Google is one of the biggest search engines in the world.

It started off with a simple search engine and has diversified into many other areas. I am choosing Google for this assignment because it is one of the best companies out there which is not only a great place to work for but is also a great trend setter. Introduction

Googles HR objectives are to make sure that their employees are more productive. The Google HR strategy has been planned in a manner where it ensures that Google employees come up with better tools to make a better tomorrow. Google has spent a large amount of capital to ensure that they get the best HR resources. They believe that investing in HR in the short term will lead to long term benefits. Google has invested in a top of the line research lab which will help them achieve their search goals. Google also wants to promote their state of the art ad system which will allow them to reach out to a majority of marketers around the world. The thing about Google is that they are quite laid back in a lot of ways. They are proud of what they have done and what they want to achieve. This is one reason why they have no issues with themselves being branded as geeks as it is a matter of pride for them. Googles strategy is that it has one of the best HR departments in the world. The HR department has played a huge role in the success of the organization. Their employees are as committed to Google as the founders are because of their genuine love for innovation. Googles main mission statement is that its employees focus on creativity and innovation while having access to the perfect mix of information and resources for their work. Google values its employees a great deal and thats why its main strategy is to focus on creating new human capital and retaining those employees. It is important for the employees to be loyal, honest and maintain their integrity within the organization. Google has allotted a huge chunk of its budget for recruiting employees. It has been estimated that Google has a ratio of 1 recruiter for around 14 employees.
Recruitment and Selection Google is one of the most diverse places to work at as it has people of different backgrounds working there. Google is one of the biggest recruiters in the market because it is always in the need for new employees. It has the lowest turnover rate for an organization and is able to retain its employees for a longer period of time. It is estimated that Google receives more than 1500 cvs a day as it is one of the hottest places to work for. Googles main goal is to get employees who can adjust in a culture which is full of collaboration, innovation and openness.

External Recruitment The main bulk of the employees come to Google via External recruitment. Google advertises for most of its jobs through the internet or on other job websites. Google uses the traditional methods of using professional recruiters to hire new employees. They also have special links with universities to recruit the best of their talent through an internship program. They are able to get the best talent before other people spot them. Google also uses its own job site to recruit employees as well as going to Job fairs to recruit people. They have also used innovative ways such as linked in to find prospective candidates online.

Internal Recruitment There are a number of jobs at Google which cant be filled by external candidates. It is easier to choose a candidate from within the organization as the cost will be lower and it will take less time for the position to be filled. Employees can find out about job listings within the corporate intranet or through notice boards or through word of mouth publicity at work. They can also be nominated by their peers or managers for certain open posts.

Selection Methods: Phone Interview and On Site The selection process at Google is such that prospective candidates are short listed before they are to be interviewed. They are subjected to a phone interview to determine their technical skills and proficiency as well as to see if they should be brought in towards the next round of face to face interviews. If the candidate is successful he/she is evaluated on site to test the core skills and see if he/she is competent. This is also followed by another round of interviews. The prospective candidate is interviewed by both the management as well as potential co workers.

Google PEST Analysis

Political Google has faced a lot of pressure from the European Union in regards to their data protection policy in the past. Google has been known for keeping its data retention policy which has gotten them into a lot of trouble. The EU is known for its stringent measures and fought a long legal battle with Google over its data retention policy. The British government also condemned Google for their product Google Earth. Google Earth was known to have picture of a lot of place including the SAS headquarters. Google has also gotten into trouble with the Chinese Government for refusing to their censorship policy after complying with it for a long time. The Chinese Government put a lot of pressure on Google after which they decided to end their operations in the country and to move out. Economic The Economic Downturn brought about a big challenge for all organizations around the world. it is said that despite Googles growth and its rapid expansion it was still not recession proof. There were layoffs at Google during the recession but it only affected those workers who were contractual part time workers and were still not high as their competitors such as Microsoft. Google had fired hundreds of employees during the start of the economic downturn. The numbers were estimated to be around 10,000 during the end of the economic downturn. This did not mean that Google cut down on any of the benefits it gave to its employees but just found other ways to cut corners so that the productivity of its employees would not be affected. Social Google gives its employees unlimited time off for sick leave, 27 days of vacation time, free medical and dental facilities on-site, access to a gym, car wash and bank. They also provide free meals three times a day. They also pay special attention to employees who are in the family way by giving them plenty of time off when they are expecting a baby. Expectant mothers are given 18 weeks of post maternity leave while male employees can get up to 7 weeks paternity leave.

Technology

There have been a lot of advances in technology in the recent years. Google has to fight to keep up with the new advances in Technology which makes the environment quite competitive. They have to invest in new server technology and come up with new technology which will not make them irrelevant. The more they invest in new technology the more people they will need to service their needs. Google has to rely totally on its technology to be able to recruit people. They have one of the best solutions which help them evaluate the right candidate. It uses an algorithm to check and see which of their internal employees services are in need of a promotion in order to retain his/her. Ethics and Diversity Google has a very strong work ethic policy and has also drafted a very practical code of conduct. It also does not allow for any back handed comments as it has forbidden employees from reporting violations of the code of conduct. This ensures that everyone follows the code of conduct and no one creates problems for others. The upper management at Google listens to its employees a lot and values their opinion. There is an open door policy at Google where any employee can discuss any matter with their manager without any fear as the environment is very friendly. They have their own ways of dealing with problems at the company and making it easier for employees to resolve problems. Google has a great diversity program where employees can build their skills and raise their knowledge requirements. They have one of the best work environments where employees are expected to keep a great atmosphere which prevents them from being harassed, intimidated and discriminated against. Their policy also states that all employees are employed on the basis of their qualifications and merit. According to the Google Equal Opportunity Employment Statement, no one is to be discriminated or harassed especially on the basis of race, colour, religion, veteran status, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy status, sex, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, medical condition, sexual orientation or any other characteristics protected by law.

Competition There is a lot of competition between Google and other companies when it comes to salaries and working hours. Salaries at Google are comparatively less than than what they pay at Yahoo and Microsoft while the working hours are nearly the same for everyone. These entire tech companies make their employees work a lot but then give them plenty of benefits. Working hours at Yahoo and Microsoft are more than 40 hours per week though they do get paid for overtime and are compensated with other benefits at work. These organizations do not put any pressure on their employees but they manage to get their work done even if they have to put in more hours.

There is no such thing as competition amongst Google employees as it does not bode well. Collaboration is encouraged amongst employees as this will lead to more productivity. Employees are given access to tools such as blogs, collaboration tools such as google talk as this will allow for more integration across the organization. They have also come up with casual events where they come up with previews of the forthcoming events of the week. Employees are encouraged to ask any questions they like so that they can learn more about the organization. The employees of Google play a big role as they can determine what policy is to be made later if they do not agree with something. The spirit of collaboration amongst Google employees is so high that employees use each other as guinea pigs during the product development process. The products are tested internally amongst employees to see what their reactions are before they are rolled out to the public. This allows the developers to get feedback from their peers so that they can make changes to the design before they roll it out.

Shamrock Model The Shamrock Model states that an organization consists of three parts such as the core permanent employees, subcontractors and flexible workforce. Google has a big workforce out of which the permanent (core) members contribute the most to it. They are also allowed to work flexibly within the organization. The rest of the workers within the workforce are the temporary workers and contractual workers who have no real worth within the company. They can become core members if Google sees a bit of promise within them. The permanent employees are the foundation of the company as they contribute the most towards it. The part time workers are still considered to be part of the work force but then do not put in as many hours as their counterparts.

Hard and Soft Model

Google has not faced any hard times but then they did suffer a slight slump in their sales. For all what it has done with all the benefits they need to make sure that their employees are doing their best work. The economic woes of the globe

make them get the best out of their employees. They are not indispensable at this time and they can easily be replaced by another if the quality of the work is not done properly. This is why most of the employees work overtime to make sure that they are able to achieve their goals. In these tough times no one is able to feel secure and will do anything to keep their jobs safe. It is not a time for anyone to relax and enjoy themselves

The economic problems of the world are easing away slowly. There were also good times at the company when they encouraged their employees to be more productive and gave them more freedom to do their work. Google employees are given plenty of time to develop their own projects within their working hours. They are given the license to innovate and develop new projects. If the employees are happy enough they turn to be more resourceful and end up coming up with better work. Google works better by taking the approach of giving them some breather space so that they do not burn out and contribute something new to the world. Encouragement from the top level of the hierarchy makes them feel better and more secure.

Google Retention Policy Herzberg Model Herzbergs theory of motivation says that corporations should reward its employees to motivate its employees. Employees are motivated when they are rewarded with achievements, recognition and responsibility. This is also linked with the hygiene theory which states that if a salary, company policy and working conditions are good then it will motivate them more. It is not necessary for the hygiene factors to be there to motivate an employee but an absence of it will bring negative effects. Training and Development Google utilises the Herzberg model to motivate and reward its employees. They spend a lot of money on training and development for its employees. They believe that if they invest the right amount of money in their skills they will be able to learn and prosper intellectually. Employees are given opportunities to

take classes in building up skills such as presentation skills, management skills, writing skills, etc. They have also been given the opportunity to take up foreign language classes for no charge. This is a great way to reward them by giving them more responsibility.

Google has made it mandatory for its employees to go through training and development for a minimum of 120 hours a year. This helps Google employees further their skills professionally and allows them to learn about new professional and technological developments. They do not want anyone to be left out in the learning process. Motivation The upper management at Google wants its employees to experiment and come up with new innovative ideas. Google Engineers have been encouraged to spend around 20 percent of their time coming up with new products and offerings which could make a difference in the way things are done. The company supports its employees in a big way by giving them time to innovate. Google is an ethical company and makes sure that its business practices do not break any laws. They make sure that the employees do not break any rules imposed by the company. Google employees are supposed to respect each other, protect the secrets of the company and not harm the company in any manner. Rewards The best thing about Google is the fact that everyone wants to work for it even though they dont pay as much as other employers within the same industry. Google only attracts those employees who are not money minded as they have been given the ability to innovate and utilise the great support system offered by Google. Google gives them plenty of benefits so that they dont have to worry about a lot of stuff. Employees dont have to worry about their future mainly due to the generous stock option scheme which makes it better for the company due to its rapid growth Google pays great attention to the health of its employees as it hosts an annual health fair with free services such as blood pressure checkups, cholesterol testing, blood tests, eye exams, flu shots, etc. It also has a program for its employees where they give them up to 5k dollars in cash back if they switch to a hybrid vehicle which is great to save the environment. The employees are given good salaries along with bonuses, salary, equity grants and additional bonuses through the Google employee referral program. They also get plenty of employee discounts, free Google goodies as well as subsidies on their travel costs.

Benchmarking Google is a company which likes to assess its current situation by spending time evaluating its performance on a quarterly basis. The senior management gauges the company performance and uses it as a basis of coming up with new objectives for the next quarter. The strategic management also allows its employees to ask questions about where the company is headed and how it can increase its performance. Another way of gauging the performance of the company is to constantly subject its employees to anonymous surveys which ask them for their reactions on various subjects. The data gathered from these surveys allows Google to tailor their programs and adjust them according to the needs of the employees. These results are discussed internally and efforts are made to improve working conditions if they are lacking somewhere. Job Satisfaction One of the biggest threats faced by Google is the fact that they can suffer from brain drain which would affect their long term plans. If Google loses its employees slowly it will not be able to compete. Google has tackled this problem with the help of a retention technique which allow s it to retain its key employees. They have worked out an algorithm which allows them to take care of the problem. The algorithm sorts through employee feedback history, performance reviews, pay and promotion history. This allows them to to find out which of its employees is more likely to quit. It is crucial for Google to prevent its main assets from leaving their organization. It is a death wish for them to lose their most able engineers, designers, developers, executives to a rival. This is one reason why they constantly evaluate their employees and subject them to formal review processes. As mentioned above Google has been spending a lot of time and money on these ventures. Google does not believe in overworking its employees and offers them a proper balance in their work and life so that they do not burn out. Employees are offered options where they can work flexible hours, work part time, and work from home (provided their job functions allow them). It also has a unique system where employees are able to donate a portion of their vacation time to their peers in case of any emergency. Google has benefitted a lot from the 20 percent off time to employees for their personal projects as it has led to successes such as AdSense, Orkut, Gmail and Google News. It should also be noted that the revenues to be generated from these ventures are miniscule as compared to the revenues they make from their search engine and ad revenues.

Conclusion

Google has one of the best HR strategies planned by any organization. They should be lauded for their efforts to make a change in the lives of people and to treat their employees like valuable assets and human beings. Their HR policy can be strengthened if they give their employees a bit more flexibility and not allow them to burn out. Their employees are not forced to work long hours but then the working conditions are so good that they have to give back a bit of themselves to their work. Google needs to re evaluate how it makes people work at its premises. Employees should be allowed to have some time to them. There should be a policy where employees have to take time out to relax and enjoy some quality time by them. The only thing which is missing is proper career counselling or guidance. Employees would need some sort of guidance to see what sort of career path lies ahead for them. It wouldnt make any sense for them to go about unguided. Google does not pay a good salary but pays good salaries. This is in sharp contrast to Microsoft which pays better salaries, gives career advice and gives good benefits as well. They need to make sure they pay a good salary so they can retain talent instead of them jumping ship. They have made a good effort in ensuring that employees remain happy and they do give long term benefits to their employees. Their recruitment methods are very tough as they only want the best to come in. They can tweak that in some areas so they can get some who may not be able to prove themselves initially but can do a good job in the long term.

Bibliography 1. Google Green Policy http://www.google.com/corporate/green/datacenters/ (Accessed on the 18th of April 2010) 2. Anurag Gupta; 2005; Design Education: Tradition and Modernity; Treating Employees as Customers: A Human Resource Equity
3. Keith H. Hammonds; 2007; How Google Grows... and Grows... and Grows 4. Ann Mirel; 2008; Development and Strategies for Human Resource Development; 4 8; 5. Millward Brown Optimor; 2008; Top 100 Most Powerful Brands 08;

References 1. Herzberg, F. 1968, "One more time: how do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, vol. 46, iss. 1, pp. 5362 2. Handy, Charles. 1989, Shamrock Model The Age of Unreason. Century Business 3. PESTLE analysis history and application, (2009) CIPD 4. A look at the Google Talent Machine, http://www.hrleader.net.au/articles/b1/0c0429b1.asp Accessed on the 20th of April 2010 5. Bruno Giussani; 2006; Google nonsearch: more buzz than hits, but it keeps employees happy

6. The Google Culture, (2010) www.google.com/corporate/culture.html (Accessed on the 20th of April 2010) 7. Google Searching for Success, (2007) http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2007/11/26/43380/humanresources-director-profile-liane-hornsey-hr-director-google-searching-forsuccess.html (Accessed on the 19th of April 2010)