A former Google employee wrote a novel about sex and drugs at a fictional search ad company

[partyof5]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-show-by-filip-syta-google-novel-book-sex-drugs-2016-2?r=UK&IR=T

This article was very interesting and quite scary.

[BunsenBurner]

Zenefits, anyone?

[BunsenBurner]

I was not kidding in the other thread that shipping booze to office address was not an issue in SV:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/23/hr-start-up-zenefits-bans-alcohol-sex-in-the-stairwell-report.html

[partyof5]

@BunsenBurner wow

[BunsenBurner]

I am not shocked one bit. I walked into one startup, and the first thing I saw was a rack full of wine bottles in the smallish lobby. Why? We love to unwind, I was told. Booze is no biggie.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/02/zenefits-layoffs

The company’s frat-like culture oozed under the microscope soon after. Last week, Sacks sent another memo to staff in which he banned alcohol in the office because it was proving “too difficult to define and parse what is ‘appropriate’ versus ‘inappropriate’ drinking in the office.” Days later, another internal memo warned staff that smoking, drinking, and having sex was inappropriate office behavior after security found several used condoms in its building’s stairwells.

[Torveaux]

Yup. Eventually the startups realize why the ‘old’ corporations do not allow that stuff. Lawsuits abound. If you tolerate drinking at work and someone kills someone driving home…the business has deeper pockets, so they get sued too. If employees are hooking up at work, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a hostile work environment for someone in or out of that ‘relationship’.

[BunsenBurner]

They also realize that some of what they call “disruption” is illegal. Like using a macro to bypass the licensing requirements for insurance brokers:

http://qz.com/613451/zenefits-is-learning-the-lesson-of-skirting-the-law-to-disrupt-an-industry/

Or not paying their employees what they earned:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/zenefits-tries-to-stem-fallout-over-pay-claims-1449189830

[InfinityMan]

I know this is going to sound bad, but I kinda want a job where I can get free Nexus tablets.

I saw was a rack full of wine bottles in the smallish lobby. Why? We love to unwind, I was told. Booze is no biggie

Isn’t it prohibited to drink in some office environments? Seems to me that employees who drink during the job won’t be able to perform said job if they are inebriated.

[BunsenBurner]

IM, it is not just about inability to perform jobs; an employer may be held liable for acts of its drunk employees under certain circumstances.

[InfinityMan]

Another thing: if false numbers keep on getting reported to please the higher ups, won’t the company suffer somehow? Also, isn’t it illegal to misrepresent things to clients and investors?

[VaBluebird]

Isn’t it prohibited to drink in some office environments? Seems to me that employees who drink during the job won’t be able to perform said job if they are inebriated>>>>>>>>

Well, it was grounds for immediate dismissal where I worked!

[HImom]

My H said at the fed govt where he worked, there were random drug and alcohol screenings. Dismissal would occur to folks refusing or failing said screenings.