Google Inc. (GOOG): How It is a Great Place to Work

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been a strong company for investors over the last 15 years, and has become a cultural icon with its omnipresence in virtually anyone’s online life. But while Google has also taken some heat for its data collection practices in order to maximize revenue with its advertising efforts.

But Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is not hypocritical – not only does the company collect lots of information about users of Google-related Web sites, but apparently it also gathers exhausting data about its employees and potential employees. And the company uses this information to develop an office that is efficient, cost-effective and meets the needs of each employee to make Google one of the country’s best places to work. This little “secret” was revealed in a story on Slate, in which the writer went inside the company to learn some of the reasons why Google has become such a good place to work.

The genesis of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) as a “happiness machine” began several years ago when the company notices a mass exodus of women. Google wanted to take pride in diversity of its workforce, so heavy losses of women from the company dictated some research to determine what was going on. The company found that the largest demographic of departures from the company was new mothers, so the company upgraded its maternity leave policy, increasing the full-pay, full-benefits maternity leave from 12 weeks to five months. Since then, the attrition rate has changed dramatically.

But this is just a sample of what Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) does to be the best place to work for the fourth straight year by Fortune magazine. All of the benefits – which include gourmet food and commuting shuttles with Wi-fi – all come from elaborate data compilation about employees.

What does some of this look like?

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been all about data compilation and analysis. From analyzing the hiring process to determine the “optimal” number of interviews of candidates for jobs, to having social scientists help determine details like the best way to offer a raise to an employee (more salary, stock or more time off) or how often to remind employees to contribute to their 401(k) plans, nd what tone to use when doing so.

“We make thousands of people decisions every day,” said Prasad Setty, who heads up the “people analytics” groups in the People Operations department (known elsewhere as human resources) at Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). “What we try to do is bring the same amount of rigor to people decisions that we do to engineering decisions.”

What do you think about Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) as a company? What benefits would you like to see that would keep you happy in a job? Give us your thoughts about the workplace and Google’s work in human resources.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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