Google and Retention
by Miki Saxon
Next Monday’s Oldie is about what to look for when choosing a place to work, with a special caution for unicorns.
Today I thought we’d take a quick look at a “great place to work” myth.
Google topped the best places to work lists for years, but no more.
According to the 2019 Glassdoor survey Google is in 8th place based on 9186 reviews.
Last year 20,000 people walked out in protest over the handling of sexual harassment accusations and Google promised to do better.
But almost a year after the historic walkout, a dozen current and former Google employees told Recode that many employees are still justifiably afraid to report workplace issues because they fear retaliation. They say the company continues to conceal rather than confront issues ranging from sexual harassment to security concerns, especially when the problems involve high-ranking managers or high-stakes projects. …dozens more employees say that when they filed complaints with Google’s human resources department, they were retaliated against by being demoted, pushed out, or placed on less desirable projects.
… Google’s top-down culture that suppresses meaningful employee pushback — even in areas the company says it’s trying to improve on, like diversity.
To really find out about a company you need to do the same depth of due diligence on it that the company does on you.
That requires more than reading employee reviews; it means searching traditional media as well as proven new media.
And checking out who left and why.
Most of all it means making the time to just do it.
Image credit: Ben Nuttall
