RSSGoogle Tells CNBC Food Not Being Cut
By Reshma Kumar at August 26, 2008 8 Comments
Google’s cutbacks on its free food made it to the homepage of CNBC and was the fodder for a lengthy discussion amongst the CNBC anchors. Clearly, this was big news. In fact, it was such big news that Google was forced to do damage control and told CNBC’s Jim Goldman that it was not true. And the saga continues. The free food has long been a part of Google’s recruiting strategy, although, it is losing its novelty and is not sustainable in the long-term.
Many Google employees told us they would gladly give up the free food and be paid on par with employees at other Bay Area companies. “We are working for food not money“, said an employee who did not want to be identified for fear of losing their job. “They work at Google for less money…this is like indentured laborers in the farm…”, said CNBC’s Dennis Kneale.
Why the cut in food? On July 17th, Google shares were down by as much as 12% as their earnings growth reported was below analysts’ expectations. The company might not be as immune as previously suggested to the economic downturn that other companies have been experiencing. If it did not incur the food cost, it could have reduced its operational expenses.
To cut costs, the company was rumored to be testing out a new menu. The new menu is leaner and includes a quarter of a raw onion, lemon, and pita bread. “The food has been in decline since Charlie Ayers walked out the door.” said CNBC’s Jim Goldman. But apparently, this plan has been put on hold until the smoke clears. Google is in a no-win situation. It has to make up for the revenue shortfall due to the bad economy and appease shareholders not happy with having to pick up the tab for gourmet meals. However, if they cut the food costs, they will have to start paying employees market wages or they will leave. If employees walk out, it will eventually hurt the company. However, if Google starts paying market wages, it will take a big hit to its operational costs.
8 Comments
[...] Original post by Reshma Kumar [...]
This is so off. Google pays at market or more especially since they stop giving stock options out a couple years ago. Their perks are never included in the equation of a compensation package. Seriously do some fact checking. It’s not hard.
Also Valleywag’s story was wrong.
http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-google-dinner-story-wrong.html
@ brendan - what are you smoking? google pays waaaaaaaaay below market - everybody knows that. maybe a few dudes are making market. do you know the average salary range for people in adwords and adsense? try $30,000 - $40,000. try living on that in the bay area. you do some fact checking. it’s not hard.
do you mean me? way below market compared to what? what’s the comparable job in the bay area for people in adwords and adsense? if you take engineering salaries, it is at market or better compared with others. marketing professionals, corporate development, etc. these are the jobs i was referring too. not early/entry level jobs.
Google Engineer salaries are between: $61-150k and average is $96k. The average in the bay area is $110k.
@ brendan - guess your wife who works at google does not need a raise since you think googlers get paid so much
Microsoft pay ranges in silicon valley. About 20% more than Google.
* Program Manager: $86,000
* Tester: $95,000
* Developer: $110,000
* Developer: $117,000
* Technical Writer: $129,000
first, i assume “h the prisoner” and “luther” are the same prisoner since you keep addressing me as “brendan.” maybe from webguild?
@miller hahaha… $61K-$150K is a big range. to do an accurate comparison, you have to take into account the specific position and the individual’s experience.
@lionel i expected microsoft to pay 30% more than google for an engineer to work there:)
@luther yes, my wife is doing fine. she actually took a paycut of $100K+ when joining google since she came from i-banking.