Google gives everybody a raise

[Gibson486]

Google also demands a pretty heavy work load from what I understand. Dinner's free because they expect that you'll want to grab dinner since you're working late.

I worked in big consulting for a while, so I completely understand. Friends and family thought the perks I talked about were pretty cool, but free food and free booze only goes so far when your obligations to the office/client extend well beyond a normal work day for everyone else. It was a no-brainer for me to move on when I was offered a lateral salary/career level to work a 40-45 hr week.

People leaving Google might think twice with a 10% increase, but my guess is they're already working 10% more hours than the average corporate associate at a similar/equivalent career level.

exactly, you have to consider what they expect in return. I did my first coop at an electronics company that gave us free food, free booze, a game room and free trips. I thought it was awesome until I heard people in the company going through divorces, breakups and messed up lives because they worked too much. These perks come at a price. Infact, lots of the people the mentored me ended up leaving. The only people I knew that stayed were the ones that were single.

 

[Demo24]

Google has over 30 billion in cash sitting around somewhere. I suspect this hardly dents the bucket and at least gives them something to do with it besides buying up companies.

 

[Skel]

at least they're pretending to do something nice with the money they're not paying in taxes

http://gizmodo.com/5669971/googles-...crew-the-government-and-you-out-of-31-billion

 

[KeithTalent]

Good stuff. We're getting decent-sized bonuses and raises as well. I was surprised, but the markets have been much better recently and we've made good strides in cutting costs. Woohoo.

KT

 

[SagaLore]

Huh... I should have taken that security analyst job in Switzerland when I had the chance. :hmm:

 

[slayer202]

the company is making insane money, pay the people that deserve to get paid

 

[zoiks]

My company also gave me a 11% raise. Plus a $3600 bonus.
It helps to work for a good company. We have so many smart people they can't afford to lose; I guess they try to make everyone happy as much as possible.

 

[zoiks]

Google also demands a pretty heavy work load from what I understand. Dinner's free because they expect that you'll want to grab dinner since you're working late.

Yeps. A friend of mine works at Google and he hardly leaves the campus. Last friday when I called him to see if was interested in watching a movie at around 10:30pm at night, he was at that time still at Google working out at their gym.

 

[ussfletcher]

Google has a lot of trouble retaining older employees. Its everyone's dream to work at an office that operates like a college campus when they get out of college, but people grow out of that phase and it forces many people to look for a more professional environment.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

the company is making insane money, pay the people that deserve to get paid

So basically, the accountants and tax lawyers that are funneling the billions of dollars through other countries to avoid paying taxes.

 

[zoiks]

Google has a lot of trouble retaining older employees. Its everyone's dream to work at an office that operates like a college campus when they get out of college, but people grow out of that phase and it forces many people to look for a more professional environment.

It doesn't sound like that you've worked for a company (or a big one) just yet.
All big companies have big campuses. Google, Cisco, Apple etc. There isn't anything non-professional or less professional working for a company such as Google. They provide all sorts of amenities to try and make the employees happy. But don't forget for a second that they don't expect their employees to perform and deliver on their job requirements.

 

[TecHNooB]

Google has a lot of trouble retaining older employees. Its everyone's dream to work at an office that operates like a college campus when they get out of college, but people grow out of that phase and it forces many people to look for a more professional environment.

define more professional.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Google has a lot of trouble retaining older employees. Its everyone's dream to work at an office that operates like a college campus when they get out of college, but people grow out of that phase and it forces many people to look for a more professional environment.

are you speculating? They haven't been around that long to have an "aging" workforce.

 

[allisolm]

are you speculating? They haven't been around that long to have an "aging" workforce.

Maybe they're like the sports world and 30 is "aging."

 

[ussfletcher]

Just do a google search on google's employee retention issues.

These are a couple articles that I have read about it.
http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/
http://kellblog.com/2009/01/29/why-google-employees-quit/

 

[ussfletcher]

Maybe they're like the sports world and 30 is "aging."

Yes, I meant late 20's as aging.

 

[ussfletcher]

define more professional.

Mature, don't have nap rooms, hammocks, games all over, no ball pits. You know, things that make an office feel professional.

 

[Gibson486]

All those big companies like Google have retention issues. Even Microsoft does. Heck, even Mathworks has retention issues and that company is supposed to be the biggest boner for any CS major in the MA area.

 

[zoiks]

Mature, don't have nap rooms, hammocks, games all over, no ball pits. You know, things that make an office feel professional.

I don't think you know what 'professional' really means.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Google also demands a pretty heavy work load from what I understand. Dinner's free because they expect that you'll want to grab dinner since you're working late.

I worked in big consulting for a while, so I completely understand. Friends and family thought the perks I talked about were pretty cool, but free food and free booze only goes so far when your obligations to the office/client extend well beyond a normal work day for everyone else. It was a no-brainer for me to move on when I was offered a lateral salary/career level to work a 40-45 hr week.

People leaving Google might think twice with a 10% increase, but my guess is they're already working 10% more hours than the average corporate associate at a similar/equivalent career level.

There's always a catch eh?

 

[invidia]

So employee incentives are immature? They seem to present professional work despite having unprofessional work environment

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Mature, don't have nap rooms, hammocks, games all over, no ball pits. You know, things that make an office feel professional.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was the professionals that made an office feel more professional...

 

[Gibson486]

So employee incentives are immature? They seem to present professional work despite having unprofessional work environment

Have you ever worked in those environments?

I have. Lots of the stuff they do in the software industry is deemed unacceptable in other industries.

 

[ussfletcher]

All a bit envious of the people that work for google eh?

I didn't ever say that I thought it wasn't a great place to work, but if you read about it many of their ex-employees bring up what I pointed out.

 

[mwtgg]

So basically, the accountants and tax lawyers that are funneling the billions of dollars through other countries to avoid paying taxes.

Defer, not avoid. Besides, the IRS approved the transfer pricing arrangement.

Back to the topic at hand, good for the Google employees. Doesn't mean I'd want to work there though.