Google

The 4E's of Google Strategy

Unlike companies with swarms of MBA's making slides few will cherish,
Google has an experimental culture that empowers employees, but
ultimately defends its core. The approach can be broken down into four
parts.
The first part is 'Earn'. Google makes 95% of its money from advertising.
Even though other parts of its business are growing faster, it's not going to
change its focus from its core products to the new projects.
The second part of the strategy involves enticing people to use services
that can either deliver ads or collect data to improve targeting. Others fall
into the Expand category where Google seeks to increase internet usage.
If you're online more, Google knows it will ultimately benefit. That
explains projects like self-driving cars or wifi balloons in Africa.
Finally, Google lets employees experiment. Some become full-fledged
products. Other experiments are "big-bets" on things like solar or
investments by Google Ventures in promising startups it might someday
ingest.

Recruitment
Questions testing till what extent the
employer can think
Objectives and Criterias of hiring

1. Brainteasers
For years, Google's most famous and feared hiring strategy was asking applicants
questions that were seemingly impossible to answer, like, "How many golf balls can
you fit into an airplane," and "How many gas stations are in Manhattan?" In theory,
they were intended to measure potential hires' ability to think analytically. But in
practice, According to Google- They don't predict anything. They serve primarily to
make the interviewer feel smart.

2. In leaders, the most important quality is consistency. The toughest jobs to hire for,,
are leadership positions, because the characteristics Google look for are "more
amorphous and ambiguous" But among these intangible qualities, the most critical is
consistency.
3. GPAs and test scores don't matter.
In the past, Google was known for asking potential hires for a copy of their college
transcripts and test scores. They've since given up on that strategy, because, Bock
says, "After two or three years, your ability to perform at Google is completely
unrelated to how you performed when you were in school, because the skills you
required in college are very different. You're also fundamentally a different person.
You learn and grow, you think about things differently."
How google nurtures
Human resources, or People Operations, is a science at Google. Theyre always
testing to find ways to optimize their people, both in terms of happiness and
performance. In fact, almost everything Google does is based off data.
Lunch Tables: If you want employees to meet each other, make the tables long.
This will expose them to more people who they can get to know.
Paid Time Off for New Mothers: Google found that women were leaving the
company at twice the rate of everyone else. In particular, this occurred with new
mothers. Googles maternity leave plan was 12 weeks paid time off. Laszlo Bock
changed the plan so new mothers could get 5 months paid time off with full pay
and benefits. They were allowed to split this time up however they want (i.e.
taking a few days off before expecting). A 50% reduction in attrition for new
mothers.
A warm greeting for new employees: A warm greeting for a new employee turns
out to have a big impact. According to Bock, a manager greeting a new employee
with Hi nice to meet you, youre on my team, were gonna be working together
and doing a few other things leads to a 15% increase in productivity over the
following nine months.
Diner Booths vs. Conference Rooms: Laszlo and his team have
found that diner booths work better than conference rooms for
facilitating creativity. David Radcliffe, the man in charge of creating
the perfect work environment.
Eric schimdt said -Casual collisions are what we try and create in
the work environment. You cant schedule innovation, you cant
schedule idea generation and so when we think our facilities
around the world were really looking for little opportunities for
engineers or for creative people to come together.
Other Perks -
Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The organic food is chef-
prepared, Free health and dental, Free haircuts, Free dry cleaning,
Subsidized massages, Gyms and swimming pools, Hybrid car
subsidies, Nap pods, Video games, foosball, ping pong, On-site
physicians, Death Benefits.
Project oxygen
What managers should do data of past 10
years
The project set out to analyze the results from
performance reviews, feedback surveys,
nominations for top-manager awards and
other available data. Then they correlated
phrases, words, praise and complaints. The
results were then prioritized by importance
Google just share the data and help
individuals, managers and teams to make
sense of it. They are not forced into change,
they are educated and hope that individuals
see what is expected of them and learn.
Why do people leave their employer?
The work is based on testing the belief that
people typically leave a company for one of three
reasons.
They dont feel a connection to the mission of the
company, or sense that their work matters
They dont really like or respect their co-workers
They have a bad boss This being the biggest
variable

In order of importance the 8 top behaviors of managers are:
Be a good coach
Empower your team and dont micromanage
Express interest in team members success and personal well-being
Dont be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented
Be a good communicator and listen to your team
Help your employees with career development
Have a clear vision and strategy for the team
Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team
In addition they identified 3 key manager pitfalls:
Have trouble making a transition to the team
Lack a consistent approach to performance management and career
development
Spend too little time managing and communicating