11/08/2006

Google will close its kitchen and fire chefs


The Vallywag has a post about a leaked Google memo about their famed minikitchens: Leaked e-mail: Googleplex adds chefs to microkitchens, becomes even more of a Shangri-la

It makes an interesting reading and gives you a glimpse in to the kinds of problems faced by senior management at Google! Now here is my prediction for all those Google employees feasting on the gourmet food and savoring the food made by star chefs, 10 years down the line when Google hits a bump like General Motors or Ford, the first thing to go will be the chefs and the kitchen.

In good times management thinks that these kind of perks set themselves apart. It attracts talent, it attracts the PR buzz. All these indirect costs add up and when the downturn comes, all these and more of the fun and games just disappear.

Especially for Google whose main business of selling ads, is extremely cyclical, when the downturn comes it will hit them hard,really hard. So if you are a Googlite, enjoy the party while it lasts. If you are a Google shareholder, watch out. When companies are in news for such frivolous thing and boast about it( which Google has a habit of), they might be ignoring major issues down the road.

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