Google reportedly rolls out benefits for contractors, vendors, and temporary workers
Google is bringing benefits like health care, sick leave, and a $15 minimum wage to its temporary and contracted workers, the company announced in a memo on Tuesday.
The memo, obtained by The Hill, states that all of the companies that employ Google's temporary workers and contractors, known as "suppliers," will be required to provide those workers with a full benefits package, starting in 2020. The suppliers who are not able to guarantee the benefits to their workers by that deadline will not "be able to provide talent to Google," said a spokesperson for the company.
The tech giant has faced criticism for what some employees have called unequal treatment of full-time permanent workers and those working for Google on a contractual basis.
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The memo doesn't reveal the exact number of temporary versus full-time workers at Google, but claims that 54 percent of its workers, 122,000 people, are temporary workers, contractors, and vendors.
Google is rolling out this new package for its workers in the U.S. first, The Hill notes, because there is "no government mandate" for temporary workers in the country.
Some of the benefits Google will require are a 12 weeks of parental leave, 8 sick days, and $5,000 in tuition reimbursement per year. Read more on Google's new policy at The Hill.
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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.
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