Google Changed Work Culture. Its Former Hype Woman Has Regrets.

At their founding, Big Tech companies like Google offered new incentive structures and declared their work a “moral calling.”

In their inaugural years, companies like Apple, Facebook and Google claimed to offer their workers more than just jobs: They provided a moral mission with a radical new imagining of corporate culture. Google designed its campus to encourage employee collaboration and recreation. Workers could play volleyball, eat for free and take care of life tasks, like laundry. The company brushed off suggestions that the set-up was exploitive – as one French reporter put it, “an obvious plot to keep workers [on campus] all the time.”

When Google hired Claire Stapleton as a member of its internal communications team, she quickly became caught up in its progressive corporate vision. The company talked about solving societal problems and curing cancer. Its founders insisted&#...