This story is available exclusively on Business Insider Prime.In early March, Verily Life Sciences, one of Alphabet's biotech arms, announced it would turn its attention to fighting the pandemic.Many employees were already unhappy with the way the company was being run. When 'Code Red' kicked in, some employees say things only got worse."At Google people are quite vocal and outspoken and speak their minds. That's definitely different at Verily.
Alphabet's most famous life sciences arm suddenly found itself on a time-critical mission that had every potential to be its defining moment. The company has since set up a handful of its own testing sites around California in conjunction with the state Department of Public Health, and has partnered with Rite Aid for others across the US.
"The recalibration was reshuffling resources rather than adding new resources to the mix, which is why everyone was being overworked," said one employee. For some teams, work conditions have begun to improve as "Code Red" has slowed its momentum, but many are still working around the clock to scale Verily's various COVID-19 programs – sometimes without additional compensation for the extra hours.
"Verily employees are mission driven, and at the beginning of the pandemic many reached out to leadership with their own ideas on how we could support public health efforts. The team has risen to every challenge presented and I'm really proud to be a part of it.
"It trickles down to the rest of the company. You hope in big companies there will be some sort of leadership style, and there is zero at Verily. They are just there to make money and get stuff done." Multiple sources told Business Insider that Verily laid off a wave of employees around late March/early April. "We have done performance eliminations this year as we do on a regular basis," said the company's spokeswoman when asked whether these layoffs were due to performance or pandemic-related reasons.
"Andy [CEO Andrew Conrad] and other leaders are going to do whatever they want and legal just has to catch up and make sure the agreements are favorable and well-written," they said. , a type of bonus that recognizes employees for exemplary performance and achievements. The money, employees were told, would instead be redirected into internal and external diversity programs.
"Verily taking away employee spot bonuses after what many consider to be the most grueling and difficult time of our careers shows a lack of recognition and gratitude," read the letter, seen by Business Insider, which questioned why the social justice programs Verily was funding weren't "worthy of their own investment."
Several of the employees who spoke to Business Insider who had interacted with Conrad described him as "erratic." One called him "an aggressive entrepreneur." Another employee used the word "mercurial." At all-hands meetings – which are currently done over video conference – Conrad is often present with Jessica Mega, Verily's chief medical officer. Casimir Starsiak, the head of Baseline and a Verily veteran who insiders say climbed the ranks as Conrad's "strategy guy," has also been a more prominent internal figure as the company has scaled its COVID-19 efforts.
"Everyone is afraid of Andy," said one employee. "If they were not under that fear, I don't think they would behave in the same way." But the pandemic could be Conrad's defining moment at Verily, and as the company continues to grow, so do its chances of eventually finding independence from the bank of Alphabet.
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