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Facebook Tops List of Best Places To Work -- Again (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what-people-say dept.

From a report: If you work at Facebook, count yourself pretty lucky. And not just for the free meals, on-site health care or new-parent benefits. But those things probably factor into the social-networking giant being named the best place to work in 2018 by jobs site Glassdoor. And it's probably been a good experience for a while, seeing how this is the third year in a row Facebook has been atop Glassdoor's list of 100 best places to work. If you don't work at Facebook, there might still be hope for you. Glassdoor said there were 40 newcomers on this year's list, including video game maker Blizzard Entertainment (at No. 28 on the list) and wireless carrier T-Mobile (No. 79). There are also three veterans that have made the list every year since it was introduced 10 years ago, including management-consulting firm Bain & Company (No. 2), search giant Google (No. 5) and Apple (No. 84).

67 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. It's a company town, Joe... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like Bisbee, AZ or Foxconn City.

    Free meals, medical care on site? What's not to like? Pretty soon, they'll put up the housing and you'll never have to leave the company plantation.

    This is why I like living and working in cities -- gives you more random interactions with people, a choice of where to live, work, eat, etc.

    1. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by thegreatbob · · Score: 3, Funny

      Indeed... I definitely need a little bit of structure to my life... but not that much structure!

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    2. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Funny

      Will Facebook have the compassion of Foxconn to put up suicide nets to prevent employees from offing themselves?

      Does the employment agreement allow Facebook to harvest an employee's vital organs (assuming their ISP hasn't already gotten them first)?

      Isn't everyone at Facebook a user of PHP? Does PHP show up on a random drug test?

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    3. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by scourfish · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, shame on a company for offering convenience and perks that make working for them attractive.

    4. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only "perks" I want are a humane amount of vacation time (3-4 weeks, as most of the world gets) and 40 hour weeks. Oh, and good pay. I can find my own social life outside of the company door.

      I don't want to be enticed to live my entire life at work.

    5. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with "Perks" is that there is a cost for them to the Company. That cost could just as easily be exchanged for more employee pay so that YOU can choose what "Perks" YOU want to offer yourself. I work at a small company and we have this discussion all the time: "Would you rather have more cash pay or XYZ perk." Every time the result is XYZ perk is great for 3/4 of the people but is worthless for 1/4 and so we continue to opt for more pay, which allows everyone to buy whatever god damn "perk" we want (or even *gasp* save it).

      There are huge problems with offering "Perks" because not everyone uses them or wants to use them. If I don't like the free food and buy my lunch somewhere else every day then I get screwed compared to everyone else. Add all the little perks up and some people are making out like bandits and others feel screwed while a group in the middle is financially indifferent but they have someone else deciding things for them.

      The real reason for perks is more nefarious: 1) It controls the employee by keeping them close to the office for all their "needs" and reduces ability to "take lunch" or otherwise "leave the compound" to find a better job. 2) It is great "free" marketing (see this and other articles talking about how awesome XYZ company is because they give away "XYZ" for "free". No dipshit, its coming out of your pay one way or another. It is not free. 3) Perks can act as a "loss center" to reduce corporate taxes without payroll or other taxes. Its a lot easier for a company to deduct these as "business expenses" than an employee. 4) Makes employees specialized parts in a machine rather than well rounded individuals that can take care of themselves.

      Taken to the extreme, "Perks" are basically the same as slavery: You get your food, water, shelter, and entertainment chosen by the company you work for, at no cost to you. All you have to do is stay in this compound and consume what you are given for "free". Because you earn no cash money, you can't operate outside the company compound.

    6. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It's quite common to provide a meal and maybe some exercise facilities at European companies. It's considered a fairly standard perk. Smaller places order food in, larger places have their own kitchen and staff.

      Child care and some medical services are also starting to appear, especially in Japan where the government really wants people to have more children.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      UK legal minimum is 5 weeks, and most of Europe is similar. 3 weeks is a joke, not nearly enough.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by scourfish · · Score: 1

      In my experience, the reason for perks at work has been because some employees like to take naps at lunch, traffic in a city makes driving to a gym after work difficult, and also because the occasional catered lunch is a nice alternative to the brown-bagged sandwiches that most people pack. It's been neither nefarious nor altruistic.

    9. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by mobby_6kl · · Score: 2

      Yeah at the HQ there are lunches in the cafeteria and my our office, meal vouchers that can be used in most restaurants nearby. There's also a gym that I use instead of going out for lunch.

      Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, my satisfaction with the company as a place of work has little to do with any of this and mostly with the direct team, manager, and work culture there. While everyone puts in maximum time and effort when necessary, you can make up for it by bailing early on Fridays or other slow days. Nobody cares when you check in and check out. Work from home as much as you want or need. Hell, work from a different country.

      My place is in the top 15, but I'm not sure how I feel about it being beaten by a fast food company.

    10. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by mopower70 · · Score: 2

      UK and most of European salaries are a joke, so I'd call it even.

    11. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

      Costs of living/housing in real cities (not overheated suburban hells like Vegas, Orlando, or Phoenix) in most of non-UK Europe are also lower than in the US. And health insurance/care costs are also much better controlled.

    12. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The cost of living in the US is a joke. And by living we include healthcare.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    13. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      UK and most of European salaries are a joke, so I'd call it even.

      Fucking please. If you want to see the true joke, take a good hard look at the amount of money you're forced to piss away on various forms of taxes and insurance.

      US gross pay doesn't mean dick when your take-home wage is pathetic. You can also say goodbye to that retirement nest egg the instant you come down with any sort of real medical ailment.

      All of this tends to highlight the real reason gross pay is more; so US capitalistic greed can benefit from it.

    14. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      If Japan wants more children, they need to ban the sexbots first

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    15. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by Gussington · · Score: 1

      UK and most of European salaries are a joke, so I'd call it even.

      So are most of the US's. This is the problem with massive inequality, even in the wealthiest nation on earth most people are still considered poor.

    16. Re:It's a company town, Joe... by Xest · · Score: 1

      No it's not, it's 4 weeks.

  2. What happened to Google? by bogaboga · · Score: 1

    I am just wondering what may have happened to Google.

    Did Google deteriorate or Facebook just became better?

    Disclaimer: I post this message with a bias. I have come to hate Google of late; especially when it comes to product/feature execution on Android. I still use their products daily, though.

    1. Re:What happened to Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am just wondering what may have happened to Google.

      I was on the main Google campus a year ago for a job interview. And maybe it's just the sour grapes talking since I didn't get an offer. But, wow, was it bleak!

      The famous Google free lunches were in cafes that were horribly overcrowded - and the food was smugly pretentious - very low quality pizza but with arugula and goat cheese. Congratulations, Google you ruined pizza! It was what you would expect if a bunch of hippies who didn't like each other and weren't feeling at all generous got together for a potluck.

    2. Re:What happened to Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am just wondering what may have happened to Google.

      According to TFA, it's better to work at In'N'Out burger and flip burgers than work at Google.

  3. I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course it is.

    It's a bastion of reactionary, authoritarian Leftism plonked right down in the middle of one of the furthest left-leaning cities in a state that's practically deranged by how far left it leans.

    (These people think if they subvert local government, they can completely exempt themselves from federal laws whenever they want. Oh, and they want to secede because the rest of the country isn't as nuts as they are.)

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  4. What do they know that we dont? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    Do they know that Zukerberg will know how they voted for this survey and so they voted to make sure they stay on the good books?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  5. Pretty easy to pull off by OYAHHH · · Score: 1

    If you enjoy a marketplace monopoly. Eventually the winds of fate will change and FB will face real market realities.

    --
    Caution: Contents under pressure
  6. Re:I didn't see Amazon on the list by plopez · · Score: 1

    I did a command F and couldn't find HPE or HP Inc.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  7. Ethics by JohnFen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you work at Facebook, count yourself pretty lucky.

    And lacking a sense a sense of ethics.

  8. Survivors bias? by plopez · · Score: 1

    If you like the place you work when asked you fill out the survey, "Yeah cool a great place to work". If you hate it you leave. I cannot discern their methodology but I suspect this may be an important factor.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    1. Re:Survivors bias? by Bert64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Many people stay at jobs they hate for all kinds of reasons...

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    2. Re:Survivors bias? by nine-times · · Score: 1

      You can leave a review on Glassdoor after you leave the company.

      But you're right to point out that it's not clear what this analysis means. Maybe Facebook employees are more prone to interactions similar to what happens in social media, and therefore more likely to post on Glassdoor. Or maybe Facebook bribes their employees to leave positive reviews. Who knows.

      I mean, I'm sure that Facebook is a good place to work, at least in a lot of ways, so I don't necessarily doubt the outcome of this survey. Still, I'm not sure what good it does anyone. It's not like we're all going to quit out jobs and apply to Facebook because of this article.

    3. Re:Survivors bias? by JohnFen · · Score: 2

      Studies consistently indicate that most people in the US hate their jobs, but stay with them anyway.

    4. Re:Survivors bias? by plopez · · Score: 1

      Or you could just be a cynical old mercenary like myself.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  9. I totally want to work at Facebook by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 1

    So I can sit in Mark Zuckerbergs "world's largest" open plan office every day. What's not to love?

    --
    Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
  10. Obligatory xkcd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    https://www.xkcd.com/958/

  11. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful

    (a) FB HQ is not in San Francisco, it's in Menlo Park, closer to San Jose.
    (b) California's residents are fairly centrist. There's just less religious nutbaggery as far as wanting to control what science people learn in school (birth control, sex ed, etc).
    (c) California would do well as the world's (7th?) largest economy if Calexit happens (don't Conservatives want CA out, already?). They'd probably even make a free-trade pact with Mexico just to annoy the Trumpites.

  12. Subjective... by Bert64 · · Score: 2

    Wether a place is good to work at or not depends on your personal circumstances - what job do you do, who are your immediate colleagues and manager, how far do you have to commute to work etc. I've seen many companies were certain departments were treated like kings, while other people doing different jobs are treated like dirt.

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  13. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Right, what kind of leftist hell hole must it be where people are happy and content at work...

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  14. Two Words by Shogun37 · · Score: 2

    Stockholm Syndrome. Sure, the perks must be nice. But literally living in Big Brother's House has got to do something to their heads. Give a good review, or get fast tracked out the door. And Big Brother is watching...

  15. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... came in at number 19.

    Could it be that this list actually reflects organizations incentivizing voting on the list, rather than what the list purports? I wonder.

  16. You learn what works by rcharbon · · Score: 2

    Back in the day, when I worked at a Serious Company that took these things Seriously, we employees learned to give everything the top rating. That cut down on the inevitable bullshit that followed the survey, as management attempted to force us to fix whatever scored badly.

    1. Re:You learn what works by Tempest_2084 · · Score: 2

      I was about to say this. Complaining about anything, even anonymously, leads to trouble. Either management will ignore the complaint and try and track down the 'troublemakers' (there's really no such thing as anonymous feedback folks) or they'll go the exact opposite and bend over backwards to fix the issue only going overboard and causing new issues in return. It never works out the way you think it will.

      An example: Someone complained that there were never enough meeting rooms open and they couldn't discuss needed issues with their co-workers. Management's response? An open floor plan so everyone can talk to the person next to them non-stop (as long as you shout that is). Now everyone in that department is miserable as hell and they still have communication problems because it's too loud to hold meetings. The manager who put that open floor plan in is long gone (golden retirement parachute for his moronic dickery) and they all suffer.

    2. Re:You learn what works by rcharbon · · Score: 2

      Complaint: Too many meetings Response: Meetings to discuss how to reduce the number of meetings When I was assigned to the committee that would meet to discuss how to reduce the number of meetings I pointed out (repeatedly) that we could start reducing the number of meetings by cancelling the meetings to discuss how to reduce the number of meetings. I got tossed out of the committee. Unsurprisingly, there was no useful result from those meetings.

    3. Re:You learn what works by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      Case in point: I complained about an ethics issue.
      I no longer work for the company (not by my choice, but I am happy with the result).

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    4. Re:You learn what works by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      My company takes feedback and it's worked well so far. Working hours changed (Friday afternoons off!), parking issues were sorted out, even the free coffee improved.

      If your company can't handle feedback it's probably a symptom of deeper problems.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  17. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    And I say, please, don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out. Go, please!

  18. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    They might, be default, already have NAFTA - if they choose to inherit things that they had from the US. But that may not be the case. And yes, if Cali left many of us would be happy - and I'm not particularly conservative, I'm more libertarian. Too bad California IS incredibly leftist - at least within 50 miles of the coast.

  19. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by nwaack · · Score: 1

    Right, what kind of leftist hell hole must it be where people are happy and content at work...

    Lots of cult members are happy where they are too. The only thing it really means is that the brainwashing is working.

  20. Facebook is sketchy as fuck by euxneks · · Score: 1

    I wish all these people who liked working for facebook liked being ethical more. Facebook is doing some really fucking scummy sketchy shit when it comes to people's privacy. It's not cool.

    --
    in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
  21. In-N-Out Burger? by bdrasin · · Score: 1

    I mean, sure its good for a fast food job, but higher than Salesforce? Hubspot? Google?

    1. Re:In-N-Out Burger? by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      In -N- out pays it's workers significantly better than most fast food places. As a result, they get the actually motivated young people working their first jobs. When I was a teenager I had multiple friends who fought to get a job there. If you're sixteen and everyone you know is schlubbing minimum wage, and you make two bucks more with coworkers who are actually smart, it can be a good working environment.
      The managers can make around 120K, so that's not chump change either.

  22. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    I get to censor people! WHEE!!!

    I otice the "muh freeze peach" crowd have been awfully quiet about Facebook's latest actions:

    https://www.theguardian.com/te...

    I think you all have a huge case of double standards.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  23. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    Lots of cult members are happy where they are too. The only thing it really means is that the brainwashing is working.

    People in cults are happy.

    Ergo anyone happy is in a cult.

    Therefore we should make everyone unhappy so we guarantee they're not in a cult.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  24. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    Everybody who agrees with someone else's views usually refers to them as centrist. I'm sure Stalin thought his views were fairly centrist as well. And don't even pretend California could exist on its own. Just the water issue alone is enough to derail it.

  25. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

    The state is already broke with all infrastructure and public services in total collapse

    Oh, that's adorable - you watch Fox News! I know this because reality doesn't actually reflect the nonsense you're asserting as fact, and Fox & Friends are the main outlets for that particular fiction.

    add a defense budget and it would be lights out.

    First, I agree that Calexit is nuts. I don't support it at all. That said, back in reality land, California and other blue states prop up the rest of the country financially. CA could afford to maintain the military bases it already has if we weren't saddled with supporting broke-ass red states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Montana, Kentucky, and Missouri.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  26. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

    Nuclear or solar desalination. Heard of it?

  27. But.... by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

    The worst site for visiting.

  28. Criteria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When you start bragging about how sparkly the shackles around your neck are, we've reach peak Huxleyism.

  29. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 1

    A) Tomato, Tomato. It's basically the equivalent of driving from the south side of Chicago to the north side. Pfft. And considering that, north to south, Cali is almost TWICE the length of Illinois and roughly the same width... Let's just agree that your idea of "near" and mine are different...

    B) Californians come in 4 varieties.
    * 1) Crazies
    * 2) People who're stuck there with the crazies.
    * 3) People who're in the process of moviing out.
    * 4) People who're moving in because they don't understand "CRAZIES!"

    It's especially bad around college towns. They're hotbeds of communal brain rot.

    C) But only so long as they have an endless supply of cheap, illegal labor. Having to actually pay going labor rates instead of paying pennies? OHNOEZ!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  30. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 1

    Look again. It's not just how much are these states putting out.
    How much federal money are they consuming?

    Do the proper comparison and you'll find a much different picture.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  31. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but this is the Trail Mix state.

    NO NUKES! NO NUKES! NUKES EVIL! NO NUKES!

    And good luck procuring enough solar capacity to make desalination a viable option.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  32. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 1

    No. There's simply ample evidence to draw a conclusion that FB is a heavily biased place to work in.
    So long as your biases line up with theirs? It's all smooth sailing.
    The second they DON'T? Look for a new job FAST because your life will become a living hell.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  33. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Chas · · Score: 1

    No. I simply view it as a limited instance of people's own shortsightedness coming back and biting them in their over-privileged ass.

    It doesn't mean I find censorship a Good Thing. Even with an isolated incident of egalitarianism.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  34. Best Place to Work? But do they... by neoRUR · · Score: 1

    let you... ... Post on Slashdot?

    1. Re: Best Place to Work? But do they... by Peptidoglycan · · Score: 1

      Wait I didn't see slashdot in this list...

  35. Indeed... by antdude · · Score: 1

    .com. ;)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  36. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by cas2000 · · Score: 1

    Only Americans could believe that California is "far left" or even "left" at all.

    To the rest of the world, Californian politics and society are very far from left - centre-right at the very most. Neo-liberal corporate capitalism with a few minor bandaids to help keep it from being completely unbearable.

    Americans tend to believe that anything which makes life under capitalism even slightly more tolerable is outrageously socialist.

    so, yeah, California is deranged....but less so than most of the rest of America. and deranged by leaning towards the far right, not the left.

    PS: I'd like to see the more civilised parts of America (i.e. most of the east and west coast, and northern border states) secede from the US, and build a huge fucking wall around Jesusland to keep the worst nutters inside. It would still be a far-right corporate kleptocracy, but that's better than a corporate kleptocracy combined with a stone-age theocracy.

  37. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

    Read the charts again that show how much they send to the government for each dollar they get back. Blue states overwhelmingly donate a lot more to red states. The numbers are right there in the links I gave you.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  38. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by nwaack · · Score: 1

    Ergo anyone happy is in a cult.

    Um, no. That is the most ridiculous logic I've heard in a very long time and I am now dumber for having read that. It terrifies me that people like you are allowed to vote.

  39. Re:I get to censor people! WHEE!!! by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    Um, no.

    No shit sherlock!

    That is the most ridiculous logic I've heard in a very long time and I am now dumber for having read that.

    That's why I was mocking the OP for it.

    It terrifies me that people like you are allowed to vote.

    It sort of terrifies me that you vote after getting the wrng end of the stick quite so hard.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.