There aren’t many companies in the world
that can match Google when it comes to employee
and customer satisfaction. Google’s founders,
Larry
Page and Sergey
Brin, are keen on maintaining a friendly Google
corporate culture where the motto is “Don’t
Be Evil”. The company consistently ranks
as one of the top places to work in the United
States, and as Sergey Brin’s father Michael
puts it, “Google has saved more time for
more people than anything else in the world.”
Chances are that you remember the first time that
you heard the word “Google”. It’s
now a part of everyday parlance. And, it’s
just as likely that your first experience with
the original Google server quickly developed into
an inseparable relationship that continues to
this day. Google is a most intriguing American
business story, displaying the kind of success
that can be achieved when you mix a little hard
work and ingenuity together.
Ever since Larry Page and Sergey Brin started
Google in a Menlo Park, California garage, the
company has seemed destined to succeed. Today,
it’s the largest media company in the world,
and it’s stock prices reflect the company’s
distinguished status. In fact, Google is so big
these days, that McDonald’s,
Disney
and General
Motors combined can’t compete with its
size. Larry Page and Sergey Brin first met in
1995 at Stanford University, and the two immediately
hit it off, you could say. Both accomplished academics,
they shared an interest in computer science. By
1996, the pair was well on its way to conceptualizing
the original Google server. Larry and Sergey were
interested in the idea of linking web pages together,
and they were also implementing a way to rank
each respective web page. Linking pages together
would mean that you could find information more
quickly on the internet, and ranking pages would
give insight into their general relevance.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin immediately began
to shop their ideas around, but investors were
slow to catch on. Finally, after a humble beginning,
the two received their first significant investment
from a cofounder of Sun
Microsystems. The rest, as they might say,
is history. On April 29, 2004, Google became the
talk of the business world. It had filed the necessary
paperwork, and was ready to offer its first public
stock offering. The first day of trading for Google
stock occurred on August 16, 2004, and the profits
were significant. By November of 2007, Google
stock had soared to over $500 per share. That’s
a number not often seen in the stock market, and
today, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are each worth
billions of dollars. Google headquarters is found
at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, in Mountain View,
California. The city of Mountain View is just
south of Palo Alto, and north of San Jose. The
company has several corporate offices spread about
the United States, and it maintains plenty of
international offices as well. One thing that
is a constant at all their offices is the Google
corporate culture. Employees of Google are all
made to feel important, and they usually all wear
a number of different hats.
Though the Google offices found at the headquarters might be a bit more “decked out”, all Google offices feature a list of standard characteristics. The lobbies of their offices tend to exhibit a bit of a swanky decor, while hallways are often littered with things like exercise balls and company press clippings. Many Google workers share working spaces that are complete with couches where fresh ideas can be conjured up. A big part of Google corporate culture is how employees are definitely made to feel valued. Google employees enjoy three complimentary meals a day, and generally, these are enjoyed in the Google Café, which is found at every one of the company’s offices. Should you be a Google worker with a recent addition to the family, the company will arrange to send you complimentary home food delivery. New mothers will also find that each office features designated nursing spaces, and Google even offers its workers free, on-site medical care. A quick examination of Google corporate culture is enough to make you understand why Fortune magazine recently named Google the country’s top place to work.
Google has certainly added to its original Google
server, now offering things like Google pictures
and images and Gmail. With Google pictures, you
can get satellite images of locations around the
globe that allow you to zoom in and out. Another
Google pictures feature allows you to pull up
an array of images that are associated with the
words you put in the search box. If you are curious
as to the colorful clothing of the Kuna Indians
of Panama
or Galapagos
animals, for instance, you can immediately
find scores of relevant photos when searching
with the Google pictures and images search engine.
Google has also made moves to join the world’s
push towards a more “Green” world
environment. Google
Green is just a part of the overall Google
corporate culture, and the company even features
the country’s largest commercial solar energy
plan. Local farmers definitely appreciate the
fact that Google often looks to them to supplement
their cafeteria food, and throughout Google offices,
things like sofas and carpet are made without
PVC. The next time you are visiting northern California,
you might take a Google tour at the company’s
headquarters. It’s a great way to learn
more about Google corporate culture and the new
“Google Green” initiatives. You might
even get the chance to catch an employee roller
hockey game. They happen at least twice a week,
and take place in the company’s parking
lot.
