The Google Culture: “Don’t be evil.”
When reading about Google’s corporate culture recently, it reminded me of Comm classes on “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) and “People, Culture & Teams”.
When Google Inc. was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while at Stanford University, it was a search engine designed to use backlinks to check the ‘importance’ (and therefore determine the order in which sites would be listed when searched for) of websites. Today, we know Google a tech giant, as servicing a number of needs, including apps, operating systems and phones. This year, as well as in 2007 and 2008, Google was ranked as the most attractive company to work for.
Now obviously it’s appealing to work for a big company and have access to resources you may not have had access to otherwise, but what sets Google apart? It’s likely their corporate culture, which endorses a laid back approach to business and simple, catchy corporate philosophies such as “Don’t be evil” (ie. you can make money without doing bad). This element of CSR embedded in the company’s ethos is certainly an element of what attracts potential employees to the company.
Furthermore, they take care to incorporate this “work combined with play” attitude within the infrastructure of the work environment itself, as you can see by this video, a tour around Googleplex, Google headquarters:
Google is clearly aware of the new ways in which the tech business is being run. As one employee states in the video “Google takes care of us”, and with gyms, free massages, amazing food and even laundry services, Google is creating not just a workplace, but a home, that is sure to attract the biggest talents in the tech industry.
Though not every company can afford to pamper their employees like Google, clearly taking care of your employees pays off. Google has experienced great success, and I would attribute much of it to their ability to cater to their employees and understand that a traditional corporate structure is not always the best one.
Some links for reference:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/full_list/
http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/
http://www.google.ca/about/company/facts/culture/