At Google, It Takes a Village To Hire an Employee 7142008 .docx

At Google, It Takes a Village To Hire an Employee
7/14/2008
Aliah D. Wright
ORLANDO, FLA.—Want to work for Google? Be prepared to
handle the crowd.
The $167 billion company with more than 19,000 employees
uses “crowd sourcing” when it comes to making hiring
decisions. So said Google’s Manager of HR Technology and
Operations Melissa Karp during the recent International Human
Resource Information Management systems conference.
The company’s web site states: “Virtually every person who
interviews at Google talks to at least four interviewers, drawn
from both management and potential colleagues. Everyone's
opinion counts, ensuring our hiring process is fair while
maintaining high standards as we grow.”
Released in June 2008, a Universum IDEAL Employer Survey
found that nearly one in five undergraduate students (17
percent) chose the web’s leading search engine as their ideal
employer.
And why not?
According to its job site, not only does Google provide
excellent benefits, it also pays for lunch, dinner and snacks,
offers on-site oil changes, car washes, dry cleaning, massage
therapy, a gym, a hair stylist, fitness classes and bike repairs,
and it even offers new parents a “take-out benefit” through
which they can expense up to $500 for take-out meals during
the first four weeks that they’re home with their newborn. Tack
on back-up child care, tuition reimbursement, movie day,
holiday parties, a ski trip—there’s actually too many perks to
mention.
So with a work culture unlike any other—it stands to reason its

hiring processes are unique, too.
Wisdom of the Crowds
Google’s hiring premise is based on James Surowiecki’s The
Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few
and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies,
Societies and Nations (2004), which, in short, states that any
given group of people is always smarter than any given expert.
Google also uses the basic premise behind the creation of
Wikipedia that “people are willing to contribute to the
collective knowledge, especially if they receive information in
return.”
Google’s not the only one using crowd sourcing to get things
done. According to Wired.com, Lego encourages customers to
design robot operating systems and Lego sets; Zazzle.com
allows users to place their designs on mugs, shirts, posters and
the like and gives the designers a cut if people buy them. Even
the Beastie Boys’ latest concert movie, whose name we can’t
divulge, was shot by 50 fans using Hi8 cameras.
Still, Google believes that it has them beat hands down.
According to Karp, Google uses technology to create “wise,
collaborative crowds that include a diversity of opinion,
independence of members from one another, decentralization, a
good method for aggregating opinions and return for
contributors’ investment.”
What that translates to is this: At Google it takes a village to
hire an employee.
Here’s what happens:
A prospective employee applies for a job at Google. The
company uses its applicant tracking system (ATS) to ask its
workers to weigh in on applicants who have submitted their
resumes online.
Information collected about where they went to school or
worked previously is parsed and stored in the ATS, which
matches that information to data about their existing
employees—say, an applicant who graduated from Temple
University is matched to an employee who might have

graduated from there.
When a match is found, an e-mail is sent automatically to
employees asking them for an internal reference. Employees can
respond back via e-mail, and the ATS is updated. Karp says
this system allows them to tap into the employees who best
understand the demands of the jobs and the nature of their
culture in assessing the fit of potential hires. It allows current
employees to build the community—even if they are not part of
the formal interview process.
“Google people love this stuff,” Karp said. “It goes back to our
culture, and culturally people like the fact that we’re asking
their opinion.”
Evaluations With a ‘Twist’
Up for an evaluation? Google says it puts a “twist on 360-
degree feedback by providing functionality for managers and
employees to nominate ‘peer reviewers’ from anywhere across
the organization.”
“People are fairly candid in their feedback,” Karp noted.
But 360-degree feedback, which involves collecting perceptions
about an individual's job performance and the impact of that
behavior in the workplace from peers, supervisors, direct
reports, internal and external customers, and suppliers can have
its drawbacks.
According to the International Personnel Management
Association, more than 90 percent of Fortune 1000 companies
have used “multi-source assessments” (or 360-degree feedback).
Yet participants might feel threatened by the feedback and less
amenable to the criticisms contained in it. Then, too,
respondents might not be as honest knowing that the
information they’re providing is going back up the chain of
command. In addition, there might be a fear that such feedback
might affect working relationships directly—not to mention
compensation.
And according to Watson Wyatt’s 2001 Human Capital Index
(HCI), a study of the linkages between specific HR practices
and shareholder value at 750 large, publicly traded companies,

360-degree feedback programs were associated with a 10.6
percent decrease in shareholder value.
So what happens at Google when people write “unconstructive
comments?”
Karp said managers are encouraged to use that as a “coachable
moment” to talk to the person who wrote something
unconstructive. However, at Google “this hasn’t been too much
of a problem.”
What’s Next?
Professional development is another HR priority at Google. Its
engineers are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their time
developing products or service offerings. But their newest
application, which is in development, would allow employees to
self-direct their career development activities. They would build
their own professional networks, develop their skills,
understand potential career paths and pursue internal
opportunities, Karp said.
“The idea here is that employees can build their own
professional network.”
The company also takes full advantage of its own products that
focus on collaboration, such as:
· Google Sites, which allows people to create web sites to share
information.
· Google Docs, which allows people to share documents,
spreadsheets and presentations.
· Google Calendar, which lets users arrange meetings, set
schedules and publish event information.
· Google Talk, an instant messenger program that allows pc-to-
pc voice calls for free.
· Start Page, which lets users preview their calendars and
documents, add gadgets and search the web from one place.
“We look at all of this as a collaborative and productivity
enhancer,” Karp said.
Although Karp encouraged those at the symposium to “let go of
the notion that a single individual knows best and that the
crowd won’t actively contribute in a candid and useful manner,”

not everyone thought leveraging the wisdom of crowds is wise.
Sri Sankaran, a global process excellence manager for Corning,
said, “I think it is viable for a company like Google” whose
culture encourages it. “But to translate that to a large company
like Corning, which has 26,000 employees [rolling] out HR
systems in eight to 10 languages … well, we can’t afford to
build a custom application like Google that has such a broad
scope.”
“What I found really fascinating about this application,
however, is how they’ve taken complex software and made it
easy for their employees,” she said.
“When you think of Google, you think cool, high-tech, young.
And looking at their applications—it speaks to their internal
corporate culture.”
Aliah D. Wright is an online editor/manager for SHRM.
How Google Searches for Success
6/26/2008
By Desda Moss
CHICAGO—When Laszlo Bock got an offer more than two
years ago to head human resources at Google, he was surprised
to learn that his title would be vice president, people operations.
“I thought, it’s human resources, why do they call it ‘people
operations’? Someone told me that it would fool the engineers
into thinking [the position] was technical,” he told an audience
in a June 23 “Senior Practitioner Spotlight” presentation at the
SHRM Annual Conference.
Bock quickly learned that job titles weren’t the only things
Google did differently. The company, which prides itself on
innovation and experimentation, takes the same approach to
managing people.
“We really want to do the best for our employees because we

believe that if we trust them and give them the freedom and
tools to do their jobs, they will amaze and delight us,” Bock
said.
While everyone knows about Google’s reputation for the
generous benefits and perks it lavishes on its staff, Bock said
that’s not the whole story.
“Yes, we do have 18 cafes and car washes and day care and
dogs on campus and free laundry service. But that’s not who we
are.”
Instead, Bock said the company’s 19,000 employees—called
Googlers—are some of the best and brightest technical minds in
the world who enjoy solving complex problems and care deeply
about contributing to the organization’s mission of making
information accessible and useful to all. The company has such
an appealing employer brand that it receives more than 7,000
applications a day. In 2007, Google hired 5,000 new employees.
“We start from the assumption that people are good. And if you
believe that, you don’t micromanage, you listen to everyone and
you make people feel comfortable enough to make suggestions
that may be a little off-the-wall.”
Bock, a member of Google’s Executive Management Group who
joined the company in 2006 after working at General Electric
and McKinsey, outlined his company’s strategy for attracting,
retaining and developing its global workforce.
His advice on how to build a stellar workforce:
· Hire learners. “Hire people who want to learn, who are curious
and inquisitive. When a learner encounters a problem, they’ll
keep working until they solve it.”
· Trust them. “Give them freedom, information and tools to do
their jobs.”
· Small projects, small teams. “Having a team of four to six
people is about the right scale to have a meaningful
conversation. Any more, and it changes the group dynamic,”
Bock said. “When you have a big problem, carve it into smaller
pieces.”
· Create a flat structure. “You need information to flow upwards

as well as downward, and having fewer layers makes that easier
to do.”
· Discuss everything in public. “It’s always better.”
· Be meritocratic. “We have pay for performance and we don’t
use forced distribution. We evaluate employees’ objectives and
results quarterly. And we use calibration to make sure the
ratings mean the same thing across the organization.”
· Reward success, but don’t penalize failure. “You have to take
risks if you want your organization to stay at the top of its
game.”
· “Some of you may be thinking this would never work at your
company, but, in HR, we are the ones who can make the
change.”
Desda Moss is managing editor for HR Magazine.
The making of a Great Place to Work® - the story of Google
India
“For me, after working with Google, it has become easier to
believe that the concept of a
'dream job' can exist. And I would like more and more people
passionate about work to
know that a company/professional life that they dream of
actually exists.” – Employee
comment, Google India
Google is number 3 in our list of Top 25 Best Workplaces in
India. In US, it is number 1
in Fortune’s 100 Best Employers study done by Great Place to
Work® Institute. With

just around 10,000 employees globally Google receives 1300
applications each day in US
alone. Google’s success story is well documented. At less than
10 years of age Google is
worth more than 125 Billion USD.
When some my colleagues first studied Google, they found it
difficult to believe that
such an Organisation exists. Keep in mind that they study
hundreds of different
Organisations every year. So they spent an inordinate amount of
time studying Google
India’s practices, employee comments and, of course, the
anonymous survey feedback.
There is no doubt. Google India is a great place to work®.
It is also one of the most successful new age companies,
creating more wealth in less
time than any other Organisation in the world.
So is Google a Great Place to Work because its stock is $ 483 or
is it one of the most
valuable companies of the world because it is a Great Place to
Work? I spent one full day
at Google in their Hyderabad campus recently to ask a few
questions to a cross section of
employees.
Stories of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the cofounders of
Google are popular across the
business press. (Read David vise’s The Google Story in case
you haven’t). So by the time
Google started their operations in India, it was already a well
known name, especially
amongst the internet users. Employee after employee talked
about joining the

Organisation attracted by the power of the brand and the
opportunity to work with really
talented people. It was therefore, fascinating for me to discover
first hand the Google
employer brand, and more importantly how they make it work.
Here are some of the
things I discovered.
1. Create significant entry barriers at recruitment stage
Considering that some of the best brains choose to apply to
Google, the recruitment team
should have it easy. Strangely, one of the few gripes in the
Organisation is about the time
it takes to get the right person. Input control in Google is so
strong that even today each
employee’s profile and interview comments go to one of the
founders before he or she is
recruited!
Google’s core values start with the statement “We want to work
with great people.” Back
in the early years, when the Organisation was yet to make
money, the founders were busy
recruiting the best talent when many others were busy letting
them go.(Remember the
technology companies meltdown in 2000-01). All Google
wanted at that time was to
make a great product that would enable the entire world’s
information to be accessible to
everyone at any time. They were not sure how it would help

them make money. But they
were sure they could not do it without the best brains. And if
the best brains come
together, money will follow. What Google could not offer in
money, they made up in
stocks and in dreams to change the way the world accesses
information. And as the
comment of the employee quoted above indicates, some dream
jobs do come true.
It is not unusual for each candidate to have from six to even
eleven interviews! One of
the senior most managers in Hyderabad, Roy Gilbert Director of
Online Sales &
Operations confesses to spending 50 per cent of his time on
meeting candidates. He is not
alone. All managers who interview candidates go through
Interview workshops. As one
employee said, “The managers who interviewed me were
genuinely interested in me as a
person. They were taking notes. One even made a cup of coffee
for me.”
Google is reputed for its mathematics conundrums during
recruitment screening. For
example, how would you solve the cryptic equation WWWDOT-
GOOGLE=DOTCOM,
knowing that values of M & E could be interchanged. Or you
may simply be asked what
is the most beautiful math equation derived.
No wonder, the Recruitment team in India boasts of working for
one of those rare
companies that does not hold them accountable for filling
vacancies in specific time. And
once an employee joins there is a “Buddy” to make him feel

right at home. But what
makes many employees stay is the next point.
2. Trust, Empowerment and Freedom
Once an employee joins Google she experiences a pleasant
change from many a previous
employer. There is rarely a boss who continuously looks over
her shoulder to figure out
what the employee is doing. In fact, officially the employee is
told that 20 per cent of her
time is free to do what she pleases. Heard of Google Talk,
Google News, Google Finance
and gmail? They all started as a “20 per cent project”!
Google’s philosophy is simple, “Get the brightest people in and
create an environment
that enables them to perform.” Employees seem to reciprocate
this trust by being
obsessed about innovation building great products and services.
All new products are
launched internally, so that employees get a chance to give their
vote of confidence or
lack of it before customers do. Employees keep developing their
expertise and
consequently roles keep changing to keep pace with the
employee’s development.
Something traditional HR experts with rigid job descriptions
will find difficult to adjust
to. The beauty of working for a Google is that one rarely gets
caught in an endless routine
job. None of Google’s products remain the same even in the
short term. (Unknown to
many, Google’s search quality keeps improving continuously)

The environment at Google is akin to a successful University.
Sergei Brin is quoted as
saying, “We run Google a bit like a university. We have lots of
projects, about 100 of
them, from molecular biology to building hardware, being done
by teams of three or so
people.” (The Google Story – David A. Vise)
Google realizes that a key to this culture of empowerment is
accepting mistakes and
failures. No project is rejected by its inability to predict viable
cash flows. Indeed, viable
cash flows can never be the primary criteria for making a
business decision, as
advertisers who want to influence Google’s search results have
found out.
The relationship of trust that Google has with its employees is
also reflected in the
relationships it has with its users. Which is why, when Google
decided to accept
Government censorship laws in China (Google, however,
notifies users when results have
been censored) it was a major letdown for many people. While
most of its competitors
were already complying with the law of the land in China, it
seems that when it came to
Google, people put it on a higher pedestal. We trust Google to
give us access to
information in an unbiased and transparent manner.
With so much of trust on employees, what happens to the bad
eggs? A few who might be

tempted to be freeloaders? Surely, there must be some kind of
forced ranking to weed out
non-performers? The answer I received from senior executives
and a cross section of
employees was a clear No.
This brings me to the third aspect of the Google’s employer
brand.
3. Feedback, feedback & some more feedback
Want to challenge a recent business decision or simply ask a
question. TGIF (Thank God
it’s Friday) meetings could be the forum for you. If you think
there are others interested
in your pet topic start an email group. TGIF is done religiously
in all locations including
in Global HO where the Founders do it themselves whenever
they are present. The
quarterly targets of any employee are available in the intranet.
Google believes in taking
stretch targets, and the targets and their achievement are
transparent for all to see. When
you have recruited some of the best brains, an open objectives
and key results could be a
powerful motivator. This is also a good antidote to inflated egos
which some of the best
brains are likely to develop in an environment where they are
not surrounded by equally
bright or brighter colleagues.
Working with great people can have its pitfalls. Many
Organisations have found to their
peril that internal unhealthy competition can quickly kill ideas

and initiative. Google
India seems to have succeeded in avoiding this. One key reason
is the personal feedback
process. Once in six months all key stakeholders for an
employee gives feedback on her
performance and the feedback is not an objective five point
scale to be ticked. Employees
receive pages of written comments detailing strengths and areas
of development with
concrete examples.
It is this feedback culture which makes any freeloader or “Non-
Google” behaviour
difficult to sustain, even if the behaviour is of your boss. “One
person alone cannot affect
your career positively or negatively, even if he is your boss,” I
heard many employees
saying.
In fact the culture of feedback in Google India is so strong that
the structure/ design of
the appraisal process become almost secondary. I am tempted to
believe that if the six
monthly feedback form was a blank sheet of power, employees
would still get rich
feedback.
It is this culture that makes Google globally, and in India a
winner in the talent market.
People are not HR department’s responsibility. There is
collective ownership for people
and people related issues.

And this brings me to my last point about Google.
4. Google really cares about its people.
Here is a quiz from Fortune magazine on Google. Larry Page,
Google’s founder is said to
have proclaimed, “No human worker should be more than
a. 20 feet away
b. 150 feet away
c. An elevator away
d. A hallway away
from food.”
Regardless of which is the correct option, when you visit
Google India you will come
back convinced that the quote is correct. Once on campus,
Googlers don’t need to worry
about finding some excellent Indian and continental breakfast.
Throughout the day
Googlers have access to snacks of all kinds, fresh fruit; and
meals of gourmet Asian,
Italian, Indian, Mexican, or American fare.
Needless to say, after all this food, fitness is a key priority for
Google, with the
Organisation providing Gym, cardio exercises, aerobics and
yoga.
Google’s employee care is more a philosophy and not a
checklist based approach. For
example if employees do not like the coffee, it will be changed
rather than being told that

the coffee machine is of reputed quality.
As one employee put it, “Much like the Surf Excel Ad “Dag
Ache he”, when it comes to
employee costs we believe, “Kharche ache he”
In an age when many Organisations’ HR mantra seems to be
cash out of all perquisites,
Google’s approach to caring for employees seems to be paying
off. Or as one employee
put it bluntly, “It is a strategy. Do all it takes for employees,
but keeps raising the bar.”
Google deliberately sought to create great products (“We raise
the world’s IQ”, said an
employee). To create great products it had to attract the best
talent. In the process it
created one of the most valuable companies.
_____________________________________________________
____________
The author is CEO of The Great Place to Work® Institute,
India. He can be reached at
[email protected] Views expressed are personal, and are based
on
information provided by Google India and employees of Google
India.

Google: Take Two - Google Is #1 on this year's list of the 100
Best Companies to Work For®
© 2008 Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. All rights
reserved. Page 1
Google: Take Two
Google is #1 on this year's list of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies
to Work For®
Google has done it again. For the second year in a row Google,
a 9 year old global technology
service provider based in Mountain View, California, is the
number one Best Company to
Work For in America. According to their employees, this
company has created a culture that is
high on trust, low on politics, great at sharing resources and
sharing the wealth, and full of mean-
ing and significance. While the perks and benefits available to
Googlers are now well known
around the world (more on those below) there is a deeper and
more thoughtful set of factors that
are emerging from Google employees' comments on why it is
such a great place to work. As one
employee wrote:
“I have been in the high tech industry for 15 years and have

worked at 8 different companies, large and small.
Google is by far the most dynamic and meaningful company I've
worked at. The company founders are can-
did and accessible. Management processes are transparent.
Promotions are determined by peer reviews. En-
gineering decisions are made by engineers. This is a company
that is trying to make a difference in the world
in all ways, including fixing global warming (giving $5K
rebates to employees if you buy a hybrid car, lining
the rooftops with solar panels, giving employees bikes to ride
around campus). The "don't be evil" mantra is
more than skin deep; it is the core of the culture”
Google still serves free gourmet foods at all hours (eleven
cafeterias in Mountain View, one in
Kirkland and one in New York), provides transportation support
to get to and from work, child-
care and eldercare resources, on-site medical staff,
exercise facilities, Google toys, interesting guest
speakers and entertainers, and more. G o o g l e Qu i c k F ac t
s
Industry - Media
Headquarters - Mountain View, CA
CEO - Dr. Eric Schmidt
Founded - 1998
Ticker Symbol - GOOG
Website - www.google.com
Job Applicants - 761,799
Training - 120 hours/year
US Employees (FT & PT) - 8,134
Voluntary Turnover (FT) - 4.3%
Yet the more valuable message for everyone to take
from Google comes from the culture that the com-
pany has created – a culture in which managers are

seen as credible, employees are treated with respect
and workplace policies and practices are imple-
mented fairly. This culture has engendered a high
level of cooperation among employees and across
departments, and an intense commitment from
employees to the company and its mission. Google
employees are proud of their work, and greatly en-
joy the camaraderie of the workplace.
G e t t i n g S t a r t e d
Recruiting at Google is a serious undertaking, with over 1300
resumes a day coming in to their
personnel offices. Hiring the right people is one of the keys to
Google’s success. When the right
people are brought onboard – with the skills, interest and fit
with Google’s culture – fewer of
them leave. This means lower turnover and recruitment costs
and greater knowledge retention
in-house. 85% of Google employees who responded to the
random survey we use as part of the
Best Companies selection process indicated that they want to
work for Google for a long time, a
remarkable proportion considering the young median age of
their workforce.
O n c e y o u ’ r e i n , w h a t ’ s n e x t ?
Google employees are offered tremendous opportuni-
ties to learn and grow. Professional development op-
portunities offered to all employees include classes on

individual and team presentation skills, content de-
velopment, business writing, executive speaking, de-
livering feedback, and management/leadership. Free
foreign language lessons, including French, Spanish,
Japanese, and Mandarin are also sponsored by
Google. Given the prominence of engineers at
Google, particular attention is paid to providing
unique development opportunities for this group.
An Engineering training group, engEDU, provides
orientation and training classes, mentoring, career
development, and tutorial services – all programs
built by and for engineers. Google has also expanded
its global learning and development team during the last year
and is creating new leadership de-
velopment programs to help develop and support Google’s
future leaders. An astounding 92% of
employees responding to our survey indicated that they are
provided training or development to
further themselves professionally, and 97% indicate that they
are given the resources and equip-
ment to do their job.
98%
90%
93%
50%
60%
70%
80%

90%
100%
Google 100 Best 100 Best-Top Ten
Google and 100 Best Benchmarks:
"Taking everything into account I would say this is a great
place to work"
I n n o v a t i o n a n d C r e a t i v i t y
There is also a strong culture of innovation and ex-
perimentation at Google with engineers encouraged
to take 20% of their time to develop new product or
service offerings, or to provide enhancements to
current offerings. Some of the results of this “20%
time” can be seen in the beta offerings provided to
the public at the Google Labs website
(labs.google.com) which showcases experiments still
being evaluated and the ‘graduates’ – products and
services developed inside Google that are now part
of their current offerings.
“It's an incredibly open and progressive envi-
ronment. Individuals are provided with the op-
portunity to grow in a nurturing environment, to
contribute both as an individual and as a part of
a [very] large team - despite the growth and size
of the company, you still feel as though you mat-
ter and people actually care about you. I think
about the work I do and the contributions I make
and feel good about it.”

These success stories help to make explicit an aspect
of the Google culture that is common to many software
development firms yet is handled in a
unique way at Google. Innovation from inside the firm is the
norm for most engineering based
software development companies. What is unique at Google is
the support provided by the com-
pany, the collaboration among engineers working on each
others’ projects, and the final set of
results that Google is able to achieve with the creativity and
expertise of its engineers.
reserved. Page 2
Google hosts many external events throughout the year which
reflect a combination of their ex-
cellent recruiting practices
and their awareness of the
internal culture they want
to maintain. They are ex-
plicitly seeking to attract
the kinds of people to the
company who will be suc-
cessful in their open, col-
laborative culture.
“These events allow non-Googlers to share in the ‘creative
thinking, inno-
vating, learning and fun’ that is part of the Google work

experience. We’ve
designed these events to attract people who share our love for
problem solv-
ing and fast thinking. The events are an opportunity for us to
meet and get to
know potential Googlers. Equally importantly, they also give
attendees a
better idea of what the Google culture is all about and generate
interest in
Google among those individuals who are instinctively drawn to
events and
activities that are both a reflection and manifestation of our
culture.”
S o c i a l G o o d
One other element of Google that stands out as distinctive is
their explicit commitment to works
promoting broad scale social benefits. While they have been
critiqued at times for their informal
corporate motto “Don’t be Evil”, they have continued to hold on
to this phrase as an example of
their aspiration to live up to the highest standards of ethical
business conduct. Employees are
clear that the commitment to be ethical is part and parcel of
being a leader at Google. 99% of the
employees responding to our Trust Index survey indicated that,
“Management is honest and ethi-
cal in its business practices”. This is an inspiring response
given the ethical scandals that have
rocked the business world over the past few years.
The standards of conduct that Googlers adhere to concern

internal business practices (respecting
each other, protecting confidentiality, protecting Google‘s
assets, etc), external relations with cus-
tomers and partners, and the impact on of Google's work on the
larger society. This last standard
was a motivating factor behind the Google Solar Panel Project –
the largest solar panel installa-
tion on a corporate campus in the United States. On Google’s
website the number of kilowatt
hours of power generated in the previous 24 hours is posted,
along with an indication of its
equivalent in the use of common household appliances.
The depth of the culture that has been created at Google is
impressive. It’s not perfect - there is
no perfect company – yet it is clearly their culture that has
supported the creation of a great place
to work. Ninety-eight percent of employees who responded to
our survey said that, “Taking eve-
rything into account, I would say this is a great place to work”.
Google is #1 on this year’s list of the 100 Best Companies to
Work For. Again. Congratulations.
reserved. Page 3
• Revamped maternity leave policy gives new mothers who have
been Google employees for at least
1 year, 6 additional weeks of paid time off (a total of 18 weeks)
to bond with her newborn. New fa-

thers may take up to 7 weeks of paid time off during the baby’s
first year.
• Annual on-site Health Fair offers various free testing services,
including eye exams and cholesterol
testing; also offers free flu shots.
• Fuel Efficiency Vehicle Incentive Program encourages
employees to purchase hybrid cars by provid-
ing a $5,000 financial incentive.
• On-site perks at headquarters include medical and dental
facilities, oil change and car wash, courier,
fitness center, banking center, and free breakfast, lunch and
dinner on a daily basis
• The 2007 “[email protected]” series hosted 2008 Presidential
Candidate speakers, including Senator
John McCain, Senator Hilary Clinton, and New York mayor
Michael Bloomberg.
• 27 days of paid time off after one year of employment
• Unlimited sick leave
G o o g l e P e r k s & B en e f i t s
B e s t P e o p l e P r a c t i c e © E x a m p l e s
Creating a great workplace requires more than a spe-
cific set of programs and practices - there is no one set
of perks and benefits that works for all. Best Compa-
nies develop their own unique cultures in their own
ways, with the common feature being that employees
are able to say "I trust the people I work for, have pride

in what I do, and enjoy the people I work with."
T
R
U
S
T
Dimension How it plays out in the workplace
Credibility
Communications are open and accessible
Competence in coordinating human and material resources
Integrity in carrying out vision with consistency
Respect
Supporting professional development and showing appreciation
Collaboration with employees on relevant decisions
Caring for employees as individuals with personal lives
Fairness
Equity–balanced treatment for all in terms of rewards
Impartiality–absence of favoritism in hiring and promotions
Justice–lack of discrimination and process for appeals
Pride

In personal job, individual contributions
In work produced by one's team or work group
In the organization's products and standing in the community
Camaraderie
Ability to be oneself
Socially friendly and welcoming atmosphere
Sense of "family" or "team"
The following practices reflect a small selection of the
programs and practices that Google uses to build its
own strong workplace culture. These programs and
the specific ways in which they support and build the
Google culture are what make them work for this
company. Google seeks out brainy, creative, entrepre-
neurial people to join its ranks and provides strong
support for their professional growth and development
- all of which is consistent with its emphasis on the im-
portance of respecting people. Googlers also have many
opportunities to have fun during their work-day - help-
ing them to relieve stress, build camaraderie and fuel
creative thinking.
reserved. Page 4
The following examples of Google's Best Practices may inspire

you to pursue some creative ac-
tivities within your own organization.
B e s t P r a c t i c e s t h a t B u i l d C r e d i b i l i t y
Credibility is built through three interdependent sets of
behaviors and attitudes
found in the practice of two-way communication, competence
and integrity.
Effective communication invites two-way dialogue. Leaders
and managers are
clear and comprehensive with the information they share;
mechanisms are avail-
able to employees that afford them the opportunity to begin
conversations about
what they might need or want to hear. Competence is seen in
the skills and behaviors needed
for the effective coordination of people and resources, directing
employees’ work with the right
amount of oversight, and clearly articulating and pursuing a
vision for the organization as a
whole and for individual departments. Management’s integrity
depends on honest and reliable
daily actions. Managers strive to be consistent in what they say
and do, and promises are kept.
Additionally, employees have confidence that their managers
run the business ethically.
• Over the past year, Google has instituted quarterly company-
wide strategy sessions with senior
execs and separate sessions to assess the company’s

performance during the previous quarter.
These gatherings are intended both to celebrate the
organization’s achievements over the
course of the quarter and to introduce objectives for the new
quarter. In the spirit of TGIF,
Google’s informal weekly get together, they always provide
opportunities at these sessions for
employees to ask questions of senior leadership about the
company’s strategic direction and
performance. Functional teams supplement this all-hands
session with their own department-
specific meetings led by senior members. For example, the
Engineering Team holds a quarterly
“All-Hands” Meeting led by the Senior Vice President of
Engineering. As with TGIFs and the
quarterly performance meetings, the Engineering All-Hands
speaks to Google’s core philoso-
phy that employees prefer to hear company news in person, and
directly from their leaders,
rather than from an anonymous “cascaded” email chain.
• Google realizes that not everyone feels comfortable speaking
up in a public forum. That’s why
they conduct a series of regular surveys to solicit input directly
from employees on a range of
topics. The annual Job Satisfaction Survey, the Engineering
Team survey, the Sales Team Sur-
vey and numerous others gather data from Googlers
anonymously. They then draw on those
findings to improve and shape their various programs. They
publish the high-level results for
all Googlers to read on their internal website, and managers are
expected to discuss results with
their teams.
• Google has created an in-house blogging tool that allows

employees to start their own blogs.
Googlers can use these blogs to communicate personal stories,
to provide updates on work pro-
jects, or to share notes. These blogs can only be accessed
internally, and these online forums
are yet another way that Google encourages cross-functional
interaction across all levels of the
organization. Finally, over the last year they added modules to
our internal website MOMA
designed to solicit Googler feedback with online polls and with
key contacts in management
for various programs and issues.
reserved. Page 5
• TGIFs are an informal company-wide weekly get together
which include a preview of the
week to come, a recap of the week’s big events, and a question
and answer session. While
every week is a little different, the highlight of TGIF is always
the Question and Answer sec-
tion; no question is off-limits. Throughout 2007, Google has
continued to expand the TGIF
tradition along with their scale. Their team webcasts TGIFs to
Google offices around the
globe and archives them for those whose time zones or
schedules prevent them from attending
the meeting in person. Some of Google field offices have taken
to hosting their own TGIFs,
with senior leaders from Mountain View joining when possible

either in person or via video-
conference. They encourage all Google employees, regardless
of location, to submit questions
for TGIF through email if they can’t (or opt not to) ask the
question in person. Other
Googlers vote on these questions so that the most relevant work
their way to the top of the
queue.
• In addition to more formal venues, Google’s philosophy is
reflected in their “whiteboard” cul-
ture. Googlers start or add to whiteboard discussions on topics
ranging from future Google
products to life at Google. You’ll find these oversize
whiteboards all over Google. In addition
to the whiteboards, Googlers can find suggestion boxes
throughout the office, where they’re
free to enter any sort of suggestion from a new drink they would
like available to their dismay
over the continued use of disposable dishes.
B e s t P r a c t i c e s t h a t B u i l d R e s p e c t
Respect is demonstrated through practices that provide
professional support to
employees, encourage collaboration and allow for expressions
of care both in the
workplace and outside. Professional support is shown to
employees through
the provision of training opportunities and the resources and
equipment neces-
sary to get work done, as well as through the expressions of
appreciation for ac-
complishments and extra effort. Collaboration between

employees and management requires
that leaders and managers genuinely seek and respond to
employees’ suggestions and ideas, and
involve people in the decisions that affect how they get their
work done. Managers demonstrate
caring by providing a safe and healthy working environment,
and by showing an interest in
people’s personal lives. Caring managers are also aware of the
impact the work has on employ-
ees’ personal lives.
• Employees company-wide drive Google’s product
development process. More often than not,
they first release new products and features internally across the
company, allowing Googlers
to explore the product and provide feedback to the engineers
and managers who developed it.
They recognize that Googlers are demanding users, and that by
collaborating with them, they
can help ensure they launch products that serve both their
mission and their users. In addition,
they recently created a new program called the “Google-o-
meter” which allows people to post
ideas for changes and improvements at the company.
Employees can then vote on whether the
idea is good or bad which will move the suggestion up the page.
reserved. Page 6

• Google recognizes that the first few months of a child’s life
are precious. This year, they made
their maternity leave policy even more competitive. Effective
July 1, 2007, they provide moms
who’ve been with Google for over 1 year with an additional 6
weeks of paid bonding leave to
spend with their newborn—on top of the regular 12 week
allowance. Dads are encouraged to
spend 7 weeks of paid bonding leave with their newborn during
his/her first year. To support
employees while they bond with their newborns, Google
provides all US employees with
100% of their normal take-home pay during maternity/paternity
leave.
• Google wants employees to maintain the best possible
work/life balance, so they offer flexible
work hours, part-time work options, and telecommuting if the
specific job allows. A generous
vacation policy is provided and a vacation donation program is
also used to provide an oppor-
tunity for Googlers to help out their fellow co-workers during a
time of need. The program al-
lows employees to voluntarily donate a portion of their accrued
vacation hours to another eli-
gible employee in case of an emergency.
• While they maintain more specialized learning programs in
virtually every department, the
Engineering group has taken the idea of continuous learning to
new heights. The Engineering
training group, or engEDU, aims to provide Google Engineers
with compelling educational
opportunities throughout their lives at Google, including

everything from orientation classes
to mentoring to career development. A great example is the
Codelab tutorial series, which are
continually updated online modules designed to help engineers
get up to speed on new Google
technologies. They have broadened and deepened their focus on
learning throughout the last
year. They expanded their learning and development
management team worldwide. More-
over, they hired a new director who’ll be working to create
“Google University,” a centralized
learning organization designed to coordinate the numerous
offerings, ensure quality, and, over
the next couple of years, expand the range of educational
programs offered.
• In 2007, Google kicked off their “[email protected]” speaker
series, inviting 2008 Presiden-
tial candidates to stop by headquarters to speak with their
employees. So far, they’ve hosted
Senator John McCain, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg,
Senator Hilary Clinton, New
Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Congressman Ron Paul.
In addition to these political
luminaries, Google hosts regular Tech Talks where speakers
both internal and external present
their insights on timely topics. Google's engineering tech talk
program is a vital part of their
engineering knowledge transfer efforts. The program features
world-class engineers from both
within and outside the company, who share their ideas, best
practices, and technical acumen
across a wide range of topics. Googler volunteers organize
several talks a week at most engi-
neering offices, and engineers at other sites can attend these
internal talks remotely via video-

conference connections. They’ve made a large number of these
talks available to the entire
world via Google Video and YouTube, their outward-facing
video resources. The tech talk
program typifies Google’s culture, which encourages engineers
to air their ideas in an arena
composed of highly technical colleagues, who challenge each
other to push the boundaries of
their thinking.
reserved. Page 7
B e s t P r a c t i c e s t h a t E n s u r e F a i r n e s s
The three principles that support the practice of Fairness in an
organization are
equity, impartiality and justice. A sense of equity is conveyed
through balanced
treatment of all people in the distribution of intangible and
tangible rewards.
Manager impartiality is displayed through an avoidance of
favoritism in hiring
and promotions practices, and absence of politicking in the
workplace. Justice
is seen as a lack of discrimination based on people’s personal
characteristics, and the presence and
utilization of a fair process for appeals.

• In Q2 2007, Google announced a new equity program for
Googlers called Transferable Stock
Options (TSOs) – a first-of-its-kind program designed to help
Googlers derive value from their
options by selling instead of exercising them. Through this
program, they've devised an inno-
vative way for Googlers to capture both the "in the money"
value of their options, and also
their "time value.” “The goal is quite simple,” says David
Rolefson, Google’s Director of Com-
pensation Programs. “It is to increase the perceived value of
the option to the employee.” Es-
sentially, the TSO program accomplishes two things:
- Makes explicit the time value of the option
- Gives employees with vested options more opportunity to
monetize their options
• Google strives to create a work environment that attracts and
retains the best talent and en-
ables each individual to contribute to his or her full potential.
They leverage this unique work
environment by tailoring their recruiting programs to better
attract women and historically
underrepresented minorities. For example, they fund Employee
Network Groups (ENG’s)—
employee-initiated groups of folks who come together for a
common purpose or shared inter-
est. Google sees these groups as strategic partners in their
diversity programs, attracting, re-
cruiting and retaining top diverse talent. In addition to the
Google Women Engineers and the
Gayglers (Google’s GLBT group), the Black Googler Network,
Hispanic Googler Network,

and the Native American Googlers have all come together in the
past year and are already mak-
ing strides towards their goals of attracting and retaining top
talent to Google. These ENG’s
provide professional development opportunities within the
company and provide a bridge to
the communities in which they work and live.
• This year, Google continued to expand and award multiple
scholarships through partnerships
with organizations such as the Google Anita Borg Memorial
Scholarships with partner ABI
(Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology). Google
expanded the Anita Borg Memo-
rial Scholarship to match their growth into the Australian and
European markets in 2006-2007.
In addition to supporting the next generation of great technical
minds financially, these schol-
arships also provide hard-earned recognition for achievements,
as well as opportunities to net-
work with other scholars and technology professionals at the
Google Scholars Retreat. This
year's Scholars retreat in Mountain View (March 29-31) also
included 8 scholars from Google's
partnerships with UNCF (United Negro College Fund) and 18
HCF (Hispanic College Fund)
scholars.
reserved. Page 8

• Google maintains a strong Code of Conduct that it expects all
Googlers to adhere to. To insure
that Googlers feel safe in reporting any potential violation of
the policy, and/or asking ques-
tions about an action that might be construed to be a violation,
Google enforces a strict "no re-
taliation" policy. Retaliation for reporting a possible violation
of the Code of Conduct, other-
wise making a complaint regarding a possible violation of the
Code or participating in any in-
vestigation of a possible violation of the Code is strictly
prohibited. If a complaint of retalia-
tion is substantiated, appropriate disciplinary action will be
taken, up to and including termina-
tion. The Code of Conduct, and the No Retaliation Policy both
serve to uphold strong ethical
behavior at Google.
• Google has crafted an open door policy which reflects the high
value they place on the opin-
ions of employees. Under this policy, any Googler can
approach any manager to discuss any
issue. The official policy states: Google desires to maintain a
friendly, cooperative atmosphere be-
tween employees and all levels of management. Consequently,
the Company provides opportunities
for you to express yourself without recrimination. If you have a
problem with your Manager that, de-
spite your mutual efforts, cannot be resolved, you may discuss
this with the next higher level of man-
agement or with Human Resources. You may request that the
Human Resources person or a co-
worker accompany you in an advisory capacity in any meeting.
While Google prides itself on being
an open organization where you can approach any member of
management directly, we recommend

you first attempt to resolve the issue through your Manager or
Human Resources. If not satisfied, you
may then continue the process with the successive levels up to
the CEO. Concerns, conflicts and com-
plaints will be carefully considered and facilitated promptly.
B e s t P r a c t i c e s t h a t B u i l d P r i d e
Managers in great workplaces help to build employees’ pride in
their work and
the work of the company. Employees feel pride in their
personal jobs, and
know that their individual work makes a difference. The work
that is produced
by their team is a cause for pride and is supported through a
willingness to give
extra. People also feel pride in the company as a whole, based
on the organiza-
tion’s public reputation and standing in the community.
• Google’s faith and commitment to its mission drives their
engineers to make the world’s in-
formation accessible to all users. For example, in January of
2007, Google held its first-ever
“Accessibility Fixit.” Accessibility involves ensuring that
people with disabilities enjoy a user
experience equivalent to that of people without disabilities.
The “fixit” consisted of a day-long
series of seminars and discussion sessions designed to help
engineers at Google gain a first-hand
awareness of accessibility issues and to show them how to make

Google’s products more dis-
ability-friendly. As the Fixit’s organizers put it, “As we target
the mainstream population, it is
important to ensure that the user interfaces and applications we
create work for different seg-
ments of the population with widely differing needs and
abilities.” The Accessibility Fixit is
just one example of the power of our company’s mission to
inspire Googlers.
reserved. Page 9
• Google encourages employees to volunteer by alerting
Nooglers (new Google employees) to
volunteer opportunities on their first day at orientation. One
program that’s frequently high-
lighted is Google Grants, which donates free advertising
services to select 501(c)(3) non-profit
organizations. Google Grants is a unique, in-kind advertising
program, which, by harnessing
the power of Google’s flagship advertising product, Google
Adwords, enables non-profits to
better engage their constituents online. Google Grants has
awarded AdWords advertising to
hundreds of non-profit groups whose missions range from
animal welfare to literacy, from
supporting homeless children to promoting HIV education.
• In addition to the individual efforts of employees, as a
company, Google is passionate about

improving the world in which they live. Google has initiated a
number of programs to do
their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to improve
energy efficiency, and to support
clean energy sources. In 2007, they switched on the solar panel
installation at its Mountain
View headquarters. At 1.6 megawatts - and with an electricity
output capable of powering ap-
proximately 1,000 average California homes – Google’s is the
largest solar installation to date
on any corporate campus in the United States and one of the
largest on any corporate site in
the world. Moreover, the company also announced an initiative
designed to advance and
commercialize the development of plug-in hybrid cars.
Google’s work in this area has just be-
gun and they hope to do much more in the future. Meanwhile,
their dedication to the cause
will likely inspire their employees to become more involved as
well!
• Education is essential to Google's value system. Googlers
everywhere embrace this through
their ongoing commitment to learning, their open-mindedness,
and their efforts to help others
attain the same educational opportunities taken for granted at
Google. In this spirit, last De-
cember, the company proudly announced a partnership with
Teach For America dedicating to
supporting their work to effect change in schools and improve
students' opportunities across
the country. Google offers a two-year deferral to applicants who
are accepted by Teach For
America and who also receive a full-time offer from Google.
Participants in the program have
the opportunity to pursue a Google internship between their first

and second years of teaching.
After fulfilling their commitments in the classroom, participants
start in their full-time roles at
Google. Three candidates have already taken advantage of this
program in 2007.
B e s t P r a c t i c e s t h a t B u i l d C a m a r a d e r i e
Practices within the Camaraderie dimension encompass three
aspects of employ-
ees’ relationships with their co-workers. Employees experience
camaraderie in
the workplace through the level of intimacy they find, or the
ability they have
to be themselves. Hospitable workplaces are friendly and
welcoming to all em-
ployees, and encourage people to have fun during the work day.
A strong sense
of community develops in organizations where people feel that
they are part of a team or a fam-
ily, that they cooperate within and across departments, and that
people are connected by com-
mon values and purpose.
reserved. Page 10

• Google does their parties differently from other corporations.
Instead of a ballroom filled with
pretty flowers and champagne, you’d see enough themed color
and creativity to inspire the
imagination of every last employee. Google wants Googlers to
come together and talk to each
other about something other than work; and they find the best
starting point for this is to cre-
ate a dream world. As an example, approximately 6.500
Googlers and their guests descended on
Pier 48 in San Francisco for the 2006 Mountain View holiday
party. Overlooking AT&T Park
and the Bay Bridge, the event lived up to its ambitious theme,
"GoogOlympus," with each of
the eight spaces named for a different Greek god. In Poseidon, a
reggae band serenaded party-
goers while a deep-sea diver "swam" above their heads, while
Athena, the "urban goddess,"
transformed the docks of San Francisco into the streets of L.A.,
complete with day-glow bas-
ketball courts and low-riding Impalas bouncing around on
hydraulics
• Googlers pride themselves on being "Googley.” Over the
years, Google has nurtured a com-
pany spirit where it's all right (and even encouraged!) to be
quirky and a little irreverent.
Worldwide themed “special days” help foster their sense of
community and fun. For example,
in December, 2006, Google held a global Google Pajama Day to
celebrate their ability to be
professional without wearing suits. Reveling in Googleyness,
employees around the world
came to work in their favorite pajamas and fuzzy slippers.

• To round out their first week as Google employees, Nooglers
(as they are called) are recog-
nized at TGIF, Google’s all-hands meeting held every Friday
afternoon. Sitting in a reserved
section at the front of the room, they wear Noogler hats
(brightly colored propeller beanies
bearing the word “Noogler”) and plaques around their neck
displaying fun personal trivia of
their choosing. At the beginning of the TGIF program, Google
founders Larry Page and Ser-
gey Brin lead a round of applause to welcome the new folks as
their names are projected on a
large screen. For Nooglers, this TGIF represents one of their
first chances to experience the
team spirit of Google.
A d d it i ona l R es ou rc e s
• Join us for the 2008 Great Place to Work® Conference, April
2-4 in Saint Louis, Missouri, to learn
more about how to create great workplaces directly from Best
Companies leaders. For more informa-
tion, visit www.greatplacetowork-conference.com
• Nominate your company to be on Best Companies lists in
North America, Europe, Latin America
and Asia by visiting www.greatplacetowork.com/best/index.php.
• Consulting Services: We believe passionately that any
organization of any size or industry can be-
come a great place to work®. Great Place to Work® Institute,
Inc. consulting services are based on 25
years of researching Best Companies, and our in-depth
knowledge of how companies transform can
help you achieve higher levels of productivity and profit.

Through our assessment, action planning,
and advisory services, we can help you to measure, benchmark,
and positively impact employees’ ex-
periences of your organization.
reserved. Page 11
http://www.greatplacetowork-conference.com/
http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/index.php
Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. has conducted pioneering
research
on the characteristics of great workplaces for over 25 years. We
believe all
companies can become great places to work, and our mission is
to help
them succeed. Our Great Place to Work® Model© is recognized
as the stan-
dard for assessing great workplaces. In 30 countries around the
world, we
are proud to:
• Recognize the Best Companies for their achievements through
our international
Best Companies lists. In the U.S., these lists include Fortune’s
100 Best Companies to
Work For®, as well as the “Best Small & Medium Companies to
Work for in America”

published in collaboration with SHRM.
• Help companies create and sustain great workplace cultures
through our consult-
ing services. Our data collection tools (employee survey, focus
groups, 360º profes-
sional development tool) educational workshops and training
programs, action plan-
ning system, and strategic advising services all support the
transformation process
within any organization. The Institute’s unique access to Best
Companies’ data allows
us to offer unparalleled benchmarking opportunities, best
practice information, and
transformation insight to our consulting clients.
• Share resources, Best Practices, and Institute research through
our education ser-
vices. These include peer networking groups, workshops,
conferences, and publica-
tions which enable organization leaders to learn directly from
each other, as well as
benefit from our wealth of knowledge and lessons learned from
the Best Companies
and our clients.
For more information, please contact us:
Global Headquarters
Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
169 11th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415.503.1234
Fax: 415.503.0014

Consulting Services
Trolley Square, Suite 26-B
Wilmington, DE 19806
Phone: 302.575.1900
Fax: 302.575.1958
[email protected]
www.greatplacetowork.com
reserved. Page 12
Getting StartedOnce you’re in, what’s next? Innovation and
CreativitySocial GoodBest People Practice© Examples Best
Practices that Build CredibilityBest Practices that Build Respect
Best Practices that Ensure Fairness Best Practices that Build
Pride Best Practices that Build Camaraderie
Why is Google so great? Google Is #1 on this year's list of the
100 Best Companies to Work
For®
reserved. Page 1
Google, a seven year old internet communications and
technology company based in Mountain
View California, tops this year’s "100 Best Companies to Work
For"® list. With over 440 compa-
nies applying for spots on this year's ranking of the nation's best
employers, what set Google apart?
It could be the food - eleven gourmet restaurants on their
Mountain View campus that 100 Best list

co-author Milton Moskowitz says are incompara-
ble to anything he's ever seen at another company.
It could be the special and unique benefits (see
below) that include opportunities, to learn, grow,
travel, and have wildly zany fun during the work-
day. It could be the more thoughtful offerings
provided to Googlers such as a $500 take-out meal
fund for new parents, opportunities to ask the
founders about their vision for the future of the
company, or a chance to be involved in significant
community service. Yet, it is really no one of these
items. Google is the grand sum (and more) of all
these unique "parts" that together create an in-
credible workplace. It is the Google culture that
has vaulted this company to the Number 1 posi-
tion on the 2007 "100 Best Companies to Work
For"® list.
"These guys obviously had an
idea originally about the search
engine that was unique, but be-
yond that they had an idea at the
very start that they were going
to create a great workplace" says
Moskowitz. "They had so much
money - so much money in cash
- that some people would think
they don't need the imprimatur
of a list like ours - they could do
anything they wanted - so why
try and create a great workplace.
It's a difficult thing to do - it
takes effort and humility. Yet
they did it, they wanted to create
a great workplace and they did -

that was important to them, be-
yond simply making a lot of
money - how they treat people is
important."
Why is Google so great?
Google is #1 on this year's list of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies
to Work For®
G o o g l e Q u i c k F a c t s
• Industry: Media: Media: Online Internet
Services
• US Employees: 5063
• Training: 100 hours/year
• Voluntary Turnover (FT) 2.6%
• Job Applicants: 472,771
• Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
• CEO: Dr. Eric Schmidt
• Founded: 1998
• Ticker Symbol: GOOG
• Website: www.google.com
G o o g l e P e r k s & B e n e f i t s
• Up to $8,000/year in tuition reimbursement
• On-site perks include medical and dental facilities, oil change
and bike repair, valet parking, free washers and dryers, and
free breakfast, lunch and dinner on a daily basis at 11 gour-
met restaurants
• Unlimited sick leave
• 27 days of paid time off after one year of employment
• Global Education Leave program enables employees to take

a leave of absence to pursue further education for up to 5
years and $150,000 in reimbursement.
• Free shuttles equipped with Wi-Fi from locations around the
Bay Area to headquarter offices.
• Classes on a variety of subjects from estate planning and
home purchasing to foreign language lessons in French,
Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin.
100 Best Companies to Work For®
reserved. Page 2
The competition is steep for any company seeking to become
one of the Best, and certainly for any
company that shows up in the #1 slot. Yet Google chose a great
role model to help them create the
special culture that has supported their success. While definitely
creating and following their own
path, leaders at Google also turned to Genentech (#1 on the Best
Companies list in 2006) as a
source of ideas and wisdom to guide their growth as a company.
And they have grown well, with
confidence that their unique culture and approach to work life
have contributed to the overall suc-
cess of the organization.
In their Culture Audit (a key

component of the Best Com-
panies evaluation process) they
state, "There is no hard data
that can ever prove that a free
lunch and a multicultural,
campus-like environment con-
tribute to the organization's
success and profit. What can
be proven is that Google is
growing at an immense pace -
retention of employees is high,
attrition is low and revenues are strong ($6.1B in 2005). People
are eager to work at Google and
applications to our job openings are exceedingly high
(approximately 1,300 resumes a day)."
Google's employees confirm what is reported in the Culture
Audit, with 95% of the employees who
responded to the employee survey part of the Best Com-
panies evaluation process saying, "Taking everything into
account I'd say this is a great place to work." That's an
extraordinary sentiment for a fast paced, stressful yet
exhilarating work environment. Even people who leave
Google to try something different do so reluctantly (SF
Chronicle, 1/7/07).
Google's leaders have figured out the formula that works
for them by treating people with respect, supporting
their creative endeavors, and working hard to adhere to
their motto of "Don't be evil". It's not magic, or rocket
science or paternalism or entitlement. In some ways it is
plain common sense. As they explain in their Culture
Audit: "Our employees, who call themselves Googlers,
are everything. Google is organized around the ability to
attract and leverage the talent of exceptional technolo-

gists and business people. We have been lucky to recruit
many creative, principled and hard working stars. We
hope to recruit many more in the future. As we have
from the start, we will reward and treat them well."
T
R
U
S
T
Dimension How it plays out in the workplace
Credibility
Communications are open and accessible
Competence in coordinating human and material resources
Integrity in carrying out vision with consistency
Respect
Supporting professional development and showing appreciation
Collaboration with employees on relevant decisions
Caring for employees as individuals with personal lives
Fairness
Equity–balanced treatment for all in terms of rewards
Impartiality–absence of favoritism in hiring and promotions

Justice–lack of discrimination and process for appeals
Pride
In personal job, individual contributions
In work produced by one's team or work group
In the organization's products and standing in the community
Camaraderie
Ability to be oneself
Socially friendly and welcoming atmosphere
Sense of "family" or "team"
95%
89% 92%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Google 100 Best 100 Best - Top 10
Google and 100 Best Benchmarks:
"Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great

place to work "
reserved. Page 3
B e st P e op l e P r ac t i ce © E xa m p le s
Creating a great workplace requires more than a spe-
cific set of programs and practices - there is no set of
required benefits, resources or perks that works for
all. Best Companies develop their own unique cul-
tures in which employees are able to say "I trust the
people I work for, have pride in what I do, and enjoy
the people I work with."
The following practices reflect a small selection of the
programs and practices that Google uses to build its
own great workplace. These programs and the spe-
cific ways in which they support and build the
Google culture are what make them work for this company.
Google seeks out brainy, creative, en-
trepreneurial people to join its ranks and so provides strong
support for people's professional
growth and development - all of which is consistent with its
spoken emphasis on the importance of
respecting people. Googlers also like to have a lot of fun during
the work-day - to relieve stress,
build camaraderie and fuel creative thinking - so there are lots
of opportunities to have fun at work

as well.
The following examples of Best Practices may inspire you to
pursue some creative activities within
your own organization. That's exactly what's intended!
B e st P r ac t ice s t h a t B u i l d C r e d i b i l i ty
Credibility is built through three interdependent sets of
behaviors and attitudes
found in the practice of two-way communication, competence
and integrity. Ef-
fective communication invites two-way dialogue. Leaders and
managers are clear
and comprehensive with the information they share;
mechanisms are available to
employees that afford them the opportunity to begin
conversations about what
they might need or want to hear. Competence is seen in the
skills and behaviors
needed for the effective coordination of people and resources,
directing employees’ work with the
right amount of oversight, and clearly articulating and pursuing
a vision for the organization as a
whole and for individual departments. Management’s integrity
depends on honest and reliable
daily actions. Managers strive to be consistent in what they say
and do, and promises are kept.
Additionally, employees have confidence that their managers
run the business ethically.

• TGIF is a weekly, company-wide get-together started by
Google co-founders, Larry Page and
Sergey Brin. While it is used as a time to welcome new
employees and for senior leaders to
present news about Google and Google-related events that have
transpired over the previous
week, the highlight of TGIF is the Question and Answer section.
This section reflects the
leaders' belief that employees should feel comfortable asking
even the most senior members
"Google is a great company and I am very
proud to be a part of it. The perks are ex-
traordinary and this is the most unique
working environment I have ever been in.
The products, ideas, creative minds that we
have continue to amaze and inspire me."
(employee)
reserved. Page 4
of the management team any question and that the executives
should talk with employees as
openly as possible. No question is off-limits. Questions from
past sessions include "What are
Google's growth rate projections?" and "When is Google
relocating to Mars?" TGIFs are
webcast to Google offices around the globe and archived for
those who cannot make the

meeting due to time zone or other scheduling challenges.
• At Google, there are many internal e-mail lists dedicated to
the discussion of particular ideas,
issues and complaints. For example, on the "Google Ideas"
website, Googlers regularly sub-
mit their thoughts on product improvements or provide
suggestions about how to make
things better around Google. Their colleagues can then weigh-in
by providing their feedback
through comments and ratings - from 0 (Dangerous or harmful if
implemented) to 5 (Great
idea! Make it so). The management team pays very close
attention and is responsive to issues
that Googlers deem important enough to discuss on one of their
internal e-mail lists. Some-
times, the conversations started on one of these e-mail threads
have actually become the
topic of a larger discussion at a TGIF.
• At the quarterly "Kick-Off" meeting for Google's North
American Sales Organization, the
Sales Vice President discussed the team's performance against
quarterly objectives and an-
nounced group stretch goals for the coming quarter. These
quarterly meetings are capped off
by the Global Sales and Operations Conference, to which
Google's entire sales force (as well
as any employees who are in the San Francisco Bay Area) is
invited to attend. The Confer-
ence includes three days of presentations from senior leaders,
guest speakers and training
workshops. The highlight is the very candid, no-holds-barred
Q&A session with Google's en-
tire senior management team.

B e st P r ac t ice s tha t S h ow R e sp ec t
Respect is demonstrated through practices that provide
professional support to
employees, encourage collaboration and allow for expressions
of care both in the
workplace and outside. Professional support is shown to
employees through the
provision of training opportunities and the resources and
equipment necessary to
get work done, as well as through the expressions of
appreciation for accomplish-
ments and extra effort. Collaboration between employees and
management re-
quires that leaders and managers genuinely seek and respond to
employees’ suggestions and ideas,
and involve people in the decisions that affect how they get
their work done. Managers demon-
strate caring by providing a safe and healthy working
environment, and by showing an interest in
people’s personal lives. Caring managers are also aware of the
impact the work has on employees’
personal lives.
• Google promotes the professional growth and development of
its employees through an
education reimbursement plan. Googlers can be reimbursed up
to $8000 per calendar year on
pre-approved, work-relevant courses that are provided through
external training providers or
academic institutions. Engineers can also enroll in the MS at

Stanford Program, a one year
program at Stanford University designed to increase an
engineer's knowledge through a mas-
ter's program in a technical field. The cost of this program is
fully covered by Google.
reserved. Page 5
• Google offers a Global Education Leave Program for Googlers
who wish to take a leave of
absence to pursue further education on a full-time basis. The
education leave can be up to a
maximum of 5 years and the reimbursement may be up to a
maximum of $150,000. The edu-
cation leave program is a new program that was just announced
in 2006 and already has a few
employees who are utilizing the program.
• Because employee suggestions are a key-driver in Google's
product development process,
Google's products are often first released internally across the
company. This strategy allows
Googlers to play around with the product and provide feedback
and suggestions to the prod-
uct engineers and managers. Examples of products that have
gone through this process in-
clude Google News, Gmail, Froogle, Google Local, and Google
toolbar.

• The 20% project is a unique program for Google engineers,
which encourages them to dedi-
cate 20% of their time on a project outside their typical work
responsibilities that would po-
tentially benefit the company. The 20% project encourages
continual innovation by allowing
engineers to spend time on Google related projects that they
wish to pursue. By enabling
employees to recharge their creative energies, Google provides
an opportunity for employees
to move into new areas of work while also broadening their
knowledge base.
• Google understands the stress of bringing home a new baby
and that is why they have a take-
out food benefit to ease the transition. The take-out benefit
allows new parents to be reim-
bursed for up to $500 within the first 4 weeks that they are
home with the baby. It is a highly
used benefit from our employees as 90% of new parents take
advantage of this perk.
• Google offers free gourmet (and often organic) meals,
breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day,
and they also work on bettering the environment and supporting
local farmers or fishermen.
The cafés encourage the consumption of organic, healthy food
and serve only line-caught
fish (rather than farm-raised or wild net-caught). Prior to
stepping into the café line, employ-
ees are greeted with a healthy suggested meal for that day,
along with displays of appropriate
food consumption.

B e st P r ac t ice s tha t E n s ur e Fa ir ne s s
The three principles that support the practice of Fairness in an
organization are
equity, impartiality and justice. A sense of equity is conveyed
through balanced
treatment of all people in the distribution of intangible and
tangible rewards.
Manager impartiality is displayed through an avoidance of
favoritism in hiring
and promotions practices, and absence of politicking in the
workplace. Justice is
seen as a lack of discrimination based on people’s personal
characteristics, and the
presence and utilization of a fair process for appeals.
• Google's compensation philosophy is to deliver pay in ways
that support its primary business
objectives, which includes supporting the company's culture of
innovation and performance
and attracting and retaining the world's best talent. To achieve
these objectives, Google has
developed its compensation programs on a pay-for-performance
platform intended to pro-
vide "start-up-like" reward opportunities for strong performance
as well as downside expo-
sure with underperformance. This philosophy applies to all
Google employees, with increas-

reserved. Page 6
ing proportions of "leveraged" or "at-risk" compensation being
tied to increasing levels of
leadership and responsibility.
• Throughout the year, Google partners with several
organizations and conducts various re-
cruiting events in order to bring together a workforce that
reflects its globally diverse audi-
ence. It has worked with Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity
in Computing, the Grace
Hopper Conference, and the EntryPoint! program for students
with disabilities, among oth-
ers. The foundation of these recruiting efforts is a detailed
understanding of where the talent
pools are located - establishing research and managing to
metrics are an integral part of these
recruiting efforts. Today for example, Google's U.S. workforce
is 32% female, higher than
many other technology companies.
• The Founders' Award, Google's most significant and high
profile recognition program, is de-
signed to give extraordinary rewards for extraordinary team
accomplishments. While there's
no single yardstick for measuring achievement, a general rule of
thumb is that the team being
rewarded has accomplished something that created tremendous
value for Google. The

awards pay out in the form of Google Stock Units (GSUs) that
vest over time. Team mem-
bers receive awards based on their level of involvement and
contribution, and the largest
awards to individuals can reach several million dollars. In 2005,
Google awarded approxi-
mately $45 million in restricted stock to employees working on
11 different projects. Like a
small start-up, Google continues to provide substantial upside to
our employees based on ac-
complishments. But unlike a start-up, it provides a platform and
an opportunity to make
those accomplishments much more likely to occur.
• Diversity at Google is not just a "HR Program" focused on
recruiting its own workforce. In-
stead, it is something that runs throughout all levels of the
organization, and extends outward
to developing a pipeline to encourage girls and
underrepresented minorities to pursue studies
in math, science and engineering. To this end, Google supports
several organizations - Sally
Ride Science Festival, FIRST Robotics, Expanding Your
Horizons, TechBridge, Citizen
Schools - that provide after school programs, mentoring
relationships, competitions, and
technical skill workshops for girls and underrepresented
minorities who might not otherwise
have been exposed to opportunities in science and technology.
B e st P r ac t ice s t h a t D e v e l op P r i de

Managers in great workplaces help to build employees’ pride in
their work and the
work of the company. Employees feel pride in their personal
jobs, and know that
their individual work makes a difference. The work that is
produced by their team
is a cause for pride and is supported through a willingness to
give extra. People
also feel pride in the company as a whole, based on the
organization’s public
reputation and standing in the community.
• One of the reasons why employees feel proud to work at
Google is because its work is not
driven by profit as a main priority, but rather by the user and
user experience. This priority is
illustrated by a story in a Time Magazine article about an
incident at Google, in which Larry
Page rejected a proposal brought forth by Google engineers that
could generate millions in
reserved. Page 7
additional advertising revenue. His reason for doing this was
because he did not believe that
the modification would enhance the user experience.

• Google believes in making use of their talent, technology, and
other resources to make a lar-
ger contribution to the world. As such, Google Inc. donated
$90M to Google.org, which ad-
ministers Google's philanthropic activities. This money will be
used to focus on efforts to-
wards alleviating global poverty, and addressing energy and
environmental concerns. The
Google Foundation has made initial commitments to programs
such as the Acumen Fund, a
non-profit venture fund that invests in market-based solutions to
global poverty, and Tech-
noServe, which helps budding entrepreneurs turn good business
ideas into thriving enter-
prises.
• Googlers also often put a unique, Googley twist to community
involvement. Rather than
having people bring a few cans of food for holiday food barrels,
volunteer shoppers from all
over Google used cash collected to spend a single lunch hour at
Costco, racing to load shop-
ping carts and fill a huge semi-tractor trailer for the Food Bank.
The total contribution from
Google to the Second Harvest Food Bank ended up being over
$50,000.
B e st P r ac t ice s tha t S u ppor t C ama ra de ri e
Practices within the Camaraderie dimension encompass three
aspects of employ-
ees’ relationships with their co-workers. Employees experience

camaraderie in the
workplace through the level of intimacy they find, or the ability
they have to be
themselves. Hospitable workplaces are friendly and welcoming
to all employees,
and encourage people to have fun during the work day. A strong
sense of com-
munity develops in organizations where people feel that they
are part of a team or
a family, that they cooperate within and across departments, and
that people are connected by com-
mon values and purpose.
• One of the qualities that Google looks for and measures in
potential Googlers is their
"Googleyness" - is the candidate able to work effectively in a
flat organization and in small
teams and respond to a fast-paced rapidly changing
environment. Does he/she seem well-
rounded and bring unique interests and talents to innovate in the
work he/she does, and pos-
sess enthusiasm for the challenge of making the world a better
place? This "Googley" factor
plays an important role when candidates are evaluated during
the hiring process.
• Google encourages quarterly department off-sites in order for
teams to bond together while
having fun. This is a great way for Googlers to meet others in
the department as well as to
learn more about co-workers. There's a (true) urban legend that
a couple of guys celebrated a
new product accomplishment by shaving their heads in the
Google men's room.

• The décor of Google offices encourages much fun. Lava
lamps, bicycles, large rubber exer-
cise balls, couches, dogs, press clippings from around the
world, projection screens displaying
search queries or daily Google events fill the halls and offices.
According to an article in the
Seattle Times entitled "Big Google Ideas Generated Here"
(06/24/06): "If the Googleplex
exploded, the employees would have a hard time digging
themselves out of a shower of pi-
rate flags, action figures, t-shirts with funny sayings, leis,
ironic signs, a fringed leather vest,
thousands of game pieces, and giant Lego people."
reserved. Page 8
• One of Google's fun celebrations held in 2005 included a
"Jetaway on a Google Holiday,"
event in which employees enjoyed the perks of many world
cultures, including the London
club scene, Brazilian samba beats, and Tokyo karaoke, all from
the piers of San Francisco.
Cotton candy, a Ferris wheel, and funnel cake were some of the
highlights during Google's
summer picnic at the Mountain View headquarters, while the
Halloween festivities featured
people dressed as flowers, ghosts, pirates, computer systems,

and girl scouts, all competing
for prizes.
A d di t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s
• Join us for the 2007 Great Place to Work® Conference, April
18-20th in Los Angeles, California, to learn
more about how to create great workplaces directly from Best
Companies leaders. For more information,
visit www.greatplacetowork-conference.com
• Nominate your company to be on Best Companies lists in
North America, Europe, Latin America and
Asia by visiting
http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/index.php.
• Consulting Services: We believe passionately that any
organization of any size or industry can become a
great place to work®. Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.
consulting services are based on 25 years of re-
searching Best Companies, and our in-depth knowledge of how
companies transform can help you achieve
higher levels of productivity and profit. Through our
assessment, action planning, and advisory services, we
can help you to measure, benchmark, and positively impact
employees’ experiences of your organization.
reserved. Page 9

Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. has conducted pioneering
research on
the characteristics of great workplaces for over 25 years. We
believe all compa-
nies can become great places to work, and our mission is to help
them succeed.
Our Great Place to Work® Model© is recognized as the
standard for assessing
great workplaces. In 27 countries around the world, we are
proud to:
• Recognize the Best Companies for their achievements through
our international Best
Companies lists. In the U.S., these lists include Fortune’s 100
Best Companies to Work For®, as
well as the “Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in
America” published in col-
laboration with SHRM.
• Help companies create and sustain great workplace cultures
through our consulting
services. Our data collection tools (employee survey, focus
groups, 360º professional devel-
opment tool) educational workshops and training programs,
action planning system, and
strategic advising services all support the transformation
process within any organization.
The Institute’s unique access to Best Companies’ data allows us
to offer unparalleled
benchmarking opportunities, best practice information, and
transformation insight to our
consulting clients.

• Share resources, best practices, and Institute research through
our education services.
These include peer networking groups, workshops, conferences,
and publications which
enable organization leaders to learn directly from each other, as
well as benefit from our
wealth of knowledge and lessons learned from the Best
Companies and our clients.
For more information, please contact us:
Global Headquarters
169 11th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415.503.1234
Fax: 415.503.0014
Consulting Services
Trolley Square, Suite 26-B
Wilmington, DE 19806
Phone: 302.575.1900
Fax: 302.575.1958
[email protected]
www.greatplacetowork.com

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