Los Angeles Times - 09.11.2019

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world’s best places to work.
Last year, a group of TVCs
called for better benefits and
in September, TVCs working
as data analysts in Pitts-
burgh voted to unionize, a
rarity for the tech industry.
Kiprovski’s resignation
highlights a predicament
many TVCs face: They hold
jobs that require them to
act as representatives of
Google, but they don’t actu-
ally work for the company.
Kiprovski began as a
Google TVC in early 2018,
working on a team that ex-
panded Google’s reach into
schools. His early hopes for
the job soon slipped away.
Turnover in his division was
high and the schedules were
inflexible. His responsibili-
ties grew, but his compensa-
tion didn’t. “I got promoted
four times with barely any
increase in pay or benefits or
anything,” he said.
He felt handicapped in
other ways. Google uses
scores of internal docu-
ments to plan projects and
store information. This sum-
mer, the company cut TVC
access to these documents,
citing security concerns.
Google also blocked con-
tractors from many online
social groups within the
company. The “TVC lock-
down,” as staff named it,
came without warning,
Kiprovski said. Multiple em-
ployees at Google and its
contracting firms confirmed
these events.
A Google spokeswoman
said that these decisions
were part of standard cus-
tomer data security mea-
sures and that temporary
workers were notified of the
change and still have access
to the tools needed to per-
form their work. Google
doesn’t have a policy for pro-
moting TVCs because they
don’t work for Google.
Thousands of TVCs work
at Google in white-collar
jobs behind the scenes, such
as marketing products or
screening YouTube videos.
Kiprovski, though, had a job
— pitching Google services
at schools — that required
representing the company
to the outside world.
Other TVCs also have

jobs that require they toe an

awkward line of being the

public face of Google while

not being on the company’s

direct payroll. At some com-

pany offices, contractors es-

cort Google job candidates

and new hires around cam-

pus, taking them to inter-

views and answering small-

talk questions during walks.

The candidates would often

ask, “What are your favorite

perks of being a Googler?”

said one person who had the

escort job. The tour guide

would then have to explain:

He wasn’t actually a

Googler.

The hidden nature of

contractors’ real employ-

ment status sometimes ap-

proached absurd levels. An-

other TVC, who has worked

on Google projects for a con-

tract firm, described being

assigned to go on a school

visit in New York last year to

pitch Google’s workforce

tools, G Suite, to students.

The contractor hosted a

panel called “Lunch With a

Googler” that addressed

how to get a job at the search

giant.

Kiprovski said his man-

agers at Google often hinted

that he should obfuscate the

fact that he didn’t work for

Google. After the virtual re-

ality job, Kiprovski moved to

promoting G Suite at uni-

versities. When one of his fel-

low TVCs asked manage-

ment if the contractors

should identify their em-

ployment status, there was a

mixed response. “Honesty is

the best policy” was the offi-

cial line from Google and

Vaco. “But they would add,”

said Kiprovski, who over-

heard the exchange, “ ‘Why

do you have to tell them any-

way?’ ”

Another former Vaco-

employed Google contrac-

tor with a similar role said

the lines could be blurred in

other ways. Vaco contrac-

tors worked in the same of-

fice and even on the same

floor as full-time Googlers.

When interacting with the

public, the contractors were

“never given a formal direc-

tive” about how to answer

questions about their em-

ployment, the worker said.

“Usually I just say I work

at Google,” the contractor

said. “I try to be as honest as

I can without potentially

crossing the line of actually

saying I do or do not work for

Google because I don’t know

which one they want us to

do.... If they don’t want us to

tell people, what does that

say about the fact that we

exist? Are they acknowledg-

ing it kind of looks bad?”

Vaco didn’t respond to a

request for comment, but

the company says on its

website that its service helps

workers find meaningful lib-

erty in their work. “We help

people find freedom,” it says.

“Freedom from a soulless

job.... Freedom to find clarity

in chaos.”

Google said its policy is

that temporary workers

should say on social media

and in email signatures that

they work for a contract firm

such as Vaco and can add

“on behalf of Google” or

“supporting Google.” The

policy also says that TVCs

should not speak on behalf

of Google at external speak-

ing engagements, the

spokeswoman said.

For Kiprovski, the final

straw was a change he saw in

Google’s career ladder.

While he worked at Google’s

offices, several people at the

company told him his role

could lead to a permanent

position at the technology

giant. Kiprovski hoped that

if he became a full-time em-

ployee, he and his partner

could use Google’s generous

coverage for surrogacy or

adoption. “That’s actually

one of the reasons I stayed so

long,” he said. “I wanted to

get a job at Google to help

have a family.”

Then he read Eileen

Naughton’s response to

Congress. Naughton,

Google’s human resources

chief, wrote in August to a

group of senators who had

asked Google to bring its

temporary workers in-

house. Naughton touted

Google’s recent move to im-

prove wages and benefits for

TVCs, but said the company

needed flexibility to hire

staff for areas where it lack-

ed specialization. “Being a

temporary worker is not in-

tended to be a path to em-

ployment at Google,” she

wrote.

Kiprovski read that as a

sure sign of a policy reversal.

“Google is talking out of two

sides of its mouth on this,”

he said.

A Google spokeswoman

said this hiring policy has

not changed. She added that

the company requires con-

tracting firms to provide

“comprehensive health-

care,” but directed the ques-

tion about Kiprovski to

Vaco, which did not respond.

Kiprovski decided to re-

sign and prepared to email

co-workers — contract and

full-time — to share his

thoughts about unfair treat-

ment of TVCs.

He also made a small pro-

test to the public: A few

weeks before he left, he

changed his email signature

to no longer mention Google

and instead to say “Vaco,”

his real employer. “But I

don’t think anyone read it,”

he said.

Bergen and Huet write for

Bloomberg.

Inside Google’s shadow workforce

[Google,from C1]

MORE THANhalf of Google’s workers are temporary, vendor or contract staff, known as TVCs. They miss

out on many of the perks that have burnished Google’s reputation as one of the world’s best places to work.

Michele TantussiGetty Images