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As Christmas Bonus, Google Hands Out "Dogfood"
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.
Just to be pedantic, the retail price of an unlocked G1 is $400 not $150.
and substituted an unlocked Google Android cell phone, retail price $180.
Everywhere I have seen Google's unlocked Android phone it was for $399. Not $180 which is the price of one that is locked to T-Mobile's network and a 2 year contract. http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/05/sim-hardware-unlocked-android-dev-phone-1-surfaces-for-399/ http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-Releases-SIMunlocked-Android-Phone-For-399/ http://code.google.com/android/dev-devices.html all give the $399 price point.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Information Week has an internal email sent by Google management:
Q: Can I resell my phone?
Googlers should not resell any item given to them by Google. Please review our Personal Transactions policy [removed].
The thing is many google employees/job candidates probably factor in the expected Christmas bonus when deciding to work for Google.
Google's salaries are reportedly lower than most competitors, but they make the difference with bonuses and other perks.
Now if the bonus disappear, its going to be easier for googlers to do a fair comparaison...
A *lot* of companies used the media mass hysteria as cover to take such actions, long before many of them had felt any measurable impact at all. I.e. companies that still reported profit still said the economy impact was such they simply had to take drastic measures.
Of course, it's all a negative feedback loop. It was bad enough as was, but with the media saying "great depression" over and over again, consumer confidence took a dive and companies started either panicking or taking advantage, which certainly doesn't help matters.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
How can they extract revenue from companies if those companies source of income dry up? Or even if they don't, a lot of companies are sort of going into hibernation, keeping core staff to maintain their curent efforts, but holding off on growth sorts of moves. I think companies facing diminishing income due to the economic state aren't believing that increased advertising budget is going to be the answer right now.
Makes me wonder if the number of google ads presented to people has decreased or will decrease in the near future. The whole fundamental nature of an economy is that things are interconnected. Particularly being a public company, they are practically obliged to panic in accordance with shareholder panic. Private companies will act on different whims, for better or worse (I know one private company in my area that has actually accelerated some hiring, to secure low price, grateful (loyal) workforce, since they know they can still afford to).
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I'd like to pretend that there was some sort of power-of-dollar pun in my original post. But the truth is I'm drunk.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
"eating your own dog food" is an old tech industry expression, it means the company uses their own products internally, as a testbed and to build up expertise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_one's_own_dog_food
Unless they're given a check on top of this, it isn't a free phone- this is legally income, so they'll be taxed on it.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Google operates by selling advertising. In a bad economy, lots of companies will cut their advertising budget. They aren't impervious to bad economic times.
But the truth is I'm drunk.
Spoken like a true Englishman.
"Hello 911? I just tried to toast some bread, and the toaster grew an arm and stabbed me in the face!"
From TFA:
Q: Are there tax implications to this?
Google is covering the taxes for this gift; there will be an extra payroll run before the end of the year to cover the taxes. If you have further payroll or HR-related questions about this gift please e-mail [address removed].
Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
I get the impression I'm either missing an incredibly funny joke, or I hang out online with a bunch of losers. ...
"The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
I think the point everyone seems to be forgetting is Google's promise that when their plans for taking over the world are complete, their employees deaths will be quick and painless while the rest of us will be made to suffer for quite some time.
How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
Heck, we went from a $600 deductible health insurance, to $3000 and higher cost, a $25 gift cert to Target or a dinner (no guests or So's), and added another layer of management to monitor our work performance as well. To top it off? "Your lucky it isnt a 10% drop in income as well". I hate contract houses.
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.
Unfortunately, there's a whole bunch of us who work for companies that DO owe us something in exchange for work called a year-end bonus. It's calculated as part of compensation on top of base, and some of us take a cut in base compensation on the promise of that bonus. It's part of your negotiated overall compensation package. Getting screwed out of it can be a really big hit for some of us.