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by el-dude-arino 904 days ago
They're not google employees in name only. They work on google equipment, have google badges, and go into google offices. If google doesn't like them, they're fired. Google controls every aspect of their work. These employees aren't allowed to seek other customers either.

This is a purely a scheme by google to get away from having to hire full time employees but abusing the contractor system that was meant for actual consulting, not employees-for-rent.

2 comments

> They're not google employees in name only. They work on google equipment, have google badges, and go into google offices. If google doesn't like them, they're fired. Google controls every aspect of their work. These employees aren't allowed to seek other customers either.

All of these classifications are required for a contracting position to exist. Access control mechanisms existing isn't a good argument. And another commentor[0] actually pointed out that they go to a non-Google facility.

> These employees aren't allowed to seek other customers either.

Presumably they can indeed seek other customers. If Cognizant doesn't let them, I don't see how that's on Google unless Google's agreement with them prohibits shuffling workers (most likely Google requires they give them some advanced notice, but it's still on Cognizant if they just don't allow the contractors to withdraw from said position or threaten the contractor with loss of any work if they try to withdraw from Google).

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38874465

If you work in an office building, I'm sure that your company hires a contractor to do janitorial work. Or maybe it's the building itself that hires a contractor to clean all the floors. But at the end of the day a worker is still going into your office doing some piece of work but they're not employees of your company.

Abusing the contractors employment is a very specific claim, employers are not supposed to use contractors for the same work that full-time employees perform. It's not about in the same badges or working in the same offices or working on the same equipment, it's about the work that they are performing.

It's not abusing contracting systems if a company is using contractors for a specific class of work like answering customer service tickets or data ingest. If you've got details on how Google is using contractors for the same work as full-time employees, it'd be really good to share.

Yeah because a janitor working at google is doing the exact same work as an engineer working at google.

C'mon Count Chocula, come back to reality.

Again, if you have details on how Google is using contractors for the same functions as full time employees I'd be glad to read it.

But all the examples I've heard were for roles significantly distinct from Google's full time employees. I've read stories of Google contractors answering help center calls, and scanning books. I have not seen examples of Google contractors working on Google Ads in the same function as full time engineers.

Again, I'd be glad to read up on any details of this happening that you're willing to share. But until then, the presumption is that Google isn't abusing contract work