Google unravels the formula behind its invincible team..

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Stanford graduates hit it off together when they plunged into their own Internet business close to their campus. Physically, the start up was a garage makeover, with free washer, dryer, shower and refrigerator being the only attractions of the job. Susan Wojcicki, who later became the company’s director of product management, owned the garage. Subsequently, a toaster oven and candy and snacks kiosks were added. All these little gestures helped the Page and Sergey duo to make a business triumph.

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The Larry and Sergey business feat is better known as Google, a powerful multi-billion dollar Internet search engine that satiates Internet users curiosity quotients. Today, the two young computer science graduates enjoy a celebrity status and offer advice on almost all news programmes while actively participating in high profile events like the World Economic Forum. The MIT technology Review Magazine described Larry Page as the “young innovator who will create the future.”

The Google differentiation

A thorough analysis of Google’s business success points to one feature that sets Google apart from the other players in cyberspace. It is the people policies at the company. Despite its success, the company has kept intact its values and principles. The corporate culture at Google is a replica of its culture in its infancy. The washer, dryer, and shower facilities are still very much a part of the benefits Google offers to its employees. The company went all out to help Susan Wojcicki when she was attending to her new born. Apart from the maternity leave, the company provided Susan and her family free meals till the baby was one week old. This is not all. In the past five years, the company has loaded its benefits package with more and more attractive options.

Larry and Sergey’s garage values have taken them a long way. Within just a year, Google added 500 employees to its workforce of 200 in the year 2002. Hiring therefore has become a long drawn process with over 1000 resumes waiting to be screened everyday by its 20 member filtering team.

HR as a function is of special interest both to Larry and Sergey. Both participate actively in all its projects. Every Wednesday the twosome meets up with Stacy Sullivan the Director HR, to discuss the hiring process in terms of the time it consumes, candidate difficulties etc. In addition, the duo offer suggestions to improvise the existing HR practices. For instance, Sergey suggested a hiring process that was purely based on resumes to save on the interview time. A pilot study is in progress, the results of which have been satisfactory so far.

What is in its culture?

If one comes across a well-dressed executive with a formal mein and body language in the company premises, one can be sure that he is a only visitor at Google. At Google formality and convention are alien. Candidates who behave and think conventionally are total misfits in the organisation. However, this does not by any means suggest indiscipline.

The company’s need for employees who are flexible and unconventional is evident right from its interview sessions. The interview room usually has different seating arrangements ranging from a leather-upholstered chair to a beanbag. A candidate who prefers the beanbag (unconventional preference for an interview) interests the panel members. At Google, interviewers also look for candidates who believe in their thinking capabilities rather than depending on the team for inputs. This apart, Stacy Sullivan and her team make an effort to keep in regular touch with the top management professors for updates on their best students. This helps them in identifying the best of the talent and making them a part of their invincible team.

Interestingly the duo passionately believe that it is the effort one puts in workforce management that gives companies their competitive edge more than their products.

Benefiting benefits

Employees are covered under their health and 401(k) benefits policy right from day one of their service. New employees are entitled to a three-week long vacation in the first year of their service. Google does not believe in sick leave, if an employee is sick, he simply stays at home. The physician is available on site twice a week, and employees enjoy free breakfast, lunch and dinner for the time they are sick.

In addition, the company has an array of benefits. These include:

Corporate sponsored childcare
Google has a corporate membership with Heads Up, a childcare and tuition centre. Google employees are given priority in the waitlist allowing faster enrollment in the programme. In addition, Google pays 5 per cent of the programme fees.

Concern
This counselling unit assists employees with legal and personal issues, apart from providing guidance in their financial matters.

Dental care
Employees at Google enjoy the benefits of dental hygienist just inches away from their desks. The dental clinic facilities are made available to the employees on a regular basis in a parking garage with state-of –the art facilities.

Physical fitness
Google brings gym to work. The company has an on-site gym with facilities that cater to a range of fitness requirements. Right from weight training to light exercises, the equipment is all there.

Maternity and paternity leave
The company pays its employees 75 per cent of their salary in the first 3 months of maternity leave. Even while on leave employees are entitled to receive health, vision and dental care plans. In addition, $50 per day is given to employees to spend on meals-on-wheels for the first two weeks after delivery.

At Google, it’s ‘like mom, like dad ’. The male members are entitled to a two weeks fully paid leave to spend time with the new born.

Massage
Google employees resort to its on-site massage facility for relieving stress.

Marching ahead
Equipped with its innovative and creative people practices, Google is all set to take over the top slot in the cyberspace. Despite its expansion and “big corporate” status, the company has made a deliberate attempt to maintain the small company feel that provides employees a certain degree of comfort. Unlike its product that puts an end to the most difficult of searches, Google continues to search for talent with an obsessive commitment to perfection.

Reference:
The ManageMentor