According to The Verge, Google is going to require that its extended, non-employee workforce receive better benefits.
The Verge says that Google’s non-employees, which include temporary staff, vendors and contract workers, are not offered the same benefits as the company’s full time employees. The lack of benefit offerings sparked a protest and letter signed by more than 900 employees to support temporary workers. Google’s extended workforce makes up about half of its workers, or about 20,000 full-time and temporary vendors and contractors, The Verge says.
Past coverage of this issue by Medium, reports that Google workers also asked the tech company for more transparency, accountability and structural change to promote equity for all employees. This issue was elevated after the April 2018 shooting at YouTube, after which Google “sent real-time security updates to full-time employees only, leaving [temporary vendors and contractors] defenseless in the line of fire:” “We want access to town hall discussions; all communications about safety, discrimination, and sexual misconduct; and a reinstatement of our access to internal forums like Google Groups. This must also include career growth, classes, and counseling opportunities like those offered to full-time workers,” according to the letter, republished by Medium.
The letter was also partly sparked by the walkout led by Google’s temporary workforce in order to protest “discrimination, racism, sexual harassment and a workplace culture that only works for some.” These issues, tied in with Google’s lack of offered benefits to these employees, led to a demand for change and better treatment of workers.
As a result, Google is boosting benefit offers for those workers, including:
- Health care benefits, with mental health, pediatric, oral and dental services included
- Minimum of eight paid days of sick leave
- Minimum pay of $15 an hour
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave
- Up to $5,000 per year in tuition reimbursement
The Verge says that the wage requirements will take affect at the end of 2019, and health care requirements will be made available before 2022.
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