07.05.08
Google: the dark side
Interesting article by Joe Nocera in the NY Times:
Two months ago, Google held a series of secret focus groups with employees who have children in Google’s day care facilities. The purpose was to gauge their reaction to the company’s plan to raise the amount it charged for in-house day care by 75 percent.
Parents who had been paying $1,425 a month for infant care would see their costs rise to nearly $2,500 — well above the market rate. For parents with toddlers and preschoolers, who were charged less, the price increases were equally eye-popping. Under the new plan, parents with two kids in Google day care would most likely see their annual day care bill grow to more than $57,000 from around $33,000.
At the first of the three focus groups, parents wept openly. As word leaked out about the company’s plan, the Google parents began to fight back. They came up with ideas to save money, used the company’s T.G.I.F. sessions — a weekly meeting for anyone who wanted to ask questions of Google’s top executives — to plead their case, and conducted surveys showing that most parents with children in Google day care would have to leave Google’s facilities and find less expensive child care.
Do you think you know how this story ends? You’re probably guessing that because it involves “do no evil” Google, Fortune magazine’s “Best Company to Work For” the past two years, this is a heart-warming tale of a good company reversing a dumb decision.
If only. Although Google is rolling back its price increase slightly and is phasing in the higher price over five quarters, the outline of the original decision remains largely unchanged. At a T.G.I.F. in June, the Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he had no sympathy for the parents, and that he was tired of “Googlers” who felt entitled to perks like “bottled water and M&Ms,” according to several people in the meeting. (A Google spokesman denies that Mr. Brin made that comment.) On Monday, Google began the first phase of its new day care plan, letting go of the outside day care firm it had been using.
pobept said,
7 July 2008 at 12:09 pm
Such a heart breaking story.
NOW go do your home work and find out just exactly what does it cost Google to operate this daycare center(s)!
Building cost, rent, lease, taxes, maintenance, labor, licenses, food, insurance, utility cost. What is the total cost to operate a daycare facility?
$57,000 a year sounds a bit high to me, but with the with the increase in the cost of everything in the past 5 years, this may not be all that much out of line to their actual operating cost.
No company should be expected to operate a daycare center at a monetary cost to the company.
LeisureGuy said,
7 July 2008 at 3:11 pm
The cost was in the story at the link—did you read it? (Speaking of doing your homework.
) After you read the story, you’ll find that your questions are all answered. Do you disagree that the article is interesting? I don’t quite get the point you’re trying to make.
One point you make on which you are likely to find disagreement: “No company should be expected to operate a daycare center at a monetary cost to the company.” There’s such a thing as the cost of doing business. You might as well say, “No company should be expected to offer health benefits at a monetary cost to the company.” Companies routinely pay for fringe benefits, which is a monetary cost to the company, contributing to health insurance, 401(k) plans, and even daycare. They don’t necessarily pay the total cost, and Google never did pay the total cost of the daycare.