What do you think of our No. 1 company on the Best Companies to Work For list as an employer?

Should they be No. 1?

Would you like to work there? Tell us what you think. The best replies will be published here.

Why would I want to work at a company that basically expects you to work any hour of the day or night? It is sad that this is where this country is headed - a company that truly expects you to eat, live, & breathe your job & they are voted the best company to work for? Yikes!

I think you're completely wrong for saying that Google "expects" its employees to do anything. It appears to me that the employees "choose" to work that way. Google knows that if they provide this great environment, these individuals are going to put their heart and soul into their job and in turn make Google more profitable. Employees feel taken care of and relaxed, not stressed. Most Americans hate their jobs and dread going into work because its a stressful situation. If I had free food, medical, games to play, and a stress free work environment, I'd stay all hours there too.

Let's use the "options framework" to analyze the situation: there are basically two options in your career life; either you work for yourself or you work for someone else and hope that the environment is a great one.

Thus far I failed to build a successful start up ( I am still trying, on the side) and my second best option is to work for a great company. And I do work for a great technology company that I am proud to be working for eventhough it is not on this list. Great health benefits, decent pay package, workout gym, employee training, career track mentoring etc etc.

But bear in mind, like Google we are the leader in our market so we can afford to provide the same benefits. So, for me this is the next best thing to starting your own startup.

The 'expects you to work all hours of the day' is a myth. I had worked there for 3 years before leaving for personal reasons (got married, moved away, wanted to raise a kid while my wife worked). I did not work more than 40 hours per week, and was never looked down upon for that. My performance reviews were above average, so I know working a sane amount of hours did not hurt me.

I'd almost be afraid to work there as it looks like it would be too easy to spend too much time at work and my family life would suffer. I mean, free food, gym, games and a great work environment? Who would ever want to leave?

Whether it's Google, or anywhere else, if you are treated right and absolutly appreciated, you will work harder. It goes both ways though: treat others (employees) like doggy doo, and they will feel like doggy doo, and you will wonder why your company will success. It's a proven fact. You get what you give.

It is very refreshing and innovative to see that the profits of this successful company are being filtered back to the working populice as perks and bonuses, rather than being used for "golden parachutes" for exiting executives. Google has certainly found out that it is far more advantageous to have loyal and appreciative employees that will go to the ends of the earth in order to maintain a long-standing and successful future, not only for the company, but themselves as well.

If Google is such a great company to work for, how come it only has 31% women in the workforce? Also, these IT companies are creating a workforce that have a raging personality of entitlement. We have hired a lot of people from Google and other similar companies. They spend half their time looking around for free food, are caught playing networked video games together, and become completely indignant when challenged on their behaviour. Free food and coffee has its place but, believe me, it can go overboard.

I saw the overview of the google environment on the Today Show this morning. I must say, I didn't see a lot of women other than the two-three they showcased. Furthermore, diversity was lacking. I didn't se one person of color, other than asians. However, i was impressed with the environment and the perks. people will work harder if appreciated. I like the idea of choice in how many ours you work. If a person wants to become a work-aholic, that their coice. I hope google can maintain its level of employee appreciation and other companies can follow in their footsteps. I wouldn't mind workting there myself. God knows Cleveland doesn't have a company that offers such benefits!

If you get an astounding amount of creative innovation and productivity from your workforce, it shouldn't be considered a minus if they are also playing video games or looking for free food. All that should matter (from the management perspective) is whether they contribute adequately to the success of the company. Google's workforce clearly does so. Don't forget the "other half" of Google's culture: it is not just about lavish benefits. Everyone at Google knows they are supposed to be the cream of the crop. If you are not at least as smart and useful as the Googler next to you, you are not going to last. You have so much to lose (in benefits and prestige) that you will work very hard to stay smart and useful. Both the bar and the stakes are very high at Google.

TIA: I am a new Google employee, who previously worked all over Silicon Valley for more than a decade. I've never had so many aspects of my life taken care of easily and efficiently for me -- it's hard to overestimate the value of not having to interrupt my flow to travel to a gym, doctor, carwash, etc. As a consequence, I have a lot more energy to devote to my actual work. (My comments represent my personal opinion only, and are not in any way official communications of Google.)

Boy, I wish the company I worked for had perks like that, and to imagine it is listed on this list as best companies to work for how.. I would love to know where they get there information from

I visited Google campus with a Googler friend of mine last year and the energy, innovation and their drive for success that I saw remains unparalleled to any kind of corporate culture I have ever seen. Google's success highly depends on its valuable employees, it know this fact and gives them the best environment and perks. I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps its rank 1 as the best company to work for in all the coming years.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory... I can't be the only person in the country to see this?

Keep your benefits, I don't want to be an Oompalompa and get paid with beans.

how can they be rated at all, much less as no.1 with so little data? The numbers shown for minorities and women working there are unbelievably low, they offer no job sharing, no 100% healthcare coverage, no paid sabbaticals, and only one location (Neverland Ranch). I'd prefer to see better healthcare coverage and longer paid vacations listed, along with generous employee stock incentives. I don't need to work at Disneyland to love my job, and I'd prefer honest benefits to this mickey mouse outfit. I wonder if Housekeeping gets the same benefits, too...

Responding to Rich: How can you complain about the "31% of women in the workforce" statistic? If you walk into the average computer science classroom, you'd find that far less than 31% of students are women. I'd say the fact that Google has such a high percentage just goes to show that they're making an effort to pull women in.

What I can't understand is why corprate america doesn't try to model itself after Google? It's a simple plan, take care of your people and they'll take care of you.

It's a philosophy the entire country should adopt.

The bottom line is morale. If the morale of the employee is great then they will give the company their best efforts. My question is how long do you think this will last? Look at the Big 3 with all of their perks (people with an 8th grade education making $70,000 - $80,000 a year), and we all know what happened with Enron!

You people have no idea what you are talking about.
99% of you would NEVER, I mean NEVER, be hired at Google.
They hire the best of the best with experience. Stanford and MIT means nothing unless you did something exceptional there.
STOP DREAMING unless you like rejection emails.

True, but the people of Google do not have an 8th grade education. In fact, they hire the most skilled talent they can find. The whole benefit package is based on Google getting benefits from treating the workers well. The Big 3 gave substantial benefits because the union could extract them from the cash-cow parent companies.

In my opinon, some people have Google pegged incorrectly . My best friend works for Google, I have been there to visit, and it's a GREAT place to work. He is not required, expected, or guilted into working long hours. He's extremely intelligent (Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering) but a very social, normal guy with outside interests. He loves his job because he is challenged and rewarded for his work. He, like most people in America, works 40 hours some weeks and more than 40 other weeks, depending on the project he is working on. However, unlike most of us he doesn't mind working some longer hours as Google makes it easier to take care of lifes' many little responsibilities such as getting an oil change for your car, doing laundry, hitting the gym, etc. And Google does things well, for example, not only do they provide 3 meals a day plus snacks, they provide good food, all organic, healthy choices...rather than most corporate cafeterias that offer the same greasy pizza and burgers every day. The thing to stress is that these services offered are perks, employees are free to do their laundry and eat dinner wherever they like! Would I like to work at Google, receive the stock options employees are granted, be able to work in an environment that promotes and encourages creativity and thinking outside the box and be paid well to do it, I sure would!

To reply to the person questioning the 31% women number: Women do not typically pursue technical areas of work making the 31% number actually very impressive. Our IT department has 18 employees and only one of them is a woman. I studied computer engineering in college and of about 50 students, we had two women.

Yes I'm sure there are plenty of positions there that aren;t tech related, but the majority of them are.

Most recently I worked for a retail shoe company with 80 stores and only 2 women are store managers. Women and shoes go together like cookies and milk, lamps and light bulbs; and yet they're not criticized for the lack of females in management positions. The entire shoe industry is still dominated by men. Check out the World Shoe Association in Vegas this Feb. and see for yourself. 31% women, in a technically advanced company, sounds awfully good.

I must agree with Scott from St. Louis. If you carefully evaluate the loyalty and work ethic of Google's workforce, then you'll clearly see simplistic respect and compassion drives performance and production.

Corporate America could learn a valuable lesson from Fortune's designation of Google as #1. (I love that Fortune put Google at the top; not your average corporation and culture!) Unfortunately, unlike Google's founders, most corporations don't retain the majority voting share of their stock, and therefore must leave ALL decisions up to a Board of who rarely sees the inside of anything in the company OTHER than the Boardroom. I can't see the Board of many U.S. companies approving $5,000 bonuses for Hybrid car purchases and $500 for take-out delivery following the birth of a baby. And that's not even Capital funding! Oy vey!

All the women work in adwords (also their largest/fastest growing department). I'm sure this department could easily make-up 31%.

A lot of interesting replies on this thread. This is the first time I actually did some research on what it was like to work at Google and the environment that it presented, and I must admit that I am impressed. I actually am in the process of applying for a job there myself, the campus is only about ten minutes away from where I currently live, and would be interested in seeing if it really is as great as advertised.

I worked for a startup company in Mountain View for a few months back in late 2006 and they also offered free food and a fairly relaxed environment. I can say, that personally made me a lot more appreciative of my job and the perks that came along with it. Of course, what my previous job offered was nothing close to what Google offers but providing all those extras can certainly go a long way towards keeping morale up.

Bottom line, I would love to work at Google. Who knows, if things work out, perhaps I can see for myself if this really is the best company to work for in America.

i only wish my cs classes had even one chick in them...

Idea of free food is not a novelty, the smart founder of the investment bank I work for invented it 120 years ago. Sadly, mergers that happened in last 10 years and people that came on top have made every effort to turn this place to be as bland as the food that is served in cafeteria. Oh, btw, we now have to pay for it. Everything seems to revolve around mantra of cost cutting and every investment bank has to look like the older, mean brother (Citibank). Funny thing is that nobody seems to question how much money is being spent on workforce turnaround, as everything and everyone is disposable.

Google's perks are very vaulable in the bay area, maybe less for other areas. Considering the traffic, it takes forever to go do any of your chores. If I can save the time I waste sitting on the highway and put it to good use, I would, in a heartbeat. I look at my time after work, if don't have to grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, driving to the gym, I would gladly spend an extra few hours at work. These perks work for certain demographic of employees--single guys/gals or married with no kids, who is very passionate about their jobs, so it definitely has its place.

I understand that Google will hire best of the best. The definition of 'the best' can be subjective. Based on that, I would like to find out how to apply and get a job with Google. Any suggestions? Thanks and have a great day!

Why no data about salary? I don't think your survey is fair to other companies. It is really difficult to rank Google as No 1 without this vital information.

I think what google is trying to achieve is a win-win situation , where It is providing all the facilities for employees and employees are doing their best for the company. New Ideas will come to our mind when our mind is free from personal problems. The whole tech industry is behind the new ideas and concepts and Google is one among them. (ofcourse, they stand first i would say). you can understand that from their acquisitions of other companies which introduced new concepts in tech industry.

I was recently interviewed by google bangalore. the way the whole affair was done left a bad taste. I found the interviewers arrogant and agressive, maybe thats the way they work in India.

The whole place doesnt scale up to what they say about mountainview.

What about all of Google's temporary employees? How are they being treated? Are they being promised permanent positions that will never be given to them? Has anyone taken a hard look at Google operations that are off-site, e.g., their scanning operation? Maybe there, one will find employees not being given equal treatment with those at the Plex, i.e. not allowed to walk accross the street to use the gym because they don't fit in...maybe there you will find your minorities and female workers...you may even find that people are having their bathroom breaks monitored and timed. Evil? Yes, EVIL!

I am working for a good small company with all challenge, good colleague and benefits nearly similar to Google (well you can't expect my small company to have enough space for a gym). It makes me work here for 6 years.
However, now i feel empty. The reason: it makes me focus more on work, not the 'true' value of life. No matter how good you are in balancing your life. I bet one day you can feel the same way i do now.

Recently I visited an orphanage and i felt I'm such a little thing comparing to those people who work for small money in order to take care children who are not even their relatives! Believe me, they work with all their hearts and expect nothing in return. And you will not be able to find these types of people in No.1 best company of the world because they all there for something in return!

And that makes me think what the hell I am doing for life.

Well I am just about to resign from Microsoft to take a job at Google. I expect my system to be shocked :)

I just signed with Google. I am a FEMALE that I suppose will be adding to that 31%. Half of my interviewers were female. I saw a very healthy ratio when I was at the plex... honestly not an issue.

in response to Jonathan's salary question, I'm not at liberty to say what my salary is, but I can say that it beat my offers from Goldman, Microsoft, and Citigroup. I honestly believe the ranking is accurate.

for those of you who just got jobs @ google, can you describe how the interview was like?

I recently completed my Masters degree in Computer Science. I meet a google recruiter at my school and I must say, I was impressed with the benefits and company culture. Google does try to recruit the best of the best but a question I asked the recruiter that seemed to stump him: What do you guys develop at google??? Hahahahaha. Basically, a nifty web browser with perks such as viewing videos and uploading pictures. I hardly want to use my 7+ years in school, graduating in the top 3 percentile, to help customers search browse for porn quicker, or upload there videos and pics to their Myspace account. Come on all you Google geniuses. You can do better than that. Use your skills and actually improve the quality of life for millions of people all over the world by choosing to do something with your intellect other than building and improving a fancy web browser. If thats all you decide to do in life,with all due respect, you don't seem very bright to me.

Why is Google Number 1?

- If you are young and single and can fit into trendy clothes, you will have fun.
- If you have super strong metabolism to convert the free junk food and rich gourmet food into energy, you will eat well.
- If you are an engineer with a PhD, you will be treated like a God.
- If you are a female engineer, you will get a lot of attention.
- If you're self-identity and ego are intact, you will survive the heavy competition.
- If Google is your very first job, you don't really know if the salary is as competitive as advertised.
- If you have your college transcripts readily available when you interview, you will be considered... If your college transcripts show a GPA of 4.0, you're in.
- If you have a GPA of 4.0 and you're published, you're definitely in.

Why Google is not for you?

- If you have a spouse or sweetheart, you may be cheated on because you're never around.
- If you have a kid(s), they prefer to snuggle with the day care teacher over you.
- If you have hobbies that don't require sneakers, you can't eat the gourmet food anyway because it's too rich.
- If you like to exhale and live.

BTW, I'm a 27 year old female engineer with 2 PhDs (Carnegie Mellon and MIT). I modeled bathing suits for national publications to pay for college. I paint. I speak 4 different languages. I travel. And I have absolutely no regrets leaving Google.

Yeah my dream is to work for Google.

I live near them and I plan on becoming a transient at the Googleplex until they hire me. I graduate real soon so I hope they're ready.

Yeah, and more chicks in cs classes would be awesome. and probably nice to work with/for as well.

Back in the 'good ol days' our parents lived to work and somewhere along the line all the divorces and messed up family lives made us kids say 'When we grow up we won't sell our soul to corporate America and live to work.' Then we realized that we would probably have to put in our 40 hours a week at a place we don't really like that much. Once done we still had to try to stay fit, balance a healthy eating schedule, plus all the other little extras that suck up time and maybe still spend time with a partner at the end of the day. If Google makes it so I don't have to run everywhere doing laundry, getting frustrated by traffic and I trade travel time to do something I love, sign me up! Mates I have a B.A. in Leadership, am finishing a B.B.A. and started my own coaching company training on Leadership, job retention for companies and no fluff team building and as I am expanding Google is a model for me. We may not live to work but if we're going to work to live why not make it something like Google that we believe in and can pour our heart into? I'll put some overtime into something like that and hey, it sure beats McDonalds!