Best companies to work for 2013: Google's care quotient for employees helps it ... - Economic Times

Two years ago, the 21-year-old Zihan Ahmed made a mistake. The college graduate wore formals for an internship interview with Google India and the interviewer commented, "You can be serious without wearing a suit". A year later, Ahmed went for his campus placement interview with Google, in shorts. Today, based out of the search engine's Hyderabad office as an associate in the market sales team for small and medium business, Ahmed realises his first job is virtually a dream job for others. His company wants him to pass the 'airport test' and not just be another keyboard punching machine desperate to stay ahead of the competition and peers. The airport test, which all employees must pass at Google, is to make sure that if they are stuck in an airport and someone strikes up a conversation, the Googler must have something interesting to talk about to a complete stranger. "Every Googler has a hobby," says Ahmed, "and that is what keeps us from being mediocre". He is a polo player and a show jumper and heads out with his horse thrice a week at 6 pm, knowing that employees in most companies are wistfully staring at their watches. The internet search company that is heavily betting on mobile internet usage, online video growth and small and medium businesses, has strict abhorrence towards those who look upon hierarchy as a sign of success, work in silos and are complacent. "We are extremely self critical. At Google, we say things should improve 10x times and not by 10%, I would say why 10x and not 100x. It is a bad idea to think small in this company," says Rajan Anandan, India head for the firm. And 31-year-old Parul Sharma says this trait of going beyond KRAs is integral for the company. She is the manager of online sales team and has worked with North American markets for projects on mobile shopping that was not related to her work at all. "It was not related to my performance and that does not matter .There is no career ladder here and it is more of a jungle gym," says the Gurgaon-based manager. The company ensures that every decision percolates and teams have biweekly meetings where every decision taken by the CEO is aligned to their tasks. Employees have access to products that are yet to be launched so that they can test and give feedback, a sign of faith in its people— a system called 'dogfooding'. But true to Google tradition, even meetings cannot stretch as it may hinder productivity. "Meetings are a death of speed. At Google, if you are in meetings and do not work, then they will not respect you," says Anandan. His meetings are for 15-20 minutes at the most except for the one-hour Monday morning one. The firm has developed 'bureaucracy busters', program where a Google employee can suggest ways of slashing red tape within the firm. Copyright © 2013 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF7TPuvcWYSFitaLRrcwgX2X-p61Q&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/best-companies-to-work-for-2013-googles-care-quotient-for-employees-helps-it-stay-on-top/articleshow/20726265.cms

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