An article, "Perk Place: The Benefits Offered by Google May Be Grand, But They're All Business" in this month's Knowledge@Wharton newsletter discusses Google's highly publicized array of employee perks and benefits. These include, but are not limited to:
- Free gourmet food
- Fitness center & spa
- Personal trainer
- In-house doctor
- Nutritionist
- Dry cleaning service
- Massage service
- Wi-fi equipped shuttle bus for commuters
Is this generous array of offerings provided purely for altruistic reasons? Of course not. The article details the business purpose served by the perks package:
The company wants to achieve several goals: Attract the best knowledge workers it can from the intensely competitive environment for high achievers; help them work long hours by feeding them gourmet meals on-site and handling other time-consuming personal chores; show that they are valued; and have them remain Googlers, as employees are known, for many years.
Stephen Gross, global leader of rewards consulting at Mercer sees this as the way in which Google is establishing its "employment brand". Peter Cappelli, management professor and director for the Center for Human Resources at Wharton has a simpler take: "These benefits help companies recruit people who are willing to spend most all of their time at work."
I read in a recent article that family and friends can also eat at the company cafeteria free. That's nice for the working family, pressed for time to prepare healthy meals, and allows workers to spend time with their loved ones even though they're at work.
Offering gourmet foods is special and important to Google since they have a multicultural workforce whose tastes would challenge many cooks. Many companies have a hard time offering palatable food at lunch and go with paper plates.
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AB - The family and friends thing is a nice, and unique, twist. Thanks for sharing that additional information, Frank.
Posted by: Frank Giancola | March 22, 2007 at 01:32 PM