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| 1 - 10 of 254 Google Reviews | Sort by |
Jun 29, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
4.0
Fairness & Respect
4.0
Compensation & Benefits
4.5
Senior Leadership
5.0
Work/Life Balance
3.5
Career Opportunities
4.5
Communication
4.0
Employee Morale
5.0
Pros
The work and projects are very challenging; Google's products have wide visibility; great food and perks, and working for Google is great for your resume.
Google rewards their top performers well. Base salary tends to run at around the 50th percentile in the industry, but annual bonuses the last few years have been ~25% of salary (it's not uncommon for above average performers to receive bonuses of 25-35% of salary).
Google also matches 401K contributions up to $8,250 for U.S. workers. BTW, 401K matching is something I really wished Glassdoor keeps data on. When comparing overall compensation of two or more companies, you have to account for 401K matching.
Cons
The company has grown substantially during the 4+ years I've been here. Management does a good job in trying to limit bureaucracy, but there's definitely more bureaucracy than there was 4 years ago.
Also, base salaries tend to be much lower than competitors. For a company that prides itself on hiring the best, they certainly don't pay the best when it comes to base salary.
Advice to Senior Management
The company made an excellent hire with the (relatively) new CFO. Lot's of waste has been eliminated. Let's keep plugging away at inefficiencies, focus the bulk of our staff and resources on products and projects that matter, and stay humble.
Jun 28, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
4.0
Fairness & Respect
3.5
Compensation & Benefits
3.5
Senior Leadership
3.0
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
2.0
Communication
4.5
Employee Morale
4.0
Pros
I like Google for it's transparent culture, free food and other perks (well, but those are baked in the total compensation package anyway).
Cons
Relatively flat org means there are few chances for one to advance. It is not uncommon to have a senior manager with 40+ directs. There are lots of smart people. In a way, it is a good thing. The downside is that a lot of them want to play safe, which hampers innovation.
Advice to Senior Management
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Jun 17, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
1.0
Fairness & Respect
5.0
Compensation & Benefits
5.0
Senior Leadership
4.5
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Communication
2.0
Employee Morale
5.0
Pros
Google is like Disneyland for geeks. It's an incredibly great place to work: the food, the people, the projects, the opportunities...
Cons
It's extremely disorganized. There's either not enough work or way too much. No feedback. No structure. It's not always clear how to contribute.
Advice to Senior Management
One word: divestiture. Google should spin out some of its projects to a separate company so they can be run more efficiently. Management is too decentralize.
Jun 12, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
3.5
Fairness & Respect
2.5
Compensation & Benefits
3.0
Senior Leadership
3.0
Work/Life Balance
2.5
Career Opportunities
3.0
Communication
3.0
Employee Morale
2.5
Pros
ITs a great place to work and expand your knowledge. You will love the people and location is great. Dont hesitate to apply
Cons
Sometimes managment has issue with letting people know to stance of the company. You will find more information if you look yourself
Advice to Senior Management
Let your employees know where the company stands. Better to hear it from you than on the front page. Thank You
Jun 10, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
5.0
Fairness & Respect
5.0
Compensation & Benefits
4.5
Senior Leadership
5.0
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Communication
5.0
Employee Morale
5.0
Pros
Great place to work, cutting edge industry, excellent online marketing training
Cons
Job growth could be limited as company gets older. Sometimes job growth gets a bit stale.
Advice to Senior Management
Keep paying attention to career development opportunities for Googlers
Jun 3, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
5.0
Fairness & Respect
3.5
Compensation & Benefits
3.5
Senior Leadership
5.0
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
3.5
Communication
3.0
Employee Morale
5.0
Pros
I was amongst some of the most hard driven and motivated co-workers while at Google. I had very little to complain about, being surrounded by some of the brightest and most interesting people I have ever met. The team and the atmosphere made for a great work environment, the perks helped but it was more knowing you were all part of a team and accomplishing great things. Senior management wanted to help you and would give you the tools to succeed.
Cons
See review headline - "Great place to work... "
Advice to Senior Management
Senior management wanted to help you and would give you the tools to succeed. They will listen and make 1:1 a priority.
Jun 3, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
3.5
Fairness & Respect
4.0
Compensation & Benefits
3.0
Senior Leadership
5.0
Work/Life Balance
4.5
Career Opportunities
2.5
Communication
4.0
Employee Morale
4.5
Pros
Google has consistently smart people in literally all areas. This includes the receptionists, the food service folks and the help desk staff.
Google is also still a fairly democratic and open workplace in terms of culture and idea solicitation.
Cons
Google has extremely uneven career development support and bottom level management. Though there are classes and other tools for development, it can be difficult to good guidance on where to focus your efforts. In the last 6-12 months there has been improvement on bottom level management issues, but it has been gradual overall.
Also, Google does a generally poor job of recognizing technically unglamorous though needed contributions.
Advice to Senior Management
The company should invest more energy in guiding the development its employees. I know there are managers who want to do better at this and would jump at training specifically to address this.
Jun 2, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
3.0
Fairness & Respect
4.5
Compensation & Benefits
3.0
Senior Leadership
4.0
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
4.5
Communication
4.0
Employee Morale
5.0
Pros
Google is a company of constant change, and opportunities abound for the hungry. Management are eager to spot talent and bring them forward.
Cons
However, unless you are careful, you might find yourself digging a hole with no way out. It is no longer as easy to climb as it used to be within the organisation.
Advice to Senior Management
Keep going strong, and look for new avenues of revenue. With a smart and world-class work force, you can stay as flexible as you like
Jun 1, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
3.5
Fairness & Respect
3.0
Compensation & Benefits
2.0
Senior Leadership
2.5
Work/Life Balance
5.0
Career Opportunities
2.0
Communication
3.0
Employee Morale
4.5
Pros
The perks at Google are really cool. The free food and Google wear are all good. But the recognition of working at a cool company is a reward itself too
Cons
It is a very disorganized environment. The company still feels chaotic and like a start up. Also, it seems the company takes advantage of people by lowering the salary.
Advice to Senior Management
I would advise the leadership to be more structured. Sometimes the environment is too loose and too casual. Perhaps this is to preserve the Google reputation of being a "cool" company to work for.
May 23, 2009
Details
Recognition & Feedback
2.0
Fairness & Respect
1.5
Compensation & Benefits
3.0
Senior Leadership
2.0
Work/Life Balance
2.0
Career Opportunities
1.0
Communication
2.0
Employee Morale
2.0
Pros
2 types of people that will find a great place to work: (1) recent college or B-school graduates looking for a first job where they can learn a lot, and (2) more senior corporate executives with many years of experience who aren't overly ambitious and are looking for a role where they can put life on auto-pilot and glide through their day-to-day activities.
Cons
There is no clear career progression, and management is arrogant.
Advice to Senior Management
Reward employees based on achievements as opposed to favoritism by one's direct line manager. Ensure that rewards / bonuses / promotions are not entirely up to one person (ie the specific team manager)
