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Comment by yanw | Hacker News Reader

For crying out loud, it's not a "class system" it's company hierarchy.

Contract workers are not employees they are temporary hired hands they get fired and reallocated on company whim for company purposes, that is the nature of their jobs, they are easier to fire and hire than full time 401k employees. Not everyone gets the company car home with them.

What disturbs me is that you keep pointing to the fact that they are mostly minorities as if Google deliberately chose minority workers for these jobs, the sad fact is that these low end jobs are typically occupied by minorities.

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>it's not a "class system" it's company hierarchy

Well, I don't agree that those things are that different.

But I will agree with you that having a company hierarchy is pretty normal.

>What disturbs me is that you keep pointing to the fact that they are mostly minorities as if Google deliberately chose minority workers for these jobs, the sad fact is that these low end jobs are typically occupied by minorities.

You're right, and I don't mean to imply that Google somehow caused this situation. Like any employer, Google tries to get the most value for its money, and that entails selection of people from particular backgrounds.

It's just that 'class system' exists in society and it's a different kind of animal, that phrase carries a lot of negative political and socio-economical baggage, negativity such as 'monarchs' and 'peasants' and what have you.

In the corporate world however it's just a chain of command, it is used to distill order to some extent and typically is claimable by those who succeed.

If its not a class system, whats the need for color coding badges? Don't you think an electronic badge will prevent and authorize access no matter what color it is.

It's so that security guards and others can enforce area bans just by looking at your badge. For instance, some gatherings might be open only to white badges, some to white + green, the shuttle probably isn't available to yellow badges, etc.

Why do you need security guards to enforce when your badge is electronic(RFID). You swipe your badge everywhere you enter(including cafes inside buildings for which you swipe your badge to enter), especially in a company that is tech oriented. I dont think anyone with a white badge enter without swiping.

there are areas (eg. meetings in cafes) where you don't have to swipe through a security door to get in. these are policed by physical security.

It's the system they chose to keep things in check, I'm not aware of their inner works as I'm not their HR guy, even so color coding doesn't suggest a 'class system' (my gmail labels are color coded) it's a just a system to keep things in order.

I am aware of how electronic badges work and that should keep things in check. Worst case they could ask for their id. My point is the electronic system does keep things in order, so why the color? Maybe they should give violet badge to the 15 people working on the search engine. And similar color to different teams that way it is easier to identify.

Fail-safe? I don't know.

> My point is the electronic system does keep things in order, so why the color?

So that humans can also read the badges without a machine. The same reason they put a picture and your name on the badge, even though the machines don't need them.

Why would they make a badge that only the computer could understand?

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