Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:25
ShareBar

Abstract

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; Talent Management; Silicon Valley; Google; Employee Attitude; Employee Compensation; Employee Engagement; Future Of Work; Innovation; Innovation And Strategy; Inequality; Talent Acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Employees; Attitudes; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Equality and Inequality; 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 December 2019.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

William R. Kerr

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • October 2019
    • Faculty Research

    Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

    By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
    • September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
    • Faculty Research

    Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

    By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
Related Work
  • Google: To TVC or Not to TVC? By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
  • Google: To TVC or Not to TVC? By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.