4 of 5
BACKNEXT
What stays: Free food
What stays: Free food
Google takes its grub seriously, and the menu at its gourmet cafeteria is the stuff of legend in Silicon Valley and beyond. Executives there view the company's communal eatery as a way to foster innovation and collaboration. By getting everyone into one place at lunch - even people who don't typically work together - the company benefits. And obviously free dinner encourages longer work hours.

Still, on a recent visit to Google for an evening event, every single Googler heading for the parking lot was carrying takeout, which the cafeteria offers with every meal. Presumably they were doing what normal people do: heading home to eat with friends or family.

NEXT: What stays: Concierge services
Last updated January 22 2009: 1:37 PM ET
2009 Best Companies to Work For
Top 100
Top 100
There's a new no. 1 this year, as Google slips to no. 4. Which companies are going out of their way -- even in this economy -- to please employees? More
They're hiring!
They're hiring!
As many big companies are announcing mass layoffs, these 20 top employers have at least 350 openings each right now. More
25 top-paying companies
25 top-paying companies
Associates at Bingham McCutchen take home an average $256,312 total compensation annually. Who else offers big paychecks? More
Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.