These “shadow employees” are not able to enjoy Google’s enviable benefits, and these benefits have raised the reputation of the Internet giant as one of the world’s best employers.
Editor’s note: This article is from “Tencent Technology“, Review: Gold Deer, authorized to reprint.
According to foreign media reports, Kevin Kiprovski has an enviable title, Google’s Expeditions Associate. He also has an interesting job to demonstrate Google’s virtual reality devices to students. Every time he goes to school, he wears a grey T-shirt with cartoon whales and Google logo on it. But sometimes the company’s reputation will make things embarrassing. For example, a teacher once asked him: “When you know that you are making more money than all of us, when you come here to show things, how do you feel?
In response, Kiplowski responded: “I must tell her that I can only earn $40,000 a year.” At the same time, he also mentioned another detail: he is not actually working directly for Google. . Kiprofsky is part of Vaco Nashville, one of several family and contracting companies hired by Google. Based on his resignation in October, Kiprofs sent a fiercely e-mail inside to criticize Google’s “different treatment” of employees.
Kiplovsky wrote that although Google’s use of temporary workers has received more attention in the past year, the company continues to insist on such initiatives, which means that temporary workers are still excluded from affecting our lives. Outside of the conversation.” His emails are widely circulated within Google, and Google is mired in internal turmoil due to labor issues and the lack of voice of employees on the company’s direction.
More than half of Google’s employees are temporary workers, suppliers or contractors, and they are collectively referred to as TVC. These “shadow employees” are not able to enjoy Google’s enviable benefits, and these benefits have raised the reputation of the Internet giant as one of the world’s best employers. Last year, many TVCs called on Google to provide better benefits. In September of this year, TVC, a data analyst at Pittsburgh, voted to form a union, which is quite rare for the technology industry.
Kiplovsky’s resignation highlights the paradox that many TVCs face: their job requires them to act as Google’s representatives, but they don’t actually work for the company.
Kiplowski began working for Google as a TVC in early 2018, helping to extend Google’s reach to schools. His earlier hopes for the job were quickly shattered. The turnover rate of his department is high and the schedule is not flexible. His responsibilities are constantly increasing, but there is no corresponding compensation. Kiplowski said: “I am risingI have worked four times, but I have hardly increased my salary or benefits or anything else.
Kiplovsky feels that he has also been discriminated against in other ways. Google uses a lot of internal documentation to plan projects and store information. This summer, the company cut off TVC’s access to these files for security reasons. Google also blocked casual workers in many online social groups within the company. Kiplowski said that Google officially called this “TVC blockade” without any warning in advance. Several employees at Google and its contractors confirmed these events.
A Google spokeswoman said that these decisions are an important part of standard customer data security measures, and that temporary workers have received notifications of changes and they can still use the tools they need to perform their work. She added that TVC’s promotion policy is different from that of regular employees.
Thousands of TVCs work behind the scenes at Google, such as marketing products or screening YouTube videos. However, jobs like Kypovsky’s marketing of Google services in schools require showing the outside world its image of Google.
Other TVC jobs also require them to act as Google’s public spokesperson without directly receiving Google’s salary. In some companies’ offices, temporary workers escorted Google’s candidates and new employees to walk around the park, take them to the interview, and answer some chat questions while walking. Job seekers often ask: “What are your favorite benefits as a Google employee?” These “guides” must then explain that they are not actually Googlers.
The hidden nature of the real employment situation of temporary workers is sometimes close to the absurd level. Another TVC who worked for a Google project at a contracting company described the experience of being assigned to visit a school in New York last year to sell Google services to students. At the time, he hosted an event called “Lunch with Google People” to discuss how to find a job at this search giant.
Kiplowski said that his manager at Google often hinted that he should not confuse the fact that he is not working directly for Google. After completing the promotion of virtual reality devices, Kiprovsky began to promote G Suite at the university. When his colleague TVC asked the management whether the temporary workers should clarify their identity, the answer was rather vague. Google’s official response is: “Honesty is the best policy. But they usually add a sentence, why do you have to tell them the truth?”
Another Google casual worker who was employed by Vaco has played a similar role, and he said that these boundaries may be blurred in other ways. Vaco’s temporary workers work in the same office as full-time Google employees, even on the same floor. The temporary worker said that when they interacted with the public, they “have never received formal instructions on how to answer their identity.”
He said: “Usually I only say that I work at Google. I try to be honest, butIn fact, it does not say whether to work for Google as a regular employee. If they don’t want us to tell others, what does the fact of our existence mean? Do they admit that this situation looks bad?
Vaco did not respond to requests for comment, but the company said on its website that its services help employees find meaningful freedom at work. The statement on the website also stated: “We help people find freedom, gain freedom from work without souls, and find clear freedom in chaos.”
Google said its policy is that temporary workers should indicate in social media and email signatures that they work for contracting companies such as Vaco and can add the words “representing Google” or “supporting Google.” The spokesperson said that the policy also stipulates that TVC should not speak on behalf of Google in external speech events.
For Kiprofsky, the last straw was the change he saw on Google’s career ladder. When he was working in Google’s office, several people at the company told him that his role might give him a permanent position in the tech giant. Kiprofsky hopes that if he becomes a full-time employee, he and his lover can take advantage of Google’s generous benefits in surrogacy or adoption. He said: “This is actually one of the reasons why I have stayed for so long. I want to find a job at Google to help build a family.”
Then he read about Eileen Naughton, Google’s human resources director, responding to Congress. Norton wrote to the US senator in August, and the senators asked Google to turn its temporary work into a regular employee. Norton boasted that Google has recently raised TVC wages and benefits, but she pointed out that Google needs to be flexible in hiring employees in areas that lack specialization. She wrote: “Becoming a temporary worker is not Google’s employment path.”
Kiplovsky read that this is a clear sign of policy reversal. He said: “Google’s attitude in this matter is to shirk its responsibility as much as possible.” A Google spokesman said that the recruitment policy has not changed, adding that the company requires contracting companies to provide “comprehensive medical care” but will be relevant Kiplowski’s question points to Vaco, who has not responded.
Kiplowski decided to resign and was ready to email his colleagues who were temporary workers to share his views on the unfair treatment of TVC. He also made a small protest to the public: a few weeks before he left, he changed the email signature, no longer mentioning Google, but only the real employer Vaco. But he said: “I don’t think anyone will read it.”