more customers.
It only lost 60% of its value this year. If you think that isn't having a MAJOR impact on it you are on crack. Yeah, its a long way from bankrupt, and I think we all agree it will weather this relatively well, but still... a REALLY big chunk of that ad revenue came from companies that are suffering badly right now... from AIG and Bear Stearns to Ford and GM. Their revenue is definitely shrinking right now.
Yes, but I still see ads for AIG, Ford, GM, etc. and no less than before they got bailed out/went bankrupt. Sure they might not have a 10 billion dollar budget on ads, but they are still going to advertise and Google is as cheap as any other way to get your ads out.
I also think that Google has spent a lot of money on the T-Mobile/Android deals. Android took a lot of time and money to develop, and also StreetView took many man-hours to complete. However, in the long run, Android is going to make Google billions in licensing and other revenue streams.
Re:Bonus (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This just in.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Love it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I really hate it when employers give out stuff at Christmas. That really sucks. How evil.
Oh, wait, no it doesn't. A $400 phone is a slap in the face? Wow. All of your examples sound like a nice thank you from an employer who's not actually obligated to give you anything.
Re:who cares (Score:5, Insightful)
But there is better places to spend the money than christmas bonuses.
Don't be ridiculous. Is your other name Ebenezer Scrooge?
I personally do not get a Christmas Bonus (although I have other benefits), but I can see why a Christmas Bonus is good. Relatively speaking the "small" gift from a company to their employees can pay for itself. Increased loyalty. Increased work. The feeling that you belong and are valued. These things money cannot buy. A Christmas Bonus, however, can often go a long way towards it. It says "Yep, we've all done well. We're still in business and we can still pay you. Thanks for the work throughout the year". Employee profits. Company profits. It's a win-win situation.
Re:unlocked phone $400 (Score:4, Insightful)
The value of a device you cannot sell and are not interested in using is $0.
Pretty big difference compared to a $1000 holiday bonus.
Dear fellow Google Employees (Score:1, Insightful)
If there about $25k employees, management just wasted $10m on phones, but since they are internally purchased, I bet they spent 10% of that. It's not like I can resell that phone on eBay and make $400. Can I donate it to charity and take a $400 tax deduction?
So now they've given us free phones. Once again taking the tact of offering us perks who's sole intent is to keep us working. Note the phrase in the letter,
We're really excited about getting the phone to more Googlers in more countries, and also seeing all the cool new things you do with it.
So instead of giving us a check for which we can do whatever we want with it. We're now being given phones so that we can do more work on our own time. I'm a bit jealous of those people that received cash instead, at least then I can go take my wife and kids out on the town or use it to purchase gifts. Try putting one fucking phone under the tree. I'd rather have not received anything, at least then I can tell my wife, "due to the economic climate, no bonuses were given out this year."
Hey Google management, how about coming up with a business plan to solve this stock problem? Android isn't going to solve this as it appeals to the /. crowd, which is NOT the masses. You can take this phone and shove it right up your ass.
Re:Oversimplify.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Smart companies increase marketing spend during recession. It's a cheap way to grab marketshare.
Re:This just in.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This just in.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I got a pink slip a few months back, lol.
Glad my house and car are paid for !
Re:This just in.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I would think the tax accounting of the Android "giveaway" would depend on how it's done. If Google still "owns" the phone, they get the tax benefit of the asset depreciation and might even be able to count it as an R&D cost as well. It should be easier to get away with this by handing out the unlocked "developer" models like they did. The employee still gets a nice shiny leading-edge phone to use; they just can't re-gift it to someone else. Once it's depreciated, the employee gets ownership of the phone. As a bonus, it might help Google boost their year-end units-shipped count for marketing purposes, and they get free word-of-mouth advertising from people seeing their employees use the new phones. Sounds like a win-win if its doable, and if it is, whoever thought of it probably earned their yearly salary that day.
Re:Oversimplify.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Smart companies will especially focus on marketing spend that they can measure closely, to track the return on investment.
If you've got a marketing channel that provably makes you a dollar in profit for every seventy-five cents spent, why would you ever stop putting money into it, as long as you've got the cash to spend?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'd still take a job with them. (Score:1, Insightful)
>Good call, but in my region the economy sucks, and with real estate being in a huge depression I have no hope of relocating without taking a giant loss >on my house. :/
Don't take this the wrong way please, but think outside the box a bit.
A scenario: Let's pretend you had an offer for a contract gig in Los Angeles at, say, $60/hr, or San Francisco at say, $75/hr.
Now even if all you did was close your house in your "depressed area" and rented a townhouse, how would it work out? Say you rented out your "depression area" house for some undercutting fraction of the going rentals there? Sound even better? If this arrangement panned out only for one year, how would you make out?
I was thinking like you, until the fog lifted, and I realized that, indeed, there are people with decent paying jobs available that they are having real trouble filling with competent people.
I wish you'd given more about your location and mortgage expsosure. On my end, the numbers are not unrealistic. Two real scenarios, one requires you to be "merely competent" in Java+Spring+Hibernate, and the other requires you to be extremely creative but only "good" at Flash.
It's better than that. If you work in a higher cost-of-living locale, and have a lower cost residence, you can take something close to 30% of a contract rate as per-diem. I know people who are doing this, and not actually quitting their old jobs! (Turn out the work, call into the meetings, draw a salary AND a W2 or 1099 contract rate, and get a huge tax break to boot.) Not to mention, having your foot squarely in the door when the economy does recover.
A very wise man once told me "The easiest thing in the world to do is to think of reasons why you can't do something."
Re:This just in.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, stop complaining, I'd work at google for an android phone :D
Google are you watching? It must sure be better, more fun and interesting than sitting here :D
No kidding. I wish my employer did something for Christmas. Last year, it was a steak dinner and 50% of my paycheck as a bonus. Not exactly a huge haul--but it's nice they gave me something.
This year however, times are tough. No Christmas dinner/party, and no bonus--which isn't a big deal, because they owe me nothing in exchange for my work except a paycheck.
So the employees should be glad Google was a compassionate enough company to give them anything at all.
Re:The Christmas Bonus (Score:3, Insightful)
The thing is, most people can't work that way. You spend an awful lot of your life at work, and most people like to think that their employer appreciates the work they do.
That appreciation(when sincere) generally has a greater impact on workplace morale than would a higher salary and is, generally speaking, cheaper for the employer over the long term.
I highly doubt that google paid their employees 20-30k as a Christmas bonus(that's a huge amount for anything not tied to some sort of performance metric and would be the kind of devastating loss which would cause mass resignations.) It's been posted by others that the Christmas bonuses are closer to 1k, which is far more reasonable.
That said, even though a free phone is better than a lot of people get, this is a fairly major policy shift for Google, even if the normal amount is only around a grand. Google generally hires only the best(by whatever subjective version of the best they choose to use) and they expect an awful lot of work hours out of their employees. They make up for this mainly through perks as opposed to salaries, and cutting those perks could have a major impact on their business model.
Re:This just in.. (Score:5, Insightful)
that may not be the interest of the actual situation, but Valleywag certainly seems to be trying to portray Google as mistreating their employees with statements like:
why the hell is /. even posting stories from Vallywag [wikipedia.org] anyway? they're a freaking tabloid written by the silicon valley analog of paparazzi reporters. this is supposed to be news for nerds, not gossip rag for "fashionable" venture capitalists. if i wanted to read unsubstantiated rumors or find out about who Kevin Rose is dating, i'll visit digg.
slashdot needs to go back to posting stories on technology and real tech/science issues, not sensationalist drivel from Vallywag or, worse yet, The Sun. please don't prove to the world that geeks are just as mentally vacuous as the britney-spears-fawning, paris-hilton-obsessed, access-hollywood-watching masses.
Re:Just as I said earlier (Score:4, Insightful)
I rather doubt Google signed any contracts stating that each employee is due a HUGE bonus at the end of the year. It's a "bonus".
"We made a shit-pot of money this year, and you contributed a lot. Here's part of the shit-pot, thanks."
"We didn't make a shit-pot of money this year, you contributed a lot though. Here's a nice new phone, maybe next year if you and several others write something really cool with it, we'll have a shit-pot of money to give you part of."