be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds
of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500
of them were recruiters for Google.
By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC
however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In
fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Street's Q3
earnings expectations was by trimming "operational" expenses.
Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality
it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the
employees as temporary operational expenses or "workers". Google
co-founder Sergey Brin said, "There is no question that the number (of
workers) is too high".
The classification affords Google several advantages such as:
1) Hire full time employees without full time benefits. The
classification enables Google to pay them above minimum wage, provide
no health benefits, no insurance coverage, no stock options, and no
offer of permanent employment.
2) By under-reporting actual employee headcount, Google looks good to
Wall Street. A low headcount gives the illusion that productivity per
employee is more than it actually is, which in turn looks good in the
eyes of Google shareholders which is ultimately good for Google's
stock in the short term.
So, how does Google get around the SEC requirement regarding material
information? Google has hundreds of lawyers figuring out how not to
get caught. One of them is by moving workers from job to job every few
months so that their status remains temporary. That is why you
probably have never spoken to the same person twice at Google and that
is also why there is somebody new on the job and most times you know
more about their job than they do.
A bulk of the workers have been there for up to five years and many
know others who had been there for seven years or more moving from job
to job.
There is no question the economic downturn is hitting Google hard and
with the slowdown in online advertising, their troubles are just
beginning.
via :http://www.webguild.org/2008/11/google-layoffs-10000-workers-affected.php
