There is a sh*tstorm happening in the world of Contingent Labour at the moment. Google (USA) is facing mounting pressure from their TVC workforce (Temp, Vendor, Contractor), Congress and several Presidential hopefuls to convert their enormous Contingent Workforce to permanent. Here is what we know: Google hires 121,000 TVCs and 102,000 full-time employees (as at…
There is a sh*tstorm happening in the world of Contingent Labour at the moment. Google (USA) is facing mounting pressure from their TVC workforce (Temp, Vendor, Contractor), Congress and several Presidential hopefuls to convert their enormous Contingent Workforce to permanent.
Here is what we know:
So how did it make its way to Congress and possibly to next President of the United States?
Several Senators (including three Presidential hopefuls) joined forces and wrote this intense letter pressuring Google CEO, Sundar Pichai to make the following changes:
The Senators also noted Google’s current value of $100 billion and the CEO’s personal compensation $400 million in 2018 and saw it as a responsibility for Google to help grow the Middle Class.
They are also rightly concerned about abuses of independent contractors and temporary workers including inappropriate advances. But what is the Senate doing to protect workers? If you are a freelancer or Contract worker in the US, you have fewer legal rights compared to employees as workplace civil rights laws do not apply to them.
It really appears they have done all they can to become the enemy of just about everybody. Yet, did they just get away with what US law allows them to? Their Company Values include “You can make money without doing evil” which may have been updated more recently to “Do the right thing; don’t be evil”.
If the reports are all true and you look at just how far they have pushed things, then I can’t see where their decision making holds up against their values.
For the 34 TVC’s that were laid off, it is reported that “During the process, our managers and the full-time workers on our team were silent. Google told them that offering support or even thanking us for years of work would make the company legally liable. Our teammates were told to distance themselves from us at the moment when we were most in need – just so that Google could avoid legal responsibility.”
I have no idea. There’s plenty of reports about TVP conditions but they aren’t employees. Many of them are employed through outside firms like Adecco and Cognizant.
I googled (I know…!) and found this job ad so presumably it is managed in-house.
Currently there is some collective agitation going on which could possibly result in the creation of a Union. Kickstarter staff recently announced their plans to unionise (although Kickstarter’s CEO said they would not voluntarily recognise the Union). If successful, they will be the first major tech company with union representation in the US.
Back to Google. I read a tweet that said “it means continuing to place equity concerns at the centre of organising, and including TVCs at the helm of decision-making — the company (and “the future of work”) is moving in a direction where soon everyone but upper management will be a TVC.”
If a successful Contingent Workforce is one that is quality, repeatable, predictable and legally compliant, well…didn’t Google achieve that? Therefore, what else do we need to take into account?
The Contingent Workforce is steadily growing here in Australia, how prepared are we in dealing with similar and emerging issues?
It is said that “the fire that burns others, warms us”. At the upcoming Contingent Workforce event, we will be sharing more on the ongoing Google story, as well as some real-life Contingent cautionary tales from some of Australia’s biggest brands. Sign up for more information and updates on the event here.
Cover image: Shutterstock
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