I want to work for Google

[aspentosh]

bgr.com/2013/01/22/google-employee-satisfaction-system-301717/

Anyone who criticizes Google (GOOG) for allegedly stalking its own users should give the company credit for consistency, because it apparently does the same thing to its own employees as well. Slate’s Farhad Manjoo has written a lengthy article that details the measures Google takes to monitor its employees’ emotional states to ensure that they’re the happiest workforce in the world and the details are extremely impressive.

For instance, when Google’s human relations department — which the company internally calls “People Operations” — discovered that it had a higher attrition rate among women than men, it immediately went to work figuring out why women were more likely to leave the company. Once the department discovered that its problems were primarily with pregnant women, it instituted a five-month maternity leave plan with full pay and benefits that also gave new mothers flexibility on when they could use their time off. Manjoo says that the policy has been “a winner for the company” that helped reduce “Google’s attrition rate for new mothers… down to the average rate for the rest of the firm.”

Manjoo says that such on-the-fly policy changes are common for Google’s People Operations, which relies on a “sophisticated employee-data tracking program, an effort to gain empirical certainty about every aspect of Google’s workers’ lives — not just the right level of pay and benefits but also such trivial-sounding details as the optimal size and shape of the cafeteria tables and the length of the lunch lines.” Given that Google has been trying hard to use the vast amount of data it has on users to tailor its services to them on an individual, personalized level, it’s hardly surprising that the company is using the same approach for maintaining workplace happiness.

“We have the luxury of being a data-driven company with people with the analytic chops who can do the math,” People Operations chief Laszlo Bock tells Manjoo. “We also have a large enough scale so that when we run experiments, they’re statistically valid.”

[catbus]

Their maternity leave policy is awesome, and I wish more companies would follow in their footsteps rather than just doing whatever they're required to by law.

However, overall I wouldn't want to work for Google. I've known a couple Google employees, and some friends are really good friends with Google employees at HQ in California, and all have a pretty horrible work/life balance. There are reasons Google campuses contain basically anything you could ever need (doctor, daycare, salon, auto shop): The employees have no excuse to not be at work.

[MadamePresident]

I would love to work for them. They have been my dream company, I would even clean the toilets, but I live no where near a Google office.

[aspentosh]

That's sad to hear, catbus.

madame- there is an office right up the road, but nothing in my line of work. Sad panda.

[Deleted]

Agree with catbus. Google is notorious for having a horrible work/life balance. 80-100 hour weeks are the norm. No thanks.

[glitzy07]

That would be a pretty awesome leave policy.

I have a good friend who went through the interview process for a public relations position at Google. She went through several (5+, I think) phone interviews with different members of the department before being eliminated from the running for the position. They're incredibly thorough with their hiring process.

[dexteroni]

Jan 23, 2013 11:58:34 GMT -5 catbus said:

Their maternity leave policy is awesome, and I wish more companies would follow in their footsteps rather than just doing whatever they're required to by law.

However, overall I wouldn't want to work for Google. I've known a couple Google employees, and some friends are really good friends with Google employees at HQ in California, and all have a pretty horrible work/life balance. There are reasons Google campuses contain basically anything you could ever need (doctor, daycare, salon, auto shop): The employees have no excuse to not be at work.

This, exactly. I know a couple people who have or currently work for them and based on their work demands, yeah no.

[halfpint]

I really appreciate, though, despite the work/life balance, any company that puts that much effort into keeping their people happy. People are an expensive resource, expensive to hire, expensive to replace, expensive to go without, and unhappy people tend to be unproductive and a drag on resources. That's obviously putting it in very business-like terms, but that's the bottom line. Too many large companies are happy to expect their employees to be grateful for the opportunity to work there, and come to work and "do their job" - especially older, more traditional companies.

[littlemisssunshine]

My brother was offered a software engineer job at Google this year. When they called to offer him the job they asked for a physical address so they could mail him the offer as well. The next day a Google Chrome netbook showed up at his door preloaded with the offer on it. He ended up turning them down due to a variety of reasons, work/life balance being one of them. He said the CA campus was beyond amazing though and it would have been a cool company to work for.

[imojoebunny]

My cousin works there. She loves it. They treat her very well, and in exchange, she does the same. She gets a lot of perks, like she never has to cook or go out to eat. Many chores can be done right on site, like mailing things, dry cleaning, ect. She has had opportunities to travel, and even to do time abroad, which she likes.

[cjeanette]

Wow. If I want another kid I need to apply at their Kansas City offices.

[mellymel]

Jan 23, 2013 12:41:36 GMT -5 littlemisssunshine said:

My brother was offered a software engineer job at Google this year. When they called to offer him the job they asked for a physical address so they could mail him the offer as well. The next day a Google Chrome netbook showed up at his door preloaded with the offer on it. He ended up turning them down due to a variety of reasons, work/life balance being one of them. He said the CA campus was beyond amazing though and it would have been a cool company to work for.

As an HR Manager, I think this part is really cool. Did he have to return the Google Chrome?

[womet]

Jan 23, 2013 11:58:34 GMT -5 catbus said:

Their maternity leave policy is awesome, and I wish more companies would follow in their footsteps rather than just doing whatever they're required to by law.

However, overall I wouldn't want to work for Google. I've known a couple Google employees, and some friends are really good friends with Google employees at HQ in California, and all have a pretty horrible work/life balance. There are reasons Google campuses contain basically anything you could ever need (doctor, daycare, salon, auto shop): The employees have no excuse to not be at work.

Great maternity leave is nice, but for the reasons catbus describes I would not want to work there.

[aspentosh]

STOP BURSTING MY GOOGLE BUBBLE!!!

[catbus]

I will say the two people I know who work at Google here say it beats working at Amazon. :-)
Edit: both software engineers. They said AMZ had a similar balance (for engineers) but far fewer perks.
H works for Starbucks and has a wonderful work/life balance. No super-amazing perks, but we will get subsidized child care once a spot opens up.

[orangeblossom]

Does anyone work for SAS or know someone who does? They are consistently ranked one of the best places to work for, and I think moved to the #2 spot this year.

They have similar perks as Google (well maybe not the maternity leave), but I've heard the work/life balance can be tough.

[jillybean222]

Interesting, but no amount of maternity leave or compensation would have brought me back to work after I became a mom - I wanted to stay home and we could afford for me to stay home so I stayed home. Women are a liability in that sense. It is one of those "it is what it is" things, I guess.

I wonder what happens when, after 5 months of paid maternity leave w/ benefits, a mom decides that work isn't where she wants to be. Does she have to pay it all back or do they take the chance 100% of the time?!?!?!

[womet]

Jan 23, 2013 13:32:36 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Does anyone work for SAS or know someone who does? They are consistently ranked one of the best places to work for, and I think moved to the #2 spot this year.

They have similar perks as Google (well maybe not the maternity leave), but I've heard the work/life balance can be tough.

No, but when I took a class there, the head of the Atlanta office asked me to apply for a job. I said I'd have to look into it more. The salary range was way below my current salary, so I didn't apply.

[orangeblossom]

Jan 23, 2013 13:37:48 GMT -5 womet said:

Jan 23, 2013 13:32:36 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Does anyone work for SAS or know someone who does? They are consistently ranked one of the best places to work for, and I think moved to the #2 spot this year.

They have similar perks as Google (well maybe not the maternity leave), but I've heard the work/life balance can be tough.

No, but when I took a class there, the head of the Atlanta office asked me to apply for a job. I said I'd have to look into it more. The salary range was way below my current salary, so I didn't apply.

I've taken a class at the Charlotte campus and main campus and both are really nice. Very interesting that the salary was way less. I would have thought the same or more, if anything.

[UnderProtest]

Jan 23, 2013 13:32:36 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Does anyone work for SAS or know someone who does? They are consistently ranked one of the best places to work for, and I think moved to the #2 spot this year.

They have similar perks as Google (well maybe not the maternity leave), but I've heard the work/life balance can be tough.

Eeeh, I don't believe those rankings at all. The Big Four public accounting firms are always on there and they are anything but a good place to work. They may have programs that are great, but you are encouraged not to use them and the work life balance is horrible. 

[womet]

Jan 23, 2013 13:41:46 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

br]I've taken a class at the Charlotte campus and main campus and both are really nice. Very interesting that the salary was way less. I would have thought the same or more, if anything.

I think the salary was respectable, but not near my GS-13. It would have been an interesting job (more in the teaching realm), but my heart doesn't lie there completely.

[Nonny]

Jan 23, 2013 12:12:05 GMT -5 MadamePresident said:

I would love to work for them. They have been my dream company, I would even clean the toilets, but I live no where near a Google office.

It's very unlikely that the janitorial staff is actually a Google employee.  Support staff at Microsoft (janitorial, groundskeepers, cafe employees, and the like) all work for other companies who have contracts with MS.  They might get to have free sodas, but they don't get the same benefits as the engineers.

[rebekistan]

I get the sense that, for programmers, working at Google opens so many doors that putting in your time there for a little while can do amazing things for your career. MH works for a non-profit that doesn't demand more than a 35-hour workweek, yet he is always programming in his free time because he likes working on the projects. He has heard that Google encourages you to work on projects you're interested in pursuing. As long as they let you WFH in the evenings/weekends, he would be all over a job at Google!

[7costanza]

Also regarding the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work, companies have to apply for the award. So it's not like Fortune is actually going out and finding the real best places to work.

[hski2349]

Jan 23, 2013 14:14:28 GMT -5 rebekistan said:

I get the sense that, for programmers, working at Google opens so many doors that putting in your time there for a little while can do amazing things for your career. MH works for a non-profit that doesn't demand more than a 35-hour workweek, yet he is always programming in his free time because he likes working on the projects. He has heard that Google encourages you to work on projects you're interested in pursuing. As long as they let you WFH in the evenings/weekends, he would be all over a job at Google!

I listened to a Freakanomics podcast with one of the top people from Google.  He was saying that Google has a policy where employees are required to you 25% of their time to work on a project of their choice.  An engineer did that and wanted to change how email worked and he basically created the first version of gmail.  And from their the expanded it into what it is today.   He also said that many projects people work will not be successful, and people realize that once they start working on them.  But then there are those ones that pop up and are amazing. 

[Deleted]

It's my experience that some of the corporations with the best perks also have the worst work/ life balance. They have to offer some kind of incentive for anyone to want to work there.

[FWP]

Jan 23, 2013 14:05:41 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Jan 23, 2013 12:12:05 GMT -5 MadamePresident said:

I would love to work for them. They have been my dream company, I would even clean the toilets, but I live no where near a Google office.

It's very unlikely that the janitorial staff is actually a Google employee.  Support staff at Microsoft (janitorial, groundskeepers, cafe employees, and the like) all work for other companies who have contracts with MS.  They might get to have free sodas, but they don't get the same benefits as the engineers.

I don't know about janitorial staff, but the wife of one of my coworkers works as a daycare provider on campus and I am pretty sure she gets access to the perks.

[krisandgrace]

Jan 23, 2013 13:32:36 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Does anyone work for SAS or know someone who does? They are consistently ranked one of the best places to work for, and I think moved to the #2 spot this year.

They have similar perks as Google (well maybe not the maternity leave), but I've heard the work/life balance can be tough.

My sister worked for SAS but quit last year. I think the perks were really good but she had a horrible boss.

[mrssandro]

One of my dream companies to work for.  (heart)

[abramos]

Jan 23, 2013 14:41:06 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

It's my experience that some of the corporations with the best perks also have the worst work/ life balance. They have to offer some kind of incentive for anyone to want to work there.

Agreed. While Google is only a 15 min drive for where I am, I enjoy leaving work at work. I do not think I could handle working 80-100 hrs a week. No thanks.