There's something about Google...
You just scored a new job at technology-giant Google's New York office. Before your first day, you nervously e-mail your boss to inquire about the dress code. Within minutes, you receive a response: "Don't be naked" is all it says.
In today's business climate, a casual and employee-centered work culture is becoming more and more common, especially within the technology sector companies. The cultures of companies such as Google are attempting to respond to the demands of a new employee force. Generation Y's (generally born between 1978 and 1994) are a distinctly tech-savvy generation, known for their energy, creativity, charisma and their tendency to hop from job to job on a whim.
Google's offices often offer perks such as free cafeteria meals, free use of laundry machines, a free annual one-night ski trip, dog-friendly offices and an on-site doctor. Its California office, dubbed the "Googleplex," is described as having more similarities to a university dorm than to a workplace. However, Google's bold, innovative atmosphere and lack of heirarchy might just be the business model for the 21st century.
It's a new kind of world taking over
Stephen Robinson is a fourth year engineering student at Columbia University. Last summer, he was recruited by Google as an intern at its New York office as part of the Google Maps business search team.
"A good fraction of the people working [in the office] were in their twenties," he notes. "My boss was only four years my elder."
Suzanne Gagnon, a McGill Management professor specializing in organizational behaviour, explains that the success of any organizational culture is based on fit and large companies such as Google need to adapt themselves to what their employees expect and want from their work. Thus, successful companies must recognize that the power in the employer-employee relationship flows in both directions.
"I think there is definitely a link between what Gen Ys expect and like to see from work and what some companies like Google are doing. Especially right now with the labour force demographics the way they are, with the Baby Boomer group who are beginning to retire," she suggests.
On occasions where CEO Eric Schmidt visited the New York office, Robinson notes that he sporadically called impromptu meetings for the entire company.
"I think at most large corporations, [the CEO] wouldn't bother to give our age group the time of day, but here he will say, 'in a half an hour I want to talk to everyone in the entire office.' And he will."
Time off for... showing up
The flat hierarchy of the company is reflected not only in the approachability of its senior employees but also in its organizational structure. For example, every engineer (including the interns, should they want it) is given something called "20 per cent time." This means they can spend approximately one day a week pursuing a project of their own volition and will be paid for it.
"For creative thinking to occur, people need to be bouncing ideas off of one another and they need the space and the time to do that. Probably what Google is doing is allowing people to try things out, to make mistakes, to experiment. That will bring creativity," explains Gagnon.
While new, innovative ideas are better fostered within a more creative, idea-rewarding environment, this approach does not necessarily cultivate the same productivity rates.
"It will be most [productive] if there is a clear vision, at least in a general sense, that everyone has bought in to," Gagnon says.
The physical organization of the Google office also reinforces their focus on employee autonomy. Across each floor, Robinson describes numerous arrangements of couches and white boards scattered in clusters.
"You will constantly find people sitting there reading-whether that be reading for work or reading for pleasure-or you'll have people throwing a impromptu meeting there. It's not so formal. The exchanging of ideas is that much better in that environment," he says.
More significantly, the desk arrangements are within "cubes" rather than in more traditional cubicle structures.
"All the walls are transparent, so you don't feel like you are in a box," Robinson explains.
No competition
"I had no idea what I was doing," Robinson admits of his experience writing a new web server for the company. "It was fun because not only was I learning something new, but there was also no way I could possibly finish it, so I was working 10 or 11 hour days purely out of my own interest."
While conventional companies tend to promote internal competition to spur productivity, progressive offices like Google's seem to stress the opposite.
"No one cares how many hours you work and no one cares when you get in in the morning. People care what you are doing, but only to the extent that it is interesting," Robinson explains. "It was strange for me and I think that, personally, I could have used a little more competitiveness in the work environment."
It could be that Robinson was simply lamenting the familiar, something that Google may have failed to take into account: after high school and university, students have become comfortable in an environment that encourages some degree of competition between peers.
"[Students] are graded, they are evaluated, […] and that can be a motivating thing," Gagnon explains. "A smart company would encourage its employees to be competitive with their outside competitors. Inside the company they are not necessarily competing with one another, but they are working together to spur their creativity."
Google-y goodness
Google recently posted a job listing on its website for a software engineer in its Montreal office. Among the many requirements, Google lists that the candidate must be able to "fit within an informal startup environment and a flat organizational structure" and must have a "sense of humour."
Google culture officer Stacy Sullivan describes the typical Google employee as someone who is, well, "Google-y." She defines this term as "somebody who is fairly flexible, adaptable and not focusing on titles and hierarchy and just gets stuff done."
This sort of employee description for a high-paying position at a large corporation may seem progressive, however Gagnon asserts that the non-hierarchical structure and informal employee relationships did not begin with Google, despite the media-obsession with the company.
"I don't think [Google] is unique," she says. "I would say 10 years ago, companies like IDEO in California-which is a products design company-were starting to work in very much this way and were starting to manage their employees in these ways: a very casual work environment, very cohesive culture, lots of flexibility, no hierarchy at all, a lot of social bonding among the people and a fairly homogeneous team of people, in terms of education and age, working in these companies."
Pros and problems
"What is most important to me is that the company gives its employees the freedom to explore their creativity and is not a strict organization that has set standards and procedures and leaves no room for personal growth," explains Stefanie Rosenblatt, a U3 marketing student who is currently seeking employment in marketing and public relations. "What would inspire the most productivity for me would be if I was working somewhere where I was given a set of activities to perform, but was free to come up with my own way of completing those activities."
Like many Generation Y-ers, Rosenblatt notes that the company's work culture will also prove an important factor in her decision process.
Could it be that Google is finally working to raise a previously low bar in terms of employee treatment by employers for the standard large corporation, or could it, instead, be setting a dangerous standard that young people should expect to be coddled by their jobs?
"I think that employers really need to pay attention to what the younger groups want and desire out of work. It is certainly not coddling to make it easier for employees to do the best job they can," says Gagnon. "I think that work forces create culture in companies. Cultures develop and change as to the people that are attracted to work in them. Certainly we are going to see some changes in large organizations and we are going to see these sorts of changes continue."
2008 Woodie Awards
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