Key Findings

1) Alphabet excludes thousands of US workers from receiving the basic pay and benefit standards which Alphabet has proclaimed available to its extended workforce. Search Raters are just one of these excluded groups. See Jay Buchanan’s Story, a Google Search Rater who is denied Alphabet's minimum standard for wages and benefits.

2) Alphabet's US Standards have been poorly communicated to workers or not enforced at vendor companies. See Rhys Crabtree’s story, who had to organize to have existing standards enforced in his workplace.

Nearly half of all vendors surveyed (46.21%) either do not report having, or are not aware that they have access to paid sick days.
72% of vendors surveyed do not report having access to paid parental leave.
Only 10% of vendors surveyed report having access to tuition reimbursement.

3) For workers who are not excluded from US standards, the pay and benefits standards are themselves increasingly inadequate in the face of the nationwide cost of living crisis. See DaYeong Song's story, a Google Maps worker supporting her family in the Seattle area.

4) Inequities among vendors are exacerbated by race, gender, sexual orientation, and ability, resulting in wage gaps. See Kaitlin Blaylock's story, a Google Help Center Writer with Accenture Flex

• Alphabet's diversity and inclusion is touted in its annual diversity report, however non-white workers are overrepresented in lower wage and benefit vendor roles. 65% of vendors surveyed were non-white.

•There exists significant pay and benefit disparities between FTE and TVCs. However, even only within vendors there exist significant racial, gender, and sexual orientation wage gap at Alphabet. Non-White vendors on average make nearly 10% less than their white counterparts ($75,024 versus $82,802/year).

• The disparity is even greater for Black and Latinx/Hispanic vendors, who make on average 20% less than their white counterparts ($66,056 and $62,710/year respectively).

• LGBTQIA2S+ vendors at Alphabet make on average 15% less than their cishet coworkers ($67,660 versus $80,159/year).

• Vendors with disabilities make on average 18% less than their able-bodied coworkers ($64,105 versus $77,866/year).

• Veteran vendors make on average 10% less than their non-veteran counterparts. ($70,281 versus $77,385)

5) Vendors of all wage levels (not just the lowest wage workers) report having significant work issues. See David Jones-Krause's Story of how Google treats TVCs of all wage levels differently than Employees

These issues include lack of job security, unnecessary isolation between FTE / TVCs, undefined career ladders, poor work life balance, fair compensation and benefits for their work, and a meaningful voice in decisions that impact their jobs.

Of those surveyed that shared salary information:

31% (514 of 1643) earned under $50,000/year.
47% (773 of 1643) earned between $50,000 and 100,000/year.
21% (356 of 1653) earned more than $100,000/year.

Even among those earning more than $100,000 a year, lack of respect, work life balance, and disparities between FTEs ranked high concerns.

“If we work fulltime and have counterparts with the same titles who are FTE then we should not be separated. Our benefits are so much less than.“

“Recognition [by Alphabet] that just because we are not FTE doesn't mean we are not skilled, knowledgeable and competent.”

“[We need] more job security.”