- Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people - WC Fields
Google spins its way out of lay-offs
REDUNDANCY IS A DIRTY word in Silicon Valley at the moment and Google, claiming immunity from recession, has been trying to hold off saying it with the help of a legal loophole.
As a public company, Google would be forced to announce if any layoffs were on the cards, and reports have been popping up all over the place claiming that a cull is coming, with 10,000 jobs likely affected.
But what those sensationalist stories don’t take into account is that Google has a massive contractor workforce, which can be let go quietly without any fuss at all.
It isn’t as if Google has invented the wheel where contractors are concerned. Companies have been hiring temporary contractors for less money and no benefits for yonks now, but Google has found it also now has a handy way of slashing its workforce, satisfying its shareholders and avoiding announcing layoffs of permanent staff.
A Google spokesperson admitted that, when it came to contractors, "We have 10,000, and we have had a plan in place for a while to significantly reduce that number," but she added "This is something we've been thinking about for a while – six or seven months. It predates the most acute phase of the [current economic] crisis."
Googly contractors may find their contracts cancelled or simply not renewed. At the moment, the search engine giant is not saying which. In the meanwhile, the firm has implemented a slowdown on hiring.
So 'lay-offs' may be word Google is trying to avoid saying at all costs, but 'recession proof' may be two words the firm should definitely avoid from now on. µ
L'Inq
CNET
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I am a contractor for Google. I am paid by the hour Last month I only got 2 hours of work. And so is this month.Normally, I have to work 80 hours per month
Thank god that I am also a programmer
Toyota especially have a company ethos that if you are employed by Toyota, barring gross misconduct you have a job for life.

As a result a very, very, high proportion of Toyota staff are contractors. Downturn comes, contractors go. Toyota keeps its promise (sort of).

:/
is crap for marketing their cars in the United States. It was to counter GM/Ford/Chrysler's actual belief of a job for life. So the Big 3 suffer b/c of their promise (not only a job for life, but they promised to take care of you and family after retirement), but Toyota is unscathed. Hopefully, karma will fix this - and Google will get its share.
Now that Google has defined "employee" and "contractor", could they please define what "it", is?
Contractors generally make much more than employees, so I'm not sure where you got the opposite idea. It is true that contractors often do not get benefits, but the pay is high enough to offset that.
re: Toyota especially have a company ethos that if you are employed by Toyota, barring gross misconduct you have a job for life. 

That is why the big 3 are broke - paying the former employees the moon. It is totally insane.
So Google has hired the spinmasters that the dimo party uses too, figures since they all are dimo's thus liars
I'm not sure what industry you're in, Chris, but in the tech industry I'm in, contractors make several times less than regular employees like me.