UPI reports ( https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/08/23/5291566589999/ ) that Google has published and communicated to employees on Thursday new guidelines regarding communication by employees. The new policy, oddly available to the public at https://about.google/community-guidelines/ , is described as official and applying to employees while in the workplace.
Prominently mentioned are political discussions:
While sharing information and ideas with colleagues helps build community, disrupting the workday to have a raging debate over politics or the latest news story does not. Our primary responsibility is to do the work we've each been hired to do, not to spend working time on debates about non-work topics. Avoid conversations that are disruptive to the workplace or otherwise violate Google's workplace policies. Managers are expected to address discussions that violate those rules.
As well as internal matters:
Do not access, disclose, or disseminate Need-to-Know or Confidential information in violation of our Data Security Policy. You are responsible for adhering to these guidelines, our Code of Conduct, and other workplace policies. If discussions or behavior don't align with this policy, managers and discussion owners/moderators are expected to intervene. If necessary we will remove particular discussion forums, revoke commenting, viewing, or posting privileges, or take disciplinary action.
Is the party dying down a bit?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rupert Pupnick on Tuesday August 27 2019, @01:41PM (5 children)
What's the new policy on Nerf Guns?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:50PM (4 children)
That was certainly the end of the fun at my last big company.
Management booted the Infrastructure head because he gave them a realistic cost to keep self-hosting. They hired a "pickup artist" from the other coast as a replacement, and he brought it all his sycophants. All of whom did not fit the company culture, make the place miserable, and the Nerf Guns were largely gone in six months.
Just like the company cutting back on perks like snacks, it's a sign the culture is turning bad. They took away any nuts but left all the sugar. And we got a holiday gift of "we made a donation to something" instead of Swell bottles. Lucky us.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by richtopia on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:51PM (3 children)
I forget who, but a Soylent previously stated the mantra: "if the free coffee goes so should you"
The context originally was the financial health of the company (if the penny pinchers think cutting coffee will save the company, they are disillusioned). I suspect this article's context is more relevant for more workplaces: if the company is cracking down on leisure time facilities, this is not a culture I want to work in.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Tuesday August 27 2019, @05:15PM (2 children)
That's right. Don't wait for them to take away the toilet paper.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 27 2019, @05:27PM
Unless they replace the toilets with bidets.
(Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Tuesday August 27 2019, @05:35PM
That's not even a joke in my country for the people working for the justice system. They actually had the problem of a shortage of toilet paper [knack.be] due to budget cuts.
It's in Dutch but I'm sure you can throw it at some translator like deepl.com.