Case Study on Google HR Strategies

Introduction

This research would examine how the human resources approach of Google aims to
improve work performance and enhance employees engagaement. This paper will also
include an analysis of Google Inc’s vision, aims and objectives.

Google is a multinational tech firm devoted to Internet-related services and goods,

including online advertising technologies, search engines, cloud computing, operating
systems. It is regarded to be among the Big Four tech firms, alongside Amazon, Apple and
Microsoft.

The website - Google.com is by far the most popular and visited website globally.
Google's core mission is to "coordinate the data of the globe and render it as widely
accessible and be handy to people globally .”

Literature Review

The article named "To Give Your Employees Meaning, Start With Mission" by Amabile
discusses regarding the value of an organisation's mission and also, at the same time
evaluate how it is relating significantly with the enhancement of employee engagement.

She further cites that "Many firms aren't even attempting to make work meaningful for the
people who do it" (Amabile, 2012). This can lead to the slaying of the motivation,
commitment and development of employees. Since its founding in 1998, Google has
adopted their mission statement strictly, which adds to their current status as among the
world's most prized brand names.

Google's core mission determines the company's strategies, such as systems integration.
The stated goal of the corporation in a similar way drives the corporation, for instance by
accelerated growth, into new heights. Google's achievement is directly correlated to the
company's determination to accomplish its mission as well as its vision.

"The market leadership of the company appeases the universal accessibility component of
the strategic plan by attempting to make Google's products widely used.”

(Thompson 2015).
Google's employee engagement strategies are as below -

1. Nurturing Creativeness & Innovation

2. Administrators as Leading figures

3. Individual Analytics for Human Rights Management decisions

4. Culture of Appreciation & Recognition

5. Feedback based Policy Making

In order to maintain a high-growth in business, inevitably for Google, continuous innovation

is imperative. The firm says that staffing of innovators is their strategic advantage. The
vastly inferior market outcomes are the culmination of their people's administrators taking
remarkable managerial decisions.

Google’s employee engagement approaches can be seen to be designed throughout the

following-

1. The Nurturing of the Culture of Innovation

Google's co-founder Sergey Brin argues that an innovative individual is the foundation of
the creative culture in the firm -probably because Google employees are encircled by
innovation-enhancing facilities. Also, Googles’ HRM management strategies, such as
selective recruitment, job stability, flat organisational structure, the best benefits giver to
employees in the industry etc, are the root to this culture of innovation in the firm.

- Below are many dimensions in which Google executives promote the innovation culture:

a. Accommodation of Failure

Google claims that failure is a fundamental part of creativity and provides workers
necessary job independence. Furthermore, their working conditions are unencumbered
since employees have the right to express their thoughts and opinions liberally.

For example, workers can use the 20% Creative Time Program to implement their
learning ambitions or out-of-school initiatives. Such programs enable workers to devote
20% of their time to exploratory developments which are of their preferences. Effectively,
they can evaluate the ability of their ideologies without dreading an imminent time limit.
b. Openness in workplace

Google is entirely open to cultural norms, casualness in authority interactions, adaptable

work time, diverse meeting configurations, convenience of policy-making, dissemination of
engagement, disputes, hostilities and also work-life balance.

Google has a large and varied staff population and a number of subcultures along all their
teams. Google is strongly amenable to such subcultures as well as finds them crucial to
the workplace atmosphere. These subcultures may include working groups, minority
groups, nations, professions, areas of expertise and distinctions in the hierarchical system
and market segments.

c. Work atmosphere

The management structure of Google is distinctive as a bulk of the staff has graduated
from the most prominent universities in the world. Moreover, the new facilities of the firm
have unique motifs by never reproducing an already established workplace element.
Google provide individual spaces which are not typical workplace. Well, such individual
spaces assist research, rest, exercising, reading and watching films.

• For instance, they are pioneers in offering premium and free pick-up services to
employees. Their busses are massive and are Wi-Fi-enabled, enabling employees to
work comfortably even while they're on the road.

• Google's ubiquitous culinary cafeterias or even snack spaces must adhere by its regime
that no worker should have to migrate more than 100 feet away from their workplace in
search of food.

• Google also provide employees whom are parents with child care services and 100%
health care for all their workers and also their family members.

The above were merely a few examples of the services which Google is providing to its’
workers. In short, such attempt receiving from the firm greatly enhances the sense of
belonging of the employees to the firm, resulting in great employee engagement. Hence,
the firm performance reaches to the highest peak rapidly.
2. Administrators as Leading figures

Google's leaders are extremely concerned regarding the possible needs and capacities of
individuals in the firm. Google's administrators have been demonstrated to be the ultimate
answer to team efficiency. Google has even prolonged this study to identify what
attempted to make the administrator 'good.'

They commenced two academic research programs – they adopted the "Great Managers
Award" and, in attempt to elect a phenomenal manager, the member of the team would
have to enumerate the attributes that made him a brilliant manager. key word assessment
of such a research has given rise to the notable "Eight (8) Behaviours which are
possess by the Google's Great Managers" guidance:

1. Be a good leader
2. Empower your team and don't micro-manage
3. Contribute to the accomplishments and well-being of employees
4. Be efficient and results-oriented
5. Be a good communicator and pay attention to the team members
6. Aid your employees ti evolve their career
7. Have a coherent vision and strategic thinking for the team
8. Have crucial skills and knowledge, so to help advise the team efficiently

The following research by Google was a double-blind interview analysis, in which both all-
rounded managers as well as managers who were not rated 'great' were interviewed.
They were attempting to figure the things that promising managers did and bungled
managers didn't do. This research led to the "3 Pitfalls – what induces managers to
struggle" guideline for manager to follow.

The guideline points are cited below:

1. Face difficulty making transition to team leader

2. Lack of consistent strategy to employee engagement and mentorship
3. Invest insufficient time managing and interacting]

3. Individual Analytics

Laszlo Bock, Head of People's Operations at Google, once indicated that "People's
Operation" is a confluence of science and HRM. Google is aiming at everything
through an informative point of view and it is believed that HR is indeed a part of scientific
knowledge.

They are endlessly experimenting and innovating to determine the best way to
accommodate workers and encourage them to work efficiently. They do so by establishing
human strategies based on the findings of the statistical analysis. For instance, Google's
very own managerial design is based on a statistical strategic and tactical planning
mechanism to help to hire and scale assets.

4. Culture of Appreciation & Recognition

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, addresses the value of bonuses and recognition for
employee productivity in an interview with Tyler Cowen.

“There’s no simple formula for success, and there’s no simple formula for being a great
leader. It’s a unique set of skills. But it is well understood that if you yell at people enough,
they will quit, and if you’re nice enough to them, they are less likely to quit. But it just
seems to me that if you take a moment, and you add the preamble of “Thank you” or “I
appreciate it,” or “I recognise it,” people’s hearts sing, and you get a lot more work out of
them.”

Google in the past used to offer absurdly high monetary rewards, but it was completely
ruled out based on the feedback from staff. The staff claimed given opportunities were far
more enjoyable, unforgettable and differentiated rather than achieving merely cash
bonuses, and also it give them a high likelihood to attain their dream trip.

Staff can even send each other a thank-you note. There are "Walls of Happy" where, thank
you, notes are published to highlight the gratitude that workers have garnered.

-Google also utilises two particular types of bonus schemes:

1. Spot Bonuses, which are used to acknowledge the spectacular conduct of workers
through administrators.

2. Peer Bonuses, enable workers to identify each other. Optimally, this is to conceal the
tendencies to be identified that the manager may have overlooked.

Such incentives are for workers whom have progressed beyond their regular duties to
achieve a goal at hand, such as working additional hours to accomplish a venture or
resolving a major issue.

Google also has a "no name program" intended for managers to reward teams that
accomplish outstanding performance. They may obtain team celebrations or team
vacations as rewards.
5. Feedback based policy making

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are delivering worthwhile reviews on Google's HR

policies and practices.

Google also has a comprehensive worker input mechanism named the Manager Upwards
Feedback system, under which workers are inquired to evaluate their managers
depending on the queries they receive.

Software developers at Google through nominating their own names , to elect for
activism or promotion once they genuinely think they are able to embrace further
obligation. Leading figures use a composing tool titled Google-O-Meter to assess the
prominence of various worker recommendations.

Leaders also plan "Fixits" to address major, immediate concerns. Fixits are 24-hour
sprints where team members concentrate 100% on identifying alternatives to particular
problems. They even have engagement assessments, pulse inquiries, anonymous forms,
or even a basic pen-and-paper recommendation box.

Summary

Google's HR strategies are a perplexing reflection of this ultimatum. Almost any operation
and strategy of Google has the ability to become academic research subjects. Although as
a growing company, Google has attempted to outperform thousands of many other
major firms via its breakthrough systems for developing and altering employee
engagement strategies. They set such a solid firm base for disruptive technology that they
don't require any underlying criteria for their efficiency. They set their own standards,
analysed their own data, read the minds of employees, and make their own decisions for
the goal – becoming what they've become..
RECOMMENDATIONS to enhance employee engagement are as below -

1. Provide the Right Tools -

One of the key factors regarding employee engagement may still be one of the often
ignored by firms : to ensure that workers receive all essential resources they require to
thrive. Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends 2016 study corresponds to this as
establishing a "enabling infrastructure" as well as identifies it as the world's leading driver
of interaction between employees world widely.

The organisation's network comprises the tools and resources individuals use to meet their
goals and the managerial expertise they have at their disposal, clarifies Don MacPherson,
an employee engagement practice partner at Aon, Minneapolis. "Especially in massive
corporations, there are hindrances for workers to get things accomplished," he states. "It
seems to have an impact on employee engagement."

For example, when security protocols necessitate workers to recall various specific
passcodes to sign in to the software which they must need to do their task, workers may
then become infuriated.

Employee — and the organisation — would likely benefit from simpler procedures, which
indicates trustful relationships should be carefully made.

2. Provide Training and Coaching -

Fostering a culture which cultivates constant development does more than aiding
employees to construct the abilities they require to do their work. It also conveys that
company cherishes its staff and acknowledges their capabilities.

"The more employees feel that the firm is continuing to invest in their future, the greater
the level of involvement from employees can be receive," says Brad Shuck, an assistant
professor at the University of Louisville who excels in administrative development.

Mentoring is another key component of employee engagement.

3. Pay attention to Employees, not only Administrators-

According to Aon's 2016 Trends in Global Employee Engagement research, it shows that
productive leading figures pay special importance to what employees have to suggest and
then act upon the suggestions received. It is one of the purposes for gradually replacing or
growing annual workplace assessments with quarterly or monthly pulse studies and
success conversations. It not only helps the company identify and rapidly resolve issues
with a systematic strategy, it also provides sense of belonging to employees.

"We're giving more to those places where we sense our voice is valuable," Shuck says.

Resulting that even the low- ranked employee voices are vital to contribute to the success
of a firm. Hence, Google may consider to divert attention to not only feedbacks of
managers but all the employees.

4. Acknowledge Employee’s Efforts Proudly and Loudly -

It is no new revelation that incentives and appreciation can boost engagement. To that
end, organisations need to evidently convey the significance of the firm's operation , since
that statement provides a better understanding of how employees can blend into the firm's
mission and what kind of conduct would be compensated. wFor example, workers at
Disney, know that consumer experience is vital and that they are acknowledged in many
ways for establishing a magical ambience. In effect, this enables employees to interact
with their jobs.

The same strategy can work efficiently with Google. It can further enhance rewards which
allows employees to gain higher self esteem, be proud and recognised.

Conclusion

Google to conclude is a role model for many uprising brands world wide, and the above
evidence further hence prove that Google’s human resource highly enhance employee
management. Also, the recommendations given above can be considerate so to allow
Google to be more efficient and at the same time can learn good strategies from their
competitors.
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