A review by Krista Johnson
Book: Work Rules: Insights from Inside Google By Laszlo Bock
Free food or free onsite services such as ATMs, bike repair, dry cleaning, or hair salons might be the reason why getting into Harvard is almost twenty-five times easier than getting hired by Google. However, Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google, clarifies the common misconception that Google employees (or “Googlers”) like their jobs simply because of the benefits.
Bock outlines the culture of this giant tech firm in a way that makes it understandable and easy to implement in any other organization – regardless of the amount of money available to spend on “outrageous” benefits. The magic of employee engagement and satisfaction is found in the true culture of an organization – such as the three defining aspects of Google’s culture: having a mission that matters, staying transparent, and giving its employees a voice. Named as the #1 Best Company to Work For in the United States and 16 other countries, Google is obviously doing something right. Lucky for us, Bock does not hide his secret to success.
The theme that Bock refers to throughout the entire book: recruiting. Everything that makes a company great comes from its employees, and those great employees come from being recruited. Google receives 1 to 3 million applications each year, and the company grows by about 5,000 people annually. At first, recruiting was a long and tiresome process for Google. Through trial and error, the company tested various recruiting tactics such as applying to Google by solving a puzzle found on a billboard, job boards, or third-party recruiters. At one point, most of its hires were coming from referrals received by other employees, but now Google has settled into hiring by committees.
Over time, Google was able to identify four attributes that predicted whether someone would be successful at Google: (1) general cognitive ability (not based off of SAT scores and GPA), (2) potential leadership, (3) “googleyness” (culture fit), and (4) role-related knowledge. Throughout the entire book, Bock argues that if a company can identify what all of their successful hires have in common, their recruiting process would improve dramatically.
Another theme that Bock emphasizes throughout Work Rules! is transparency and experimentation. Google maintains transparency by empowering its employees and by giving each employee a voice. For example, Google hosts a company-wide meeting every Friday. Googlers are allowed to ask the company’s founders and CEO any question they would like. The founders answer the most popular questions determined by a system of voting. Another example is the ability that each Googler has to make suggestions on benefits, programs, and events. Bock stresses that experimentation with things such as benefits is a good thing as long as the company openly communicate with its employees. Transparency allows for mutual trust, which allows for experimentation. Experimentation may fail in some cases, but it may succeed in others!
Work Rules! gives all business-minded people an in-depth look into a fascinatingly successful company. Bock is inspiring as he encourages each company – big and small – to incorporate some of Google’s ideas and concepts into their own organizations.
