by Lisa Grimaldi |
June 01, 2007
Employees eat
for free at
Google’s California
headquarters.
Google has long
enjoyed an enviable reputation as the premier search
engine on the web. Now, the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm’s
5,000-plus employees are themselves being envied for the myriad
perks that recently landed Google the number-one spot on a list of
the top 100 companies to work for, as compiled by the San
Francisco-based Great Places to Work Institute at the behest of
Fortune magazine.
The company was lauded for using a
variety of incentives and benefits to attract and retain the best
talent in a highly competitive field, including the following.
* On-site medical and dental
facilities;
* Free meals at the 11 gourmet
restaurants on company property;
* 27 paid days off after one year of
employment;
* Up to $8,000 a year in tuition
reimbursement;
* A “Global Education Leave” program
that enables employees to take a leave of absence of up to five
years to pursue further education, and reimburses up to $150,000 in
associated expenses;
* A $500 take-out food credit for the
first month employees have a new baby;
* On-site car washes and oil changes;
and
* A $5,000 stipend toward the purchase
of a hybrid car.
Additionally, Google offers yearly
bonus programs based on company and individual performance, as well
as an annual company-sponsored ski trip for employees.
“We recognize that Goog-lers have a
wide variety of interests both inside and outside the firm, and we
strive to design a benefits package that helps them balance their
busy lives and allows them to focus on doing the things they really
love to do,” says Sue Wuthrich, director of benefits for the
company.
And to make sure the perks and
incentives truly are motivating, staffers are surveyed often to
measure the quality of the services provided, says Wuthrich.