One of the more interesting lessons in blogging and corporate cut backs is the advent of Mini-Microsoft, the legendary blogger who called Microsoft on a number of petty cutbacks, like towels in the gym, all the while wondering what Microsoft is going to do next.

With the recent cut backs at Google, and the general malaise that seems to be happening in the kitchen staff, and other parts of Google, like day care seem to be taking its toll, if not in reality, at least then in the blogosphere. From food to day care, these are the kinds of cutbacks that tend to inflame the employee base (I had it once; I liked it, why did they (management) take it away).

Usually when there is something like this that happens, warning flags should go up all over the place. Some people will think that Google is going under, or facing financial pressure that they did not have before. Maybe the on line advertising business isn’t going as good as it is supposed to be going. People start to leave the company, things start to snow ball out of control, and then comes someone for whom food or day care or towels becomes the rallying cry, we want our stuff back.

It will be interesting to see if a Google employee will try to be the “Google Mini” like Mini Microsoft, who will start pointing out what is happening inside the fence. If someone is already out there blogging like Mini, let us know the link, that would be interesting to find. The problem is not so much that something disappeared, the problem is the interpretation of the employees. It does not matter what the facts are, it is how the employees interpret the facts, all they really know is that things are changing, and that is going to cause people to wonder what really is up.

This isn’t about food service, and this isn’t about day care, this is about Google cutting back on perceived benefits, and employees are going to make decisions based on how much those of those benefits they used. They will also make decisions based on the disparity that they see between various classes and cliques within the company. There will probably be more of an exodus of employees to come. Seems like every company at one point or another tries to do this, someday the food will return.

Tags: Google, day care, food, benefits, cutback, management, decision, mini Microsoft, mini Google