The idea that a company would dare charge several tens of thousands of dollars to its employees for day care is outright larceny. Again, I'm really surprised that so many of the parents at Google haven't sussed out that this was just a scam. They should feel insulted to be hoodwinked but I suspect something else is going on here.

This situation reminds me so much of that wonderful Dr. Seuss classic, "The Star-Bellied Sneeches." The parents whose children attend the special daycare get to feel special and superior to others, despite the fact that their children are learning no more than anyone else. That must explain why Google just doesn't subsidize a portion of daycare for all, enlarging the care options in the local area.

According to one blog, the comment that parents are NOW paying market rate was untrue. Here's the link:

http://gadgetopia.com/post/6460

I'll check more but 25K a year or more per child is absurd.

Here's another take and it's still critical of Google.

Essentially, the blame falls on top management that didn't realize that offering the most ELITE type of daycare (and the most expensive) was not the way to go to impress most employees. Parents want good quality and affordable daycare. For some reason, Google management doesn't understand that.

http://news.cnet.com/On-day-care,-Google-makes-a-rare-fumble/2100-1030_3-6243197.html

I hope that those who are defending the Google daycare fees don't really believe that this is what daycare costs. Other providers in the tech industry located near Google also provide daycare and the cost is a fraction of the Google option. Google appears to be almost 2 times the cost of other options. It explains why they simply cannot afford to subsidize the benefit anymore.

http://valleywag.com/5016952/googles-daycare-debacle-the-kinderplex-memos

The above link is from Valleywag. Wojiki (sp) sounds like a jerk and real primadonna.

Last point and the best one yet: Google doesn't advertise on-site daycare as a benefit anymore DESPITE the fact that it is offered.

How do you say "screw you!" in a hundred little ways to your employees, prospective and current? Take away something they perceive as a great benefit and something they really want and need at the same time.

Thanks for the info. It's amazing to me that this woman (Wocjiki...I can't spell it!) could wield such tremendous and destructive influence. A really, really bad idea but I think Google will find that out soon as it experiences a mass exodus out the door for companies that "get" childcare.

How hard is that to understand? I sincerely hope that Maliki and others in Iraq make this point over and over again in the next few months. It will be at least entertaining to watch McCain (and Bush) sweating and stammering mightily before the American people and trying so very hard to convince us that, yes the Iraqis really do want us there.

The links I provided to various blogs point out two things: First (an undisputed point) that Google opted to close out the less expensive childcare program (kinderplex) for the more expensive one (The Woods). The point here being that it was so prohibitively expensive that ultimately Google could no longer subsidize the service. A problem of its own making.

Secondly, in CNET (and other online sources I gave links to earlier), it is explained how vastly different in subsidizing cost The Woods (Google's facility) is from other silicon valley childcare programs.

Please read the last paragraph carefully as it explains essentially how Google got itself into such a bind: By opting for a wildly more expensive model of childcare.

_______________________________________________________________

http://news.cnet.com/On-day-care,-Google-makes-a-rare-fumble/2100-1030_3-6243197.html?hhTest

"A year after the Kinderplex opened, Google opened its second day care center, called the Woods, which Google ran itself. The Woods was an expensive undertaking; in terms of the square footage per child, the aesthetics of its toys, and the college degrees of its teachers, it put the Kinderplex to shame. It also used the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

With the Woods open, Google decided to upgrade the Kinderplex to match the salaries and the teacher-student ratios of the Woods. Google now had 200 day care spots--and such wonderful day care at that!--and was promoting this new perk as a recruiting tool. The company was growing like crazy--its work force now numbers 19,000--its young employees were starting to have babies, and well, you can just picture what happened next. The wait list ballooned insanely, finally reaching over 700 people. New employees who arrived at Google thinking they were getting in-house day care were stunned to discover that it could take up to two years to land a coveted spot.

"Meanwhile, someone at Google woke up one day and realized that the company was subsidizing each child to the tune of $37,000 a year--which nobody had noticed up until then--compared with the $12,000-a-year average subsidy of other big Silicon Valley companies like Cisco Systems and Oracle. "