[bko]

I think that's correct. I have a theory about bullshit jobs in highly regulated or profitable industries. Places like Google have a ton of employees that don't contribute anything but make work projects. Why don't they just cut the workforce in half? Because their profit margin would be too high. It's already 25% with all the bloat. Imagine if their profit margin shot up to 50%? They would likely be dragged in front of Congress to explain themselves. It's even more true for banks (who i would argue have even more bullshit jobs where people literally do nothing)

You could think this is good as it supports people but I think it's kind of sad thousands of people get up and go to work every day with no impact on anything,just waste away at a desk. This doesn't even mention the economic waste

[bushbaba]

Bullshit jobs are encouraged for management to grow their org into a promotion. These companies are growing so nobody really questions the bloat as making the wrong move might impact future growth (or cause your action to be blamed for growth miss).

[hnfong]

Bullshit jobs are created for many reasons, I think you and GP are both right.

GP's point may not be obvious on the surface, but another way to look at it is, if for example the economy cools down and GOOG is pressured to maintain its profits, you can bet that management will decide to lay off even more people. In this sense it is just behaving as if it earns as much money as "expected" (by shareholders or the public, doesn't matter).

[inglor_cz]

I think the other HNer is closer to the truth: in a bureaucratic organization, the more people you manage, the more important you are.

So, basically, result of a status competition that comes from misalignment between the interests of the company and the interests of individual managers.

[prepend]

I’ve wondered this too. I don’t think it’s conscious so much as it’s unclear exactly what jobs are bullshit. So when profits are high, there’s more leeway to allow jobs that you’re not quite sure.

But when times are tough you start making riskier jobs because you just don’t have the funds to support bullshit jobs.

[danudey]

I'm in my 40s now, and would be pretty content to get up and remote to work every day with no impact on anything. Let me save that energy up for my family instead.