In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000 person global workforce, had raised concerns of mistreatment, citing instances of pay inequity, social exclusion, and physical endangerment.
“Flexible” workers, such as TVCs, were often seen as a key cog for Silicon Valley’s IT companies: they made workforces scalable, they helped firms get access to specialized knowledge for temporary projects, and they boosted innovation by creating “knowledge spillovers” between firms. But, at the same time, many onlookers worried that flexible work arrangements were aggravating social inequality and making more jobs precarious.
Google employees, major media outlets, and politicians demanded that the company change its policies on TVCs. One suggestion was that Google convert all of its TVCs to full-time status by early 2020. As tensions reportedly escalated between Google’s workforce and its management team, some began to wonder if Google was still an employer of choice.
Keywords: workforce; independent contractors; labor; talent management; Silicon Valley; google; employee attitude; Employee compensation; employee engagement; future of work; innovation; Innovation and Management; innovation and strategy; inequality; talent acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Technological Innovation; Employees; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco;
Citation:
Kerr, William R., and Carl Kreitzberg. "Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?" Harvard Business School Case 820-048, September 2019. (Revised October 2019.) View Details