The Google Amenities - - Treating employees like "adults" - -(Actually, like royal adults)

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We all hear about the perks of working at Google. Let me start by saying...whatever you have heard, it is true. I didn't do a lot of research on the perks before coming here...I just knew about the perks touted most often, like free meals.

The list is...almost endless. Google takes pride in keeping employees happy, with the view that happy employees are productive employees. And happy employees will be less likely to leave for other tech opportunities that abound in Silicon Valley.

There is a micro-kitchen in every building. Coffees, teas, cashews, almonds, locally sourced fruit, and other healthy snacks. The juices are fancy organic carrot juice, mango juice, etc. On the 3rd floor, there is a barista, in case you prefer professionally-made gourmet coffees with designs in the microfoam in a coffeehouse atmosphere. There are multiple cafes on campus, with famous chefs at the helm, preparing culturally diverse dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The bathrooms have Japanese-made toilets with heated seats.The grounds are lovely, fragrant with flowers, and with interesting seating all around if you prefer to work outside. There are interesting clusters of seating inside, too, if you opt to leave your desk to work in an alternate setting.

I found another blog about the Google grounds, that includes lots of pictures (including the toilets...) - -I include it here:
 http://www.whereverwriter.com/how-to-get-a-tour-of-google-headquarters-mountain-view-california/

Right now, I discover all of these options with wonder, like a child, or a traveler to a new country. I am amazed at every turn, and taken aback at this ever-so-indulgent work environment. Others, over time, have come to take it for granted. New hires who have not worked in other places before probably conclude that this is the norm for the working world. It is not.

My cousin has commented in jest that I need to make sure that I don't look like a NY tourist, gaping in awe as I look up at the tall buildings that everyone else passes in stride :-)

But I want to challenge myself to *not* take any of this for granted, ever. These are exceptional amenities, and I want to stay grateful and in awe for as long as I'm here. Let's see how long *that* lasts....How long will it take for me to complain that they don't have my absolute favorite type of flavored water in stock, as though it's an entitlement...

The packing process

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I knew that I should expect many culture shifts between IBM and Google. One that became relevant even before the big transition was that IBM Research in NY has private offices, while Google has communal space. There are philosophical differences at play here... should employees work in private spaces, and then convene in communal spaces, or should "home base" be communal, with private spaces scattered about for private meetings, conference calls, etc.? I can leave these questions to corporate space planners...but for me, I had to figure out what to do with "stuff" that accrues after working in one place for nearly 17 years. and decorates your office.

I wish that everything had "expiration dates" like milk or yogurt. If something hasn't been looked at in 10 years, safe to say you can let it go...

Let's start with the shelves that I had at IBM and would not have at Google. The shelves had become museum ledges for all of my textbooks from graduate school. Even a few gems from undergrad. A dictionary of Ancient Greek....not opened, lately. Indeed, almost none of the books had been opened lately. Most hadn't been opened since graduate school. And even if I suddenly wanted to refresh my understanding of acoustic phonetics...would I open textbooks from 25 years ago, or would I seek something "fresher"? The answer is clear. Many, many books got donated. But sentimentality reigns...I still kept quite a few, which will probably live in storage boxes in the basement for more years than they should.

The most amusing collection of useless "saves" were business cards. I had hundreds of them in the archives.  As I looked at them, I realized that many of the companies represented on the cards are no longer in existence. Or the people that worked there then no longer do. And for most of the cards, I didn't have a clue about where they came from. Perhaps I gave a talk at a conference 5 years ago and someone gave me a card as we discussed the presentation afterwards? Maybe it was from a conference that was 10 years ago? In any case...There is no "networking" value for most of these business cards..."I met you somewhere, and I don't know when, but I wanted to follow up about something??" Nearly all of the cards got tossed. How cathartic.

To blog or not to blog?

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I created a blog during our family overseas assignment in India, that got a lot of traction, views, and comments. (Some 15,000 views over the course of the year - ) - I mused with the idea of creating a blog for California - "California Blogging" - -but thought that this would be inevitably less interesting than musings from India. I still think so, but there are nonetheless insights to share...about leaving a company you know where you have deep roots and deep affection (IBM Research) and transitioning to another company (Google!). Lots of musings came to mind - related to packing, and leaving, and living mostly in California, and the Google experience. So another blog seemed appropriate...