Not a Happy Accident
Not a Happy Accident: How Google Deliberately Designs Workplace Satisfaction
In this article, Mark C. Crowley tells us about the Google workplace and how they are using innovative ideas to keep their employees happy. Over the past few years, the media’s coverage of Google has given considerable focus to the incomparable--and seemingly over-the-top--perks the company bestows on its workers. We’ve all seen photos of the bowling alleys, billiard tables, and people getting free haircuts during work hours. We know everyone gets free food, gym memberships, and even Wi-Fi-outfitted shuttle rides to work. Google has devoted the same level of intellectual firepower it used to create self-driving cars to discovering, refining, and implementing leadership practices that optimize human performance in the workplace. First, being a great place to work is in Google’s DNA. Google made it a point to try at attracting and retaining great talent. To attract this great talent, they made customer satisfaction a top priority. Next, Google ensures people have inspiring work. Recently, the Conference Board discovered that the single greatest reason U.S. workers have grown so unhappy and disengaged in their jobs is because organizations design their work very poorly. Their specific conclusion is that the jobs we ask people to perform often lack sufficient variety and challenge. To compete this, Google goes out of their way to make sure that 20% of an employee’s workload is devoted to a project of their own choice. Also, employees have uncommon freedom and control of their own time. Over a 40-year period, Sir Michael Marmot studied the health of Great Britain’s government workers. He discovered that employees who had the least control over their work lives consistently had the poorest well-being and the highest mortality rates. His conclusion is that giving people greater control over when and how work gets accomplished leads to more optimal health and performance.
Finally, Google
In this article, Mark C. Crowley tells us about the Google workplace and how they are using innovative ideas to keep their employees happy. Over the past few years, the media’s coverage of Google has given considerable focus to the incomparable--and seemingly over-the-top--perks the company bestows on its workers. We’ve all seen photos of the bowling alleys, billiard tables, and people getting free haircuts during work hours. We know everyone gets free food, gym memberships, and even Wi-Fi-outfitted shuttle rides to work. Google has devoted the same level of intellectual firepower it used to create self-driving cars to discovering, refining, and implementing leadership practices that optimize human performance in the workplace. First, being a great place to work is in Google’s DNA. Google made it a point to try at attracting and retaining great talent. To attract this great talent, they made customer satisfaction a top priority. Next, Google ensures people have inspiring work. Recently, the Conference Board discovered that the single greatest reason U.S. workers have grown so unhappy and disengaged in their jobs is because organizations design their work very poorly. Their specific conclusion is that the jobs we ask people to perform often lack sufficient variety and challenge. To compete this, Google goes out of their way to make sure that 20% of an employee’s workload is devoted to a project of their own choice. Also, employees have uncommon freedom and control of their own time. Over a 40-year period, Sir Michael Marmot studied the health of Great Britain’s government workers. He discovered that employees who had the least control over their work lives consistently had the poorest well-being and the highest mortality rates. His conclusion is that giving people greater control over when and how work gets accomplished leads to more optimal health and performance.
Finally, Google
References: Crowley, M. C. (2013). Not a Happy accident: How Google deliberately designs workplace satisfaction. Fast Company, (), Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3007268/where-are-they-now/not-happy-accident-how-google-deliberately-designs-workplace-satisfaction