DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Google is nixing the thumbs-down reaction from an internal forum after employee spats over Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google said the changes are in response to employee feedback, but some staffers are upset. The changes, which Google confirmed to The New York Times, include removing the option to thumbs-down a post. AdvertisementThe Times also reviewed an internal Google memo in which moderators said they thought collective thumbs-down votes were a "bullying tactic." In 2021, more than 250 Google employees called on the company to terminate contracts with Israel after IDF forces carried out strikes in Gaza. Shortly after, over a hundred Google employees gathered to protest Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with Israel.

Persons: —, Memegen, Israel Organizations: Google, Service, The New York Times, Times, Business, IDF, Israel Locations: Israel, Gaza, Israeli, Palestine, New York City

☆ Google to Tone Down Message Board After Employees Feud Over War in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nearly 14 years, an online message board called Memegen has served as a virtual water cooler for Google employees. But Google executives, after watching employees snipe about the war in Gaza in recent months, are making big changes to turn down the temperature on their company’s beloved message board, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. One of the most significant tweaks to Memegen will be the removal of a virtual thumbs-down. Well-liked memes rise to the top of Memegen based on those votes. Another change will be the removal of metrics that allow people to see how popular other employees’ memes have become.

Persons: Memegen Organizations: Google, The New York Times Locations: Gaza

☆ I worked at Google for 7 years and watched the open culture die. The company is doomed to repeat unnecessary embarrassment if they don't fix it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( David Kiferbaum | Big Technology | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He observed the fall of Google's open culture and its impact on Google's product. His controversial memo questioning Google's diversity practices noted that "Google's political bias has equated the freedom from offense with psychological safety, but shaming into silence is the antithesis of psychological safety." Rather than reaffirm Google's culture of open questioning and psychological safety by actively challenging Damore's assertions, leadership fired Damore and ended the discussion. Google leadership did further damage to the company's open culture following employee protests of military contracts and executives' alleged sexual harassment. AdvertisementThe closing of Google's open culture harmed the product.

Persons: David Kiferbaum, —, Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, James Damore, Damore, Sundar, TGIF, what's Organizations: Google, Big Technology, Service, CNN

☆ Google staff sound off about 'corporate overlords,' impersonal layoffs, and a changing company culture, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewIt's just days since Google employees were hit by another round of layoffs. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. However, CEO Sundar Pichai has yet to address the new round of layoffs internally, a report by The Verge's Command Line said. The poorly explained job cuts have left some employees disgruntled and lashing out against management. The popular post, which referenced Google's last round of job cuts, read: "Thank you, our corporate overlords, for our new annual tradition."

Persons: —, Sundar Pichai, we've Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Verge's, Amazon

☆ Google employees typically work more than eight hours a day: Internal memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

When a Google employee asked the company if he could organize his work schedule to work fewer hours on more days, a human resources representative responded saying the average Google employee works more than a normal 9-to-5 work day — seeming to refute earlier reports that Googlers have light workloads. The memo also said the company allows employees to apply for schedules that are 60% or 80% of full-time. The HR representative's confirmation that employees typically work long hours made some workers eager to share that information with their friends and relatives, according to internal message boards. Those one-hour workday reports went viral — including with Google employees' friends and family. Google employees have received public backlash due to recruiting tactics such as wide-ranging corporate perks, which were largely used by tech companies to acquire talent during the last two decades.

Persons: Googlers, Courtenay Mencini, Mencini Organizations: CNBC, Google

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Google's WFH crackdown, mass layoffs are creating new founders, and Jack Dorsey's Apple Vision Pro worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tech layoffs are fueling an influx of new founders building climate, health, and fintech startups. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he liked to test AI using a poetry prompt to see if it had the "subtlety" to translate "deep meaning." Twilio's Joyce Kim said "predictive AI is going to be a core part of every tool that they use." The European parliament has voted to take steps to regulate AI technology such as ChatGPT, with its parliament backing a ban on the technology for biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, and predictive policing. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the most common mistake he sees young people make is overplanning.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, it's, let's, Sundar Pichai, Google's, hasn't, Simplyblock, Michael Schmidt, Robert Pankow, Jack Dorsey's, Satya Nadella, Uber, Twilio's Joyce Kim, Dara Khosrowshahi, Leigh Vogel, Elon, Kairan, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Google, Jack Dorsey's Apple, Microsoft, Summit, Getty, SpaceX, LinkedIn Locations: London, Google's, Simplyblock, Europe, New York City

☆ Google's crackdown on remote work is frustrating some employees: 'We don't like being micromanaged like school kids'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google has told staff they must show up in the office at least three days a week. Google employees are having strong reactions to the company's biggest push yet to bring staff back to the office. The news has not gone over well with staff, according to discussions with several current employees and internal materials viewed by Insider. Google insiderGoogle has told staff that their work badges will be tracked, but the company told Insider it will only be used to identify consistent absences over multiple weeks. "Currently, New York City workers do not even have enough desks and conference rooms for workers to use comfortably," said Chris Schmidt with the Alphabet Workers Union.

Persons: Ryan Lamont, we're, Memegen, Fiona Cicconi, Chris Schmidt Organizations: Google, Google's, Alphabet Workers, Alphabet Workers Union Locations: New York City

☆ Google's return-to-office crackdown gets backlash from some employees: 'Check my work, not my badge'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Last week, Google updated its hybrid three-day-a-week office policy to include badge tracking and noted attendance will be included in performance reviews. Additionally, employees who already received approval for remote work may now have that status reevaluated. Prior to the pandemic, Google was known for its vibrant campus life, replete with massage parlors, yoga classes, video games and free gourmet meals. But life changed, as did priorities, during the pandemic, when offices were closed and employees were forced to work from home. Staffers moved to different cities and got used to more flexibility and family time while taking advantage of Google's flexible remote work options.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, There's, Fiona Cicconi, Ryan Lamont, hasn't, Leonard Hofstadter, You've Organizations: Google, Shoreline, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Mountain View , California

☆ Googlers are poking fun at the company's I/O conference with memes about expensive phones, layoffs, and a new mascot named 'Lip Duck'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google held its annual I/O conference last week, and employees are celebrating and lampooning the event via the time-honored tradition of memes. Google announced a series of updates to Bard at the event, including integrations with Google products and the ability to analyze images. Anonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceOf course, Google focused this year's I/O almost entirely on new generative AI products. Anonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceWe also regret to inform you that Google has a new mascot. Anonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceAnonymous Google sourceOf course, it wasn't all snark.

☆ Google employees reportedly joked about playing drinking games and made up a song to the tune of 'Old MacDonald' to mock how many times execs said AI at I/O developer conference
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google employees are reportedly happy with products revealed at the company's annual development conference, but are still making jokes. CNBC cited messages and memes from internal communications mocking how often AI was mentioned. Some employees said they should take a shot every time AI was mentioned by a Google executive. The internal messaging site is often used by Google employees to make jokes at the expense of the company and executives including CEO Sundar Pichai. Last month, Insider reported that a group of executives including Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg said "AI" at least 168 times on their recent first quarter earnings calls.

☆ Google staffers praise engineers for I/O, poke fun at execs because they 'just kept saying A.I.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google employees were paying close attention to the company's annual developer conference this week as well as to Wall Street's overwhelmingly positive reaction. When in it came to doling out credit for the 4.3% stock pop that followed Google I/O, many staffers favored the company's engineers over its executives, according to internal conversations viewed by CNBC. On Google's internal site, Memegen, the most popular meme that came from the event showed side-by-side images of parent company Alphabet's stock price. The slide, which has received thousands of "up-votes," said on the left, "Execs cost cutting and buying back stock," over a chart with the stock price going down. On the right, a chart appeared with the stock going up below the words, "Eng[ineers] getting stuff done."

☆ Google CEO defends desk-sharing policy, says some offices are like a 'ghost town'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended the cloud unit's new desk-sharing policy for employees, describing some of the company's offices as practically empty and reminding staffers that real estate is pricey. Pichai's comments follow a CNBC report last month about Google's plan to ask cloud employees and partners to share desks at the division's five largest locations, which include New York and San Francisco. The company is calling the downsizing effort Cloud Office Evolution (CLOE). Pichai said the new policy is just for cloud employees at the moment, and added that the company is "giving teams freedom to experiment." During the meeting, Pichai addressed employee concerns regarding the rollout of the desk-sharing policy and how it was communicated to the workforce.

☆ Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google is asking cloud employees and partners to share their desks and alternate days with their desk mates starting next quarter, citing "real estate efficiency," CNBC has learned. Google also used its internal data it has on it its employee office return patterns to inform the decision, the FAQ stated. In addition to slower office return patterns, the company has slowed hiring and laid off 11,000 employees in January. A Google spokesperson explained, "Since returning to the office, we've run pilots and conducted surveys with Cloud employees to explore different hybrid work models and help shape the best experience. In the fourth quarter, Google Cloud brought in $7.32 billion, growing 32% from the prior year, considerably faster than the company's overall growth rate of less than 10%.

☆ Ex-Google employee says the 'once-great company has slowly ceased to function' because of 4 core cultural problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ex-Googler Praveen Seshadri wrote on Medium that employees are "trapped in a maze" of bureaucracy. Seshadri said Google's issues boil down to four "core cultural problems." Even small product changes go through the rigor of a "NASA space launch," he wrote, calling out what he said were fundamental issues within the company, and declaring that "a once-great company has slowly ceased to function." He enumerated the company's "four core cultural problems" as being "no mission, no urgency, delusions of exceptionalism, mismanagement." Seshadri also critiqued Google employees in his post, calling MemeGen "a wallow chamber," and said that griping on it "doesn't help anything."

☆ Google employees slam CEO Sundar Pichai for ‘rushed’ Bard announcement
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google employees are criticizing leadership, most notably CEO Sundar Pichai, for the way the company handled the announcement this week of its ChatGPT competitor called Bard. Staffers took to the popular internal forum Memegen to express their thoughts on the Bard announcement, referring to it as "rushed," "botched" and "un-Googley," according to messages and memes viewed by CNBC. On Monday, Google got ahead of a Microsoft event the following day and had Pichai publicly divulge some details of the company's chatbot technology. During Google's Wednesday event, search boss Prabhakar Raghavan briefly shared some slides with examples of Bard’s capabilities. While Google employees often turn to Memegen to humorously poke fun at the company's quirks and missteps, the posts after the Bard announcement struck a more serious tone and even went directly after Pichai.

☆ Google employees are internally mocking the company's Bard AI chatbot announcement, calling it 'rushed' and 'botched' in series of memes, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google unveiled its ChatGPT competitor, Bard, in a brief presentation earlier this week. The brevity of the presentation and the fact that Bard gave at least one incorrect answer led to criticism of the event. Internally, Google employees are making jokes about the event and CEO Sundar Pichai, according to CNBC. "Dear Sundar, the Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic," one popular meme that included a picture of Pichai read, according to CNBC. Google did not immediately return Insider's request for comment about the internal response to Bard.

☆ UK Google employees may not know if they're being laid off until April, according to internal memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

UK-based Google employees may not know if their jobs are at risk until "early April." "I know many of you will be feeling anxious," Google's UK chief told staff in a memo this week. UK Google employees affected by the company's recent layoffs may not be notified that their jobs are in danger until April, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday. Matt Brittin, Google's executive overseeing Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, told UK employees that those whose roles were provisionally targeted for redundancy would know "by early April." "I know many of you will be feeling anxious," Brittin told employees in the memo.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google announced layoffs of a total of 40,000 employees this week. Tech companies embarked on a massive hiring spree as the Covid-era made their products the backbone of the world's remote-working offices. The era of tech companies spending like rock stars is overOver the last decade Big Tech companies spent money "like 1980's rock stars," wrote Dan Ives, managing director at the investment firm Wedbush . On the other end, tech companies may look much different this decade as they did in the last. As companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft cut costs, they'll find ways to operate leaner, and their stock prices will stabilize.

☆ A document circulated by Googlers explains the 'hidden force' that has caused the company to become slow and bureaucratic: slime mold
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An internal Google document laid out a theory for why the company has become so slow. Komoroske compared Google's bottom-up organizational structure to a slime mold: single-cell organisms that can work independently but also form together to create a larger network. "Google is basically a slime mold," wrote Komoroske, placing Google on a sliding scale from top-down to bottom-up structures. The last update on the internal document was made in 2019. "I believe they are not specific to any one context, but rather emerge inherently any time there are individuals with autonomy who care deeply," wrote Komoroske.

☆ Googlers make memes to express anxiety as tech companies including Amazon, Meta, and Twitter lay off thousands
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Rosalie Chan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Googlers are creating and sharing memes to express their anxiety about industry layoffs. Sources say they have not heard of planned layoffs at Google, but many employees are still nervous. Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have cut thousands of jobs lately. Across the tech industry, companies including Amazon, Meta, and Twitter are laying off thousands. Meta laid off 11,000 employees, while Twitter laid off more than 3,000 full-time employees, along with many contract workers.

Search resuls for: "Memegen"

20 mentions found