https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/09/tech-contractors-coronavirus/
With the spread of the Coronavirus in the Bay Area, many of the big tech companies, like Facebook and Google are starting to tell their employees to work from home to avoid spreading germs at the workplace. The only problem is that these contingency plans are a little unclear with who they apply to. There are two types of workers in these big companies: the full time employees and contractors. Contractors are hired from third party companies, so even though these people work for companies like Google, they still technically work for the third party company too. Because of this, there is a lot of confusion on whether the plans to work from home or stay home if sick apply to them. This is a problem because some of the contractor companies don't have the same benefits for paid sick leave as Google does. Additionally, this "stay home plan" doesn't work for all the contractors because, according to an interviewed contractor, some cannot access their Google email account remotely so they are not able to work from home. Many hope that this can be used as an opportunity to shed light on the health benefits and force the companies to review their plans to not make sick leave such a burden on the contractor.
Questions:
1. Do you think companies (and schools) are overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak by having people stay home, or are they doing the right thing?
2. How can big companies like Google ensure more equality between their full time employees and contractors?
3. Who do you think should have authority over the contractors, the big tech companies or the third party company?
I don’t think that companies, schools, or the general public is overreacting to the COVID-19 outbreak by having people stay at home to prevent the further spread of the virus. While the logistics may be complicated and some may be confused about what they are supposed to do regarding work, limiting gatherings of people and practicing social distancing is good for society as whole in its attempt to limit the number of COVID-19 infections. Although the virus isn’t all that lethal for the average person, those who are older in our society and those with preexisting medical conditions are at an increased risk of death, so trying to limit the spread of the virus is very important especially given the limited amount of hospital space. I think that Google and other tech companies should try to make more of an effort to inform contractors and provide them with better health benefits, but the reason Google hires contractors is partly because they don’t have to offer all these health benefits that employees receive which is advantageous for profits.
ReplyDelete1. I don't believe it's an overreaction; in fact, it's a great way to protect profits, especially for heavily digital companies like Google. Whoever preserves their employees as useful assets when everyone else isn't gains an advantage. Regardless if it's the right thing, the cost of finding replacement employees is far greater than allowing for telecommuting.
ReplyDelete2. This is the sort of question I don't like answering because it makes me sound soulless. Offering the same benefits like food, health insurance, and so on would be nice, but I don't think the full-time employees would appreciate everyone else getting the same nice stuff they do. Specifically based on your summary, fixing the email accounts seems like a fix, at least for this crisis; telecommuting is the safest thing for people to do, and being a contractor doesn't make one immune to coronavirus.
3. The third-party company who is contracting the contractors out. That's what their business is based on. Ceding authority to Google renders the contractors nothing more than glorified headhunters, and Google already has its slimy tentacles everywhere to the point where I don't think they need extra help.
I believe organizations are doing the right thing by having people stay at home to minimize the spread of droplets that could carry the coronavirus. This disease is dangerous for the old and incapacitating for the young, and we are responsible for keeping our community members safe. Regarding Google, I think the lack of working emails for contractors is not a quick-fix issue, but rather a sign of a systematic problem spanning across industries regarding the incompatibility of work schedules between contractors and their parent companies. Ideally, Google could pay for their contractors' absences; this may benefit Google by further incentivizing the contractors to work for the company. Or, they could still have everyone stay at home and attempt to tackle the problems that arise while accepting that productivity will almost inevitably be diminished. Regardless, exposing people to a debilitating virus to fulfill corporate interests is morally irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it is an overreaction to ask people to stay home or at least not gather for the safety of their own health. Large companies like Facebook and Google would want to prevent outbreaks on their campuses to protect their reputation and presence in the media. Additionally, it does not seem difficult for employees from tech companies to work from home since most things can be accomplished through the internet. For those that are unable to work from home, Google should provide them with an alternative option. Full time employees of Google should have more benefits than contractors from third party companies, but it should be a priority for big companies to discuss the issue with third party companies.
ReplyDeleteHaving people stay home is most certainly not an overreaction to COVID-19. Despite it not yet being officially declared a pandemic, it has essentially reached that state already, with states of emergency being declared worldwide. Panic buying is definitely a super overreaction, but simply having employees and students work and attend class from home is not. The whole point of contractors is that they're often cheaper and expendable, or else companies would only have employees directly under their control do the work. Equality between contractors and employees is conflicts with the very purpose of contractors. This also means that contract companies still have control over their employees, not the big tech companies that they're contracted too. The role of the big tech companies should be to try to promote higher standards for contract workers by hiring companies that provide greater health benefits or paid leave, and to assist these contractors with additional leave in the event of a crisis such as this. This does not mean, as I have said earlier, that employees and contractors will be equal, but rather that the divide can be shrunk to a healthier level. The lack of some contractors' ability to telecommute is a significant issue, not so much because of the cost, but rather because of security concerns, an issue that will be quite difficult to solve.
ReplyDeleteMy stance on this is more or less just “give everyone paid sick leave.” I don’t think companies are overreacting, but I hope this epidemic reveals to them the defects in their healthcare programs, and prompts them to change. In regards to your question about the contractors, I believe that companies should have some policies that offer a basic cover to contractors, but ultimately the third party company should offer a contingency plan to its contractors.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that companies, schools or the general public is overreacting to COVID-19 by having people stay at home. This virus is so new and people are staying home to prevent the spread of it. While it is true that the flu kills more people that the coronavirus has, this disease is dangerous, especially for the elderly, and there is no vaccination or cure for it. I think at this point it is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to keep our community safe. I think that Google and other big companies should provide better health benefits and have better communication.
ReplyDeleteI a certain extent, I feel that the reaction is somewhat excessive - only because in terms of high school students for example, although there is a chance of being infected with the virus, the fatality rate is extremely low. Those who should be most worried about this virus however, are people aged over 80. However, I also feel that the measures that schools and large companies/businesses are taking are necessary as it would prevent the spread of the virus if it were to be contracted by someone in those environments. Additionally, it terms of equality among contractors and employees working in big companies, I think that the contractors should be treated the same as the regular employees because at the end of the day, they are also working at the company and should be entitled to the same health precautions. However, if it were to be decided otherwise, another method of ensuring equality would be by contacting the third party companies and asking for the same paid leave or treatment in general. A mentioned before, as long as the individuals are working for the big tech companies, I think they should be the ones having authority over them.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that companies and schools are overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak by having people stay home because it is ensuring that those people are more safe. Places like big companies and schools hold a lot of people, and these areas can cause the virus to spread even more and make the whole situation worse. Although, the virus mainly affects elderly people the most, this outbreak would be better if it was contained with the help of students and workers staying home and away from big public places. I think that big companies like Google should give the same benefits to the contractors that they give to full time employees. It only makes it fair. Also I think that third party companies and big tech companies should work closer together to authorize the contractors and one company shouldn't be overpowering the other. The companies should be equal in authority when it comes to the contractors, they just have to communicate better with the contractors as a whole.
ReplyDeleteAll institutions, organizations, and corporations who have taken action against the coronavirus definitely have sound reasoning in doing so. Companies such as Google and events like SXSW have high traffic from international travel in which large gatherings may become greater threats to public safety. As the infectious COVID-19 continues to spread, more public events will be canceled and greater precautions must be established in order to minimize transmission. Ultimately, public safety must be kept as the highest priority in every situation. There are indeed flaws within the various contractual agreements that third parties have with large entities such as Google. One of the risks that they are taking is the loss of health benefits which is especially detrimental in this time period. Parties must come to an agreement in the future to amend this flaw and take the necessary precautions to prevent similar situations.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the current state of the coronavirus, I don't believe that companies and schools are overreacting at all. Having people stay at home is an appropriate action to such an outbreak and by doing so, companies and schools are taking precautions to prevent the further spread of coronavirus through direct physical contact.
ReplyDeleteI believe the companies, organizations, and corporations are correct in having people stay home. Controlling the spread of corona virus is an important idea, The third party companies and companies should compromise and work out a way to allow contractors to have health care and benefits just as they do to full time employees.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a perfect time to talk about the health care benefits given to employees. Working from home should be a requirement, because the focus should be on protecting the individual. In order to keep employees healthy, they should self quarantine, and be supported by the people they work for. This is a perfect time to put the people first.
ReplyDeleteI believe that companies are doing the right thing by keeping workers at home as the coronavirus is very contagious as can be clearly seen. The regulations call for a separation of at least 6 feet and this usually impossible in a work environment setting.
ReplyDeleteRegarding who has more authority over contractors, in this case, I would say Google, being such a large company, would have far more resources than another third-party company and so has more control over the contractors. However, in most cases, contractors are controlled by the third-party company that they work for as they are ones that are responsible for them.
In my opinion companies, schools, or even our countries are not overreacting to the situation, this virus is serious. COVID-19 is extremely contagious and although many of its symptoms are flu-like it can not be taken likely, for it is many times more severe than the flu attacking the body’s respiratory system. Cases are on the rise worldwide and in countries such as Italy it is out of control. This is why we need to take precautionary measures to ensure the overall safety of the country's citizens. This is the time where the government needs to step in and implement its plans to combat the spread of the virus, while keeping the economy in check. This while hopefully ensuring that this problem does not become an even larger chronic one, in the years down the line.
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