My company does this too. In fact the vast majority of people on my team are outsourced employees, but I very much set their hours and direct their work. And I make certain that I do so via email. I also email those above me to let them know when I change someone’s hours.
I also brought up on our employee only DE&I call that the fact we have 1st & 2nd class employees makes it hard to claim we strive for Equity. “We are always evaluating the composition of our workforce and this is just one factor that we consider.”
It’s not just Google. But it Google falls, then everyone else will really start reconsidering things, if they remove Google then the real fight being fought here will be lost.