"an opportunity for a responsible manager to talk and rethink"
Mostly it's an opportunity to let the staffer know that such ultimates are unacceptable, and that taken literally by her own terms - she could be called out and let go. Which is what happened.
It's very doubtful that if they wanted to keep her, that they couldn't have found terms.
Surely the manager would have bent, indicated the wording was a little bit strong, and found a way forward.
It seems clear they were wavering, she crossed a line and offered them the path out and they took it.
If there were material issues being covered up, there was material suppression of information, this story would look completely different - but there wasn't.
This was the right thing to do by Google in a tricky situation.
Mostly it's an opportunity to let the staffer know that such ultimates are unacceptable, and that taken literally by her own terms - she could be called out and let go. Which is what happened.
It's very doubtful that if they wanted to keep her, that they couldn't have found terms.
Surely the manager would have bent, indicated the wording was a little bit strong, and found a way forward.
It seems clear they were wavering, she crossed a line and offered them the path out and they took it.
If there were material issues being covered up, there was material suppression of information, this story would look completely different - but there wasn't.
This was the right thing to do by Google in a tricky situation.