A lawsuit recently filed anonymously by a company manager Google reveals the fact that life inside the company is not quite as "rosy" as some thought. More precisely, those from Google would spy on their employees and force them to sign illegal contracts that prevent them from disclosing any kind of information from the company, even to their spouses.
More precisely, Google obliges its employees not to disclose illegal activities within the company, although they are legally obliged to do so. Moreover, if they are offered by another company, they are forbidden to specify the salary they earn at Google, or what kind of experience they had while working at the Mountain View company.
The bans are so stupid that Google doesn't want employees to even tell their husbands/wives if their boss is incompetent and could do a better job. The employee who initiated this lawsuit claims that these confidentiality agreements that Google imposes are actually illegal, according to California law.
Google spies on its employees, imposes many internal bans
Moreover, Google forbids employees to talk about possible product defects. All these prohibitions, including those regarding the violation of the law, also apply to internal emails, because in the case of initiating a lawsuit, these conversations could become evidence that would result in the loss of the lawsuit by Google.
"The policies even prohibit Googlers from speaking to their spouse or friends about whether they think their boss could do a better job. Google restricts what Googlers say internally in order to conceal potentially illegal conduct. It instructs employees in its training programs to do the following: "Don't send an email that says, 'I think we broke the law' or 'I think we violated this contract.'"
Having said that, life at Google is not quite as pleasant as the company would like outsiders to believe, and this in the conditions where other companies, including Apple, most likely do exactly the same.
