Workforce 2020 Executive Report
Kinsey Gilbreath
Argosy University

Workforce 2020 Executive Report Google is continuously ranked high on the list as the “Best Company to Work For” throughout multiple outlets. It is widely known that Google offers many benefits to their employees in several different ways. As the leader in global technology, Google offers multiple perks to their employees to keep them motivated and producing highly innovative ideas. This tech giant has proven itself to be the gold standard for employers to model. Google is the leading global technology company that focuses on improving the ways people connect with information. Most commonly known for their search engine, Google also has many different services that anyone can use as long as they have an Internet connection. Some of these services include Google Images (online image library), Google news (news feeds), Google Finance (financial news and information), and Froogle (comparison shopping services). The company manages a large inventory of websites and website content that is made freely available through its search engine (Cook, 2012). Google generates 97% of its entire revenue through its advertising, with its two major sources being Google Adwords and Adsense (Cook, 2012). Being the leading search engine in the world and holding a strong market position Google is one of the world’s top ranked brands. Due to the constantly changing advances in the world today companies are required to constantly find new ways and approaches to recruit the best employees for their organization. Not only do they have to find these top talented individuals, they also have to retain the top talent, as well as motivate their employees in order to see maximum output. Google is one of the top companies that are leading the way through these changes, and are adapting their practices in order to have a strong team of individuals that enjoy their job and the company that they work for. Google has structured their leadership in order to provide to their employees the best environment for motivation that includes intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (Martin, 2014). The success of Google and their motivational techniques can be largely attributed to its two founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They did not want to put all of their focus in just revenue and fall into that cookie cutter traditional culture of corporations. With a large focus in avoiding conflict within their workforce such as backstabbing, work place drama, neediness and general discord among employees the two founders wanted to put employees first. “The founders believed that in order to attract the best talent, they had to provide an environment where people would want to come to work, have fun, dream big and get rewarded for hard work” (Cook, 2012). Google believes in providing both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards because they understand that not every individual is motivated by pay incentives alone. Google’s current CEO adopts the “fun is good” principle by providing a unique environment to work around. Some of the benefits and rewards that Google offers are the standard benefits package along with first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, and commuting buses, most of these at no cost to the employee. The company also has a specific executive role that is devoted to the happiness of the Google employees, called CCO, or Chief Culture Czar. Many talented people work at Google specifically for their unique culture, rewards, and perks (Martin, 2014). Google’s model of motivation is extremely different than the traditional leadership theory, which focuses more on results than on the people who deliver those results. Extrinsic benefits include no-cost health and dental benefits, insurance, 401k plans, vacation packages and tuition reimbursements. Some of the intrinsic motivators include no real hierarchy in the work environment, tiny work groups, and purpose. Google focuses on a flat structure in order to maximize creativity, which allows channels of communication to flow freely instead of only specific groups or departments. For leaders to effectively recognize contributions they have to create a spirit of community and be personally involved (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Google has a employee recognition program in place because they strongly believe in innovation and rewarding people for amazing innovations. On top of a great motivational program, Google has a strong reputation for creating great work cultures that enable innovative thinking to the fullest. They achieve this through five key team dynamics; psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact (Himelstein, 2016). When these factors are implemented in the work culture successfully employees will be able to define their roles clearly with an understanding of the meaning and impact that their work creates in the organization. Google has identified that a successful employee does not have a specific personality or educational background. “A resume can say a lot of things, but the true test is how they interact and play with others, when they’re not using all their efforts to impress” (Himelstein, 2016). As the leading global technology company, Google needs to constantly be aware of the technological advances in the world that are constantly changing. They have to stay on top of their game at all times in order to constantly adapt to the numerous challenges that they face everyday. The technology industry is constantly growing so Google needs to continue to focus on their employee happiness and create an atmosphere that produces the most innovative ideas and maximum output.
Technology is so important in the world today, especially amongst the new class of worker (born 1980-2000), and it is up to the companies to make structural and behavioral workforce changes to counteract these challenges.

References Cook, J. (2012, May 27). How Google Motivates their Employees with Rewards and Perks. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://hubpages.com/business/How-Google-Motivates- their-Employees-with-Rewards-and-Perks
Himelstein, C. (2016, February 17). Google's 5 Key Team Dynamics: Just Another Way to Define Engagement? Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.eremedia.com/tlnt/are-googles-5-key-team-dynamics-just-another-way-to-define-engagement/
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). [VitalBookshelf]. Retrieved from https://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/#/books/9780470633397 Martin. (2014, September 25). The Google Way of Motivating Employees. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from https://www.cleverism.com/google-way-motivating-employees/