Google executives reportedly faced a barrage of tough questions about compensation at a recent town hall meeting, while a separate controversy over the removal of bidets from corporate restrooms is roiling the tech giant’s workforce.
At a virtual all-hands meeting earlier this month, CEO Sundar Pichai and other execs faced multiple angry questions about dissatisfaction over pay, according to a CNBC report on Thursday.
It comes after Google announced last summer that it would be reducing pay packages for employees who opt to work remotely on a permanent basis, to adjust their compensation in line with the local market where they live.
Meanwhile, employees who do plan to return to the office next month are furious that luxurious heated bidets are being removed from the restrooms of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, according to Protocol.
Reached by DailyMail.com, a Google spokesperson declined address the bidet issue, but said: ‘We know that our employees have many choices about where they work, so we work to ensure that they are very well compensated.’
At a virtual all-hands meeting earlier this month, CEO Sundar Pichai and other execs faced multiple angry questions about dissatisfaction over pay
Other employees are angry that Google is removing bidets, like the one seen above, from its offices in California, in an apparent move to conserve water
Apparently, the subject of the bidets has dominated an internal Google employee message board where employees post memes.
One meme reviewed by Protocol read: ‘The removal of bidets in the office is my #2 issue with RTO (return to office).’
‘I was reading the memes and found out they removed the bidets from the California offices?!’ wrote one Google employee on Twitter. ‘I’m upset.’
For years, the high-tech Toto-brand bidets and heated toilet seats have been one of the cherished perks of working for Google.
The bidets are being removed first from Bay Area offices, with the rest of California to follow, and employees speculated that the move had something to do with building regulations in the state.
Google facilities professional Edgar Tovar reportedly responded to internal concerns about the removal of bidets by explaining that the step is in line with Google’s environmental goals.
For years, visitors to Google’s offices have marveled at the high-tech bidets in the bathrooms
‘The bidet seat removal has the added benefit of supporting Google’s water sustainability commitments,’ Tovar wrote. ‘Many of our buildings are migrating to recycled water systems which cannot support bidets.’
Google has asked employees to begin returning to its US offices on the week of April 4, but has put a plan in place to allow up to 20 percent of the workforce to remain remote on a permanent basis.
Separately, at the virtual town hall meeting earlier this month, several of the top questions posed by employees related to compensation.
Referring to a recent employee survey that found satisfaction with compensation at just 46 percent, one top-voted question asked: ‘Compensation-related questions showed the biggest decrease from last year, what is your understanding of why that is?’
According to CNBC, Google’s vice president of ‘Total Rewards,’ Bret Hill, responded by saying: ‘There’s some macro economic trends at play’.
Staff are furious that luxurious heated bidets are being removed from the restrooms of Google’s headquarters (above) in Mountain View, California
‘It’s a very competitive market and you’re probably hearing anecdotal stories of colleagues getting better offers at other companies,’ he added.
Hill said people are ‘feeling the effects of inflation in their own lives’ and are ‘dealing with location changes and the effects there,’ referring to the pay cuts for some remote workers.
A Google spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Friday that the company places a priority on ensuring employees are ‘very well compensated’.
‘That’s why we’ve always provided top of market compensation across salary, equity, leave, and a suite of benefits,’ the spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Getting employee feedback is important and we’ll continue to ensure we pay competitively everywhere our employees work and help them grow their careers at Google.”