When Google came about, it brought a whole new work culture along with it. One of the most well known features of working in Google is TGIF, it’s weekly all hands meeting. That however, will now be a thing of the past.
A company-wide email from Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealing plans to drop TGIF was leaked last Friday and Google has now come out and addressed it. Confirming the leaks to CNBC, TGIF will be replaced by monthly gatherings designed solely for the purpose of discussing business strategies, while a separate town hall would be held for “workplace issues.”
The concept of TGIF was actually started by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin back in 1999 as a platform for employees to express concerns and discuss issues/topics with management both openly and freely. Of course, back then, Google could fit it’s entire workforce in a meeting room. Regardless, TGIF stuck around for years in spite of the growth of the company.
These days however, things seem to be changing at Google. For one, both Page and Brin have stopped attending the meetings on a regular basis. On top of that, the company recently changed the meetings from weekly to biweekly. Do you guys see a pattern here?
Google’s often lauded open work culture, which became ingrained as part of the its identity has been causing the company all sorts of problems of late. Employees are increasingly voicing their concerns about all sorts of issues ranging from the handling of sexual harassment to Google taking up government contracts. In fact, Google actually banned political discussions from internal messaging forums last summer and just last month, Pichai was caught in a leaked video saying that the company was “genuinely struggling” with employee trust.
The company’s crack down on the very identity that earned it plaudits is becoming all too obvious as it struggles to handle it’s employees. Recently, employees have been leaking meeting notes to the media, increasing the tension between Google executives and workers.
Of course, part of the reason for the abolishment of TGIF is the leaks, but it all just seems like a rather convenient excuse for Google to avoid dealing with complaints about company culture, giving it a better control its own narrative.
