One of the key factors contributing to Google's phenomenal success stems from its unconventional human resource management strategies.
What's admirable about how this tech giant manages its more than 62,000 "Googlers" (the affectionate name for Google employees) is that it bases its human resources leadership on real-world data, not just paper notes, to formulate management strategies and make decisions.
Therefore, although it may seem counterintuitive to the rest of the world at first glance, Google, thanks to its unusual method, has comfortably ranked first on Fortune's list of "The World's Best Companies to Work For" for eight consecutive years.
Laszlo Bock, Head of Human Resources at Google, shared some of the unique, "internally circulated" employee management secrets of this company worth over $500 billion.
1. Allow employees "freedom within boundaries".
In this prestigious organization, the human resource management plan is somewhat unique. To put it simply, Google's management style is like "doing what your right hand is doing while your left hand is completely unaware." Many might think Google's strategy is biased, fickle, or lacks a long-term vision.
But no, the brilliant minds at Google discovered that when leaders are consistently fair and allow subordinates to "figure things out" during decision-making, employees feel more liberated and have a better work experience.
Laszlo Bock explains that this management strategy allows employees to exercise a certain degree of freedom and do whatever they want within those boundaries. If a manager is overly controlling, interfering too much, and meddling in too many things, subordinates will be left confused. In most cases, employees will be unsure of what they should or shouldn't do, leading to frustration and a restricted work environment.
2. Set spiritual values as a business objective.
When building its corporate culture, Google focuses most on its mission: "To organize the world's information and make it useful and easily accessible globally."
What sets this mission statement apart from many other corporate "statements" is that it makes no mention of profit, market, or any issues related to equity and customers. To many, this mission statement doesn't look like a business objective; in fact, it seems to have no end point.
According to Laszlo Bock: "This kind of task helps each individual find meaning in their work, because it is linked to ethical and spiritual values rather than simply being a business objective."
This is precisely what attracts talented individuals who crave an ambitious and inspiring job. Nothing is more powerful than knowing that your work is making a positive difference in the world. Google offers such a job!
3. Be willing to share everything.
Beyond the task itself, transparency is the second pillar of Google's culture. For example, a newly hired software engineer will have access to almost all of the system code on their first day. Googlers are granted access to product roadmaps, launch plans, weekly employee performance reports, quarterly goals, and everyone knows what everyone else is working on. Google shares everything because everyone trusts each other to keep information secure.
Google's "openness" in information sharing is a stark contrast to traditional management styles, which are hierarchical, command-and-control, and often blur the lines between employees within the company. The ultimate benefit of this approach is that every individual at Google knows what's going on at the company.
Information sharing also contributes to fostering a spirit of unity and cooperation among departments, reducing competition as well as backstabbing or bureaucracy among superiors and subordinates. Bock said that this policy "helps everyone understand the differences in goals between departments, thereby avoiding internal rivalry."
Regarding a "culture of sharing" in businesses, Bock succinctly states: "If your business is truly confident in saying that our employees are our most valuable asset, then this transparency and sharing must be the default. If you can't do that, you're just deceiving yourself and others. On the one hand, you say your employees are important, but on the other hand, you treat them poorly."
4. Listen to all feedback from employees.
At this "most desirable workplace in the world," employee voice is the third most important foundation shaping the corporate culture. Employees are encouraged to contribute their thoughts and aspirations, and leadership trusts the integrity and honesty of their subordinates to the point of allowing them to participate in proposing ideas for the company. This might be a nightmare in many places, but at Google, it works incredibly well. Many of the tech giant's human resource management strategies originate from its own employees.
In 2009, Googlers complained to management about the increasing difficulty in meeting targets due to the company's rapid growth. Recognizing the validity of the majority of subordinates' opinions, Google's CFO at the time launched a program specifically for Googlers called "Bureaucracy Busters." This idea allowed Googlers to voice their frustrations and help the company address them.
Needless to say, employee morale is greatly boosted when they are personally involved in organizing and improving the work system to help their company grow.
5. Recruitment without using scores.
As a data analyst, Laszlo Bock once told the New York Times that GPA (grade point average) or test scores are meaningless in employee selection unless your company is willing to retrain them from scratch.
The head of human resources at Google analyzed: "After two or three years, you'll realize that the skills needed to survive at Google have absolutely no connection to what you learned in school, because what you were taught in the classroom is completely different from what you learn here. Basically, you'll gradually put on a 'new outfit,' your way of thinking, learning, and developing – everything will be different."
Therefore, it's not hard to understand why as many as 14% of employees in some departments at Google have never set foot in a university classroom.
Le Duy - According to Inc.
* Source: Saigon Business Magazine
