“Work Rules”

I have referred to the exceedingly generous perks offered by Google in earlier postings. Google has repeatedly been named the best company to work for.  LinkedIn has described Google as the most sought after place to work in the world. Since the perks are most visible and so outstanding, the first blush conclusion is that Google’s desirability and strong culture is because of the perks. And the second conclusion is that only a company with Google’s resources could be that generous.

I recently read “Work Rules,” a book by Laszlo Bock, head of “People Operations” at Google. (Even the name of the department – “People Operations” – is telling, and lovely…. where did companies ever get the term “Human Resources,” and why doesn’t the community of “people” object to such a dehumanizing label?)

The book describes a lot about the culture of what makes Google, Google - - and claims that it goes way beyond the perks. (I concur). It also points out that a lot of the “perks” are really a small cost to the company, and any company can offer these if they open their minds and default to saying “yes.”

Some key features of Google culture, contributing to a happy and productive employee community:

• Google is a “high freedom” company, where employees have a lot of latitude. For example, the informal concept of “20% time” - - giving Googlers 20% of their week to focus on projects that interest them.
• Managers cannot make unilateral decisions about whom to hire or fire, how their performance is rated, whom to promote, the final design of a product and when to launch it.  (So what do managers do? “Managers serve the team,” according to executive chairman Eric Schmidt.)
• There is a belief that people are fundamentally good, and Google treats them like owners instead of machines…”Machines do their jobs; owners do whatever is needed to make their companies and teams successful.” If you believe people are good, you must be unafraid to share information with them. Google shares everything, and trusts Googlers to keep the information confidential.
• Many of the “people practices” at Google started when Google was neither big nor rich. Weekly TGIF meetings, hiring decisions made by groups rather than a single manager, the policy of welcoming dogs to come to work with you, “free meals” in the early days which comprised cereal and milk and lots of M&Ms.
• The Founders letter when Google went public is telling:  “We believe it is easy to be penny wise and pound foolish with respect to benefits that can save employees considerable time and improve their health and productivity.”

The microkitchens and the cafes promote efficiency and community….and are indeed expensive, and harder to replicate by companies with fewer means… As are the free shuttle buses that drive Googlers all around Northern California, and subsidized child care. But most of Google’s people programs are (almost) free…and can be duplicated by anyone. The goal of the people programs is to achieve efficiency, community, innovation. On site car washes, dry cleaning, and mobile haircuts are “free” for Google; Googlers themselves pay for these services. Entrepreneurs are happy to have permission to come on site, and Google can negotiate some volume discounts for employees.  Programs like “Take your parents to work day” (really!), events like TGIF, juggling clubs, networks for “Gayglers,” “Greyglers,” “Women at Google,” “Black Googler Network,” and nap pods… contribute to culture, but cost the company almost nothing. Googlers have organized talks by external speakers as part of their personal 20% projects - - (with speakers that include Presidents Obama and Clinton, Game of Thrones author RR Martin, Toni Morrison, David Beckman) 

So as the book suggests….Many companies could do more to replicate Google’s culture. It is part of a “belief system” more than a function of “generous perks.”