- Case Application Paradise Lost Or Gained A Swimming Pool And Spa Laundry Facilities Access To A Massage At The Off 1 (908.65 KiB) Viewed 11 times
CASE APPLICATION Paradise Lost... Or Gained? A swimming pool and spa, laundry facilities, access to a massage at the office, free delicious gourmet meals. What more could an employee want? Sounds like an ideal job, doesn't it? However, at Google, many people are demon- strating by their decisions to leave the company that all those perks (and these are just a few) are not enough to keep them there. But Google is making money, it has a hugely creative workforce, and it is widely considered to be a great place to work. So what is the problem? Why are so many employees quitting? Google has been named the "best company to work for" by Fortune magazine for two years running. But make no mistake, Google's executives made the decision to offer all those fabulous perks for several reasons: to attract the best knowledge workers it can in an intensely competitive, cut-throat market; to help employees work long hours and not have to deal with time-consuming personal chores outside work; to show employees they are valued; and to have employees remain Googlers (the name used for employees) for many years. But a number of Googlers have given up these fantastic benefits to go out on their own. For instance, Sean Knapp and two colleagues, brothers Bismarck and Belsasar Lepe, came up with an idea for handling online videos. They left Google in April 2007, leaving all the free gourmet meals and spa facilities behind them, to set up their own com- pany. When the threesome left the company, Google did their best to keep them and their project, and even offered them unlimited financial support to develop their idea. But the three young entrepreneurs real- ized they would be putting in all the effort, and they wouldn't even own the product themselves... it would belong to Google. So instead off they went, for the excitement of a start-up. If this were a one-off, it would be easy to ignore, But it is not. Other talented Google employees have done the same thing. In fact, so many of them have left that they have even formed a club of ex-Googlers who have set up their own entrepreneurial ventures.
Discussion Questions 1. What is it like to work at Google? (Hint: Go to Google's website and click on About Google. Find the section Jobs at Google.) What is your assess- ment of the company's work environment? 2. Google is doing a lot for its employees, but obviously it has, not done enough to retain several of its tal- ented employees. Using what you have learned from studying the various motivation theories, what does this situation tell you about employee motivation? 3. What do you think is Google's biggest challenge in keeping employees motivated? 4. If you were managing a team of Google employees, how would you keep them motivated?