Free Food - -The economics, the psychology

Food at Google is free. And that doesn’t mean free lunch, it means free everything. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you choose; unlimited snacks, drinks, and coffee all day. There are some 30+ “cafes” across the campuses near me (Mountain View is 4 or 5 miles from my office; I am based in the newer Sunnyvale facility.)

When you join Google, there is reference to the “Google 15” (pounds) that people gain in their first year; akin to the “Freshman 15” when kids go off to college.

Google has recognized this, and made efforts to curb the trend. The visible snacks in the pervasive microkitchens are sorted according to their health value. The nuts, dried fruits, and cereal are in clear containers on the top shelves. There are M&Ms too; but they are in an opaque container so as not to draw your attention for an impulsive handful. The top set of drawers have granola bars, dried seaweed, dried edamame, etc. Plus some really irresistible and novel treats, like “coconut chips.” (How can you turn those down?)

The next drawers have popcorn and chips. You need to kneel to the bottom drawers to get the “bad stuff” like Kit Kat bars. The food in the cafeteria is healthy for the most part, and color-coded as green for vegetables; red for carbs, etc. I have eaten more varieties of kale over the last few weeks than I have ever eaten in my life. Plates are smaller than standard serving dishes, reducing the temptation to over indulge.

When we pay for food, we tend to “get our money’s worth.” I never ladle half a bowl of soup when I purchase soup….If I can’t finish it now, I’ll finish it later J But at Google, we aren’t paying for it. So I am trying to use this new reality as a catalyst to change that ladling behavior….Why NOT just take a bowl with a small quantity of soup? And just come back for more if you want some?

Not paying for food, though, also creates some bad snacking habits that sneak up on you. Like taking a handful of almonds every time you pass a microkitchen. (and there are microkitchens everywhere at Google - - ) Or drinking 3 cups of coffee over the course of a day. Paying for food creates a natural inhibitor. (Would I take that third cup of coffee, if I were paying $2.50, or would I recognize that I probably don’t really need it?)

So here is a suggestion for google. (Actually, just a suggestion to my blog friends, since googlers would shoot me for this suggestion…) Create an “economic barrier” to excessive eating. Make it such that you drop $1 into a bin, whenever you take a snack. That $1 will go to feed hungry people. They get to eat more, and we would likely binge less….

Being Googley

Google places a high premium on being nice, helping your colleagues, doing the right thing, not being “evil,” etc. Indeed, I am told that your evaluation and promotions are very contingent on how your peers evaluate you; your manager is not the key determinant for your perceived success in the organization.

So far, everyone really does seem…nice. And helpful.

And I wondered, what makes an organization generally “nice” rather than snarky and competitive?

It could be that these are the “shared values” of the organization, and people who join an organization espouse these principles because they know these are the behaviors that will enable them to succeed.

Or, it could be that Google “hires” for “Googliness” (a real term that is used here - -“being Googley” - ) - -and so the culture is created by populating the organization with like-minded people.

Or, as Amnon suggested, Google has created a culture where employees feel that their needs are met, that they can work hard and earn well, that the company values them with lots of perks, that there has never been a threat of layoffs, that they are truly treated as Googles “most valuable assets”…and so it becomes easy to be “nice”… -

The new coins of the realm

In the corporate world: How do you incentivize people to participate in meetings or come to a presentation? One of the incentives at IBM would be: “refreshments will be served.” Cookies are a great inducement.

What do you do when the cookies are already pervasive and plentiful? Food is no longer an incentivizer to “show up.”

But people still need incentives

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I am discovering the incentive system at Google. One is the full range of Google T-shirts that you get for participating in certain events. Some people proudly wear different Google T-shirts to work every day. Another incentive is…stickers. I participated in speech data acquisition this week. (You make recordings that the research team can use to improve speech recognition accuracy.) I have done this numerous times at IBM, and in return got a free lunch voucher. I now did this at Google, and got stickers to apply to my Mac. I wondered where people here got all the sticky “bling” for their computers. Now I know…you participate in stuff, and then you adorn your computer with these badges of honor. So we all need incentives, but they need to be provided in the context of what your society “values.” (Full disclosure…I would have contributed my voice for the advancement of speech technology…with or without the giveaways, at IBM or at Google…J)

Celebrating Diversity....Beyond the "targeted" group

I have participated in any number of “diversity events” in the past. Participants are often members of the diversity group you are celebrating (Hispanic heritage? Black history?), along with the diversity event organizers that are putting the event together. This sort of misses one of the goals of holding these events:  Sharing the culture with others unaffiliated.

Google hosted a Gay Pride event several days ago. It was held on an open air deck, immediately following the weekly “town hall” event (TGIF) with Google’s founders. So as thousands exited the auditorium where TGIF was held, they entered the space of the Gay Pride event. There were hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and entertainment. A DJ, comedian, dancers, and a grammy-nominated singer (Mary Lambert). People stuck around for hours – the closely-affiliated along with the less-affiliated. Everyone likes a party…

On the topic of sensitivity and awareness about LGBT issues: I neglected to fill in the field for “gender” (M/F) in one of my health care enrollment documents at Google. I got a note indicating that it was a compulsory field for government reasons, but with an acknowledgement and an apology that the gender selection choices were so “limited.” (For my particular case…it was just an oversight; I was perfectly fine just marking “F”…)

Green California

We live in the United States....where the rules and experiences (and language) are much more cohesive than, say, the more disparate states of India. But there are nonetheless notable state distinctions, between California and New York. (Since I am in northern California, maybe some of these are not state-wide? Maybe even unique to Sunnyvale or Mountain View? - - )

One noteworthy difference is ecological. 

The paper towel dispensers at Google often have stickers that state "these come from trees," to discourage waste. Funny...I can hear my mother's voice, when I was younger, saying "money doesn't grow on trees," (suggesting that if it DID, I could use as much as I wanted..:-) 

The waste at Google is distributed and color coded across four bins: non-confidential paper, compostables, bottles and cans, and landfill. (The "landfill" bin was clearly so named to sound particularly unpleasant ...) Google sources plastic utensils and plastic cups that are somehow plant-based, and these go into the compostable bin. It takes some extra time to think when you are discarding your trash here...

Plastic bags are no longer provided in the stores. You either bring your own canvas bags, or you can buy a brown paper bag for 20 cents or so. And to tell the sad truth, I miss the plastic bags from places like Target...I use them to carry my sneakers in my gym bag, to line garbage pails, and numerous other things! When I went home to NY last weekend, I packed a bunch in my carry-on luggage to bring back to California...But now, I treat them much more gently, since they need to last... :-)

Navigating new terrains

I have never been a good navigator. I imagine that even inherently bad navigators can improve, with focused effort. On the other hand, without focused effort, even your tiny latent abilities will wither. Amnon, on the other hand, is a superb navigator, with excellent memory for directions to places he has been, and an excellent sense for places he has not. As often occurs in marriages...you complement each others' skills and weaknesses. And so my already weak navigation has gone entirely to rest.

Fast forward to now...where I am navigating on my own in northern California. With considerable help from iPhone apps like Waze. OK, full disclosure, with pathological dependence on apps like Waze.

This afternoon, I got into the car with the goal of picking up some food supplies and stopping somewhere for dinner. To my horror, the internet was not accessible...through iPhone OR iPad...(My theory: There was a One Direction concert at Levi Stadium, 3 blocks from the apartment...and I think that volume of usage brought down the cellular network.)

It occurred to me that I had no idea where to go once I drove out of the apartment complex. I went back upstairs, to refer to a paper map. (I don't want to sound too much like a millennial...but paper maps are SO limiting, for the navigationally-impaired! I will inevitably make a wrong turn at some point, and then need to refer again to the map for "repair"...which you can't do while driving...)

There was an old TV commercial to discourage smoking...It showed a woman that woke up wanting a cigarette, and becoming progressively more frantic when she couldn't find one. It concluded with the woman saying, "That's when I knew I was addicted." This was my "ah ha" moment for iPhone or GPS addiction, too.

I don't know if I can fully wean myself, but it is time to start taking random drives around town, and developing a sense of what-is-where. Maybe even learning to distinguish north from south...