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Facebook Continues To Hold Lead As Top Tech Company; Tech Industry Report Card 2012

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:00:49 +0000

In Glassdoor’s fourth annual Employees’ Choice Awards, a list of the 50 Best Places to Work for 2012, Facebook holds on as the top rated tech company, according to employees. In the annual report, Facebook slipped to the #3 slot from its #1 position last year as its overall rating dropped to 4.3 (based on a 5-point scale) from 4.6 a year ago.

More than 65,000 companies were considered for the 2012 awards, with a dozen other tech companies making this year’s list as well, including MITRE, Google, Apple and Rackspace. In addition to companies that made the Best Places to Work list, we also looked at how other tech employers rate this year compared to last year. Our 2012 Tech Industry Report Card looks at more than 55 tech-driven companies of all shapes, sizes and ages that return widely different ratings from their respective employees.

Tech Report Card Highlights

Tech Companies to see Big Improvements: Rackspace’s rating increased to 3.9 from 3.1 last year. NVIDIA receives a 3.5 this year, up from 3.0 last year, while Hewlett-Packard climbed to 2.7 this year from 2.2 under Leo Apotheker’s reign last year. Samsung Austin Semiconductor comes in at 2.5, up from a 1.9.
Top 5 Tech CEOs: National Instruments CEO James Truchard and NetApp’s Tom Georgens received 100% approval ratings this year, followed by Apple’s Tim Cook (96%) and Synopsys’ Aart de Geus (96%). Rounding out the top 5 is Intel’s Paul Otellini with a 93% approval rating.
Most Improved Tech CEOs: eBay’s John Donahoe saw the biggest boost in approval ratings this year; as his rating climbed to 65% approval from 30% last year. Sapient CEO Alan Herrick climbed to 85% from 58%. Analog Devices’ CEO Jerry Fishman climbed to 80% from 55%, and Intuit’s Brad Smith climbed to 84% from 60%.

Work in tech? We invite you to weigh in and post a review on Glassdoor or share your comments below.

Facebook Continues To Hold Lead As Top Tech Company; Tech Industry Report Card 2012 is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Top 10 Companies Where Employees Love The Food

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:41 +0000

For many employees, lunch at work is typically about chowing down on last night’s leftovers or heading out to a nearby deli to grab an overpriced sandwich. For some, however, breakfast, lunch and dinner are just a few steps away from their cubicles, and come courtesy of their employers – even during this struggling economy.

So what are the companies where employees rave about food at work the most? The Glassdoor data team sifted through more than 375,000 company reviews to find out. In our latest report, we shine a light on the top 10 companies where employees love the food¹. Plus, the report highlights what employee morale is like at each of the companies.

While there doesn’t appear to be a consistent relationship between employee morale and on-site food, it’s interesting to note the highest rated companies on this list in terms of employee morale include: Facebook (4.4), DreamWorks Animation (4.2) and Google (4.2). The average employee morale rating on Glassdoor is 3.1 – both Marvell Technology and Zynga come in just under the average, receiving a 2.6 and 2.8 respectively.

To get a better perspective on what employees like so much about the food, here’s what several employees had to say:

“It has free foods! It is a big company with nice benefits. Comfortable working environment. A lot of groups and doing a great variety of business.”- Bloomberg LP Employee (New York, NY)

“Free food! Beautiful place to come to work every day. People are generally happy and friendly (when not in fear of being laid off after a bad movie release).” – DreamWorks Animation Research and Development Manager (Glendale, CA)

“Amazing food. We get breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner served up by the best chefs around. Menus change daily and my favorite to date has been the Willy Wonka themed lunch menu. Sushi day is legit too.” – Facebook Employee (Palo Alto, CA)

“The free lunches (Mon – Thurs), open stocked kitchen is quite an incentive and the ability to charge meals is a good way to keep up morale and improve productivity at a relatively low cost.” – FactSet Systems Engineer (Chicago, IL)

“Google has great benefits like free food. I’ve forgotten how to make my own lunch.” – Google Software Engineer (location n/a)

“Incredible benefits (unlimited food and magic whiteboard – you write what you want and it appears).” – LinkedIn Marketing Employee (Mountain View, CA)

“The cafeteria serves great quality food that rivals food at Google.” – Marvell Technology Employee (Santa Clara, CA)

“As many are aware, they provide free lunch with many different healthy choices. In addition, self-serve breakfast items are available each day (cold & hot cereal, hard-boiled eggs, bagels and breads, yogurt, coffee, tea, etc.).” – Susquehanna International Group Employee (Bala Cynwyd, PA)

“The catered lunches are a nice perk – they remove one thing to worry about.” – TripAdvisor Software Engineer (Newton, MA)

“The company spends an excessive amount of money to provide their employees with food, snacks, freebies, weekly happy hours, and team outings.” – Zynga employee (San Francisco, CA)

Interested in working at one of these companies and trying the food yourself?

Bloomberg L.P. jobs

DreamWorks Animation jobs

Marvell Technology jobs

Susquehanna International Group jobs

TripAdvisor jobs

Zynga jobs

¹Report based on companies with at least 500 employees, 20 approved company reviews and approximately 20 reviews mentioning the on-site food. The report does not include restaurants, grocery stores, other companies in the food service industry, or weight and health management companies.

Top 10 Companies Where Employees Love The Food is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Can Google+ Help Your Job Search?

Aol Jobs — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:34:16 +0000

You may or may not have heard about Google+. It’s the search giant’s answer to Facebook, and it’s hoping to take over the social networking world. It’s very “insidery” right now — since it’s only in Beta. To join, you have to get an invite from someone who’s already on. The site’s creators are obviously hoping Google+ will do to Facebook what Facebook did to MySpace.

That’s all very well and good for rabid social networkers, but if you’re a job seeker and that golden Google ticket pops up in your email box, sent by one of your friends, family members or connections, will it actually help you get a job? Yes and no, according to a little exploring on the site.

The Pros

Since it’s an elite group, it might help you in a job interview to mention that you’re on Google+. If the person interviewing you is not a member, there would be a certain amount of prestige involved in sending them an invite.

Google+, unlike other social media sites, allows you to control which parts of your profile each of your connections sees. “Through the use of ‘Circles,’ Google+ allows you to choose who sees each of your posts, photos and videos,” explains Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com.

You can also add potential employers and professional contacts to your circles without needing them to ‘friend’ you back,” and you can specify which specific circle you’d like them to be part of, like “professional contacts” or “acquaintances.” You can even put Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in one of your circles. They say that he’s the most circled person on Google+.

There’s a “Sparks” feature that is basically a feed of current news stories related your own interests — you get to choose. You could use this to research news about the companies you hope to work for, as well as get hot information about what’s happening in your industry.

The Cons

Since you can’t just sign up, like you can on Facebook or LinkedIn, you have to either wait for an invite, or solicit your friends (who may or may not already be on) to invite you. That doesn’t exactly position you as one of the elite couple million who were invited to sign up first.

Because it’s so new and exclusive, you might not be able to find all the people you want to connect with on there. Connections are definitely limited at this point.

It’s time consuming — it will take you several hours to begin in a way that will result in big circles and lots of attention. If you’re active on Facebook, do you really have time for yet another social networking tool?

Google+ is still developing its company-specific pages, so you’ll have to go elsewhere for truly in depth research, and your own personal news feed, again, will take you some time to set up.

In the Middle

There’s a feature called “Hangouts,” which is Google+’s version of group video chat, and although creators say it can be potentially useful for long-distance interviews and can allow you to do a video interview with a recruiter or hiring manager from the comfort of your own home, it’s not being used much in that capacity; so, for now, it’s neither a pro nor a con.

So while Google+ may not be essential for job seekers (just yet), it is another, upscale tool, and you can never have too many tools.

“The bottom line is that no matter what social media network you are using, make sure you maintain control of your brand across the Internet,” says Lee. “Take some time to surf the web and see what a potential employer might find about you. Not taking control of your brand could cost you in a big way.” - Originally Posted on AOL Jobs by Lisa Johnson Mandell.

Can Google+ Help Your Job Search? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Google’s Search For New Recruits

FINS from The Wall Street Journal — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:17:25 +0000

How do you hire more than 6,300 engineers, product specialists and salespeople in the most competitive tech talent market in a decade? That’s the dilemma Google is facing in its biggest hiring year ever.

To find the candidates it wants as quickly as possible, the search engine company is using software to sift through old resumes, reaching out to less prestigious universities than in the past and speeding up its hiring process. Chances are, if you apply for a job at Google, you’ll get a yes or no on whether you’ll be hired within weeks rather than months.

The company has streamlined its notoriously arduous interview process, reducing the number of interviews a candidate goes through from 14 to four. It has also toned down the emphasis on candidates solving brain teasers to prove their cognitive athleticism.

But the core of the company’s hiring philosophy — that consensus should be reached on every candidate by a committee of managers — hasn’t changed. Nor have standards slipped, said Todd Carlisle, director of staffing. “The standards have not dropped a single degree,” he said. The company still operates one of the tech world’s most elaborate and demanding systems for finding new employees.

CEO Larry Page has the option to approve every hire. He regularly receives an electronic spreadsheet that allows him to review — and potentially veto — each candidate, even its administrative assistants.

“We try to make it really efficient for him…and he can sort of say, ‘Why are we hiring a secretary in that location? I thought that was going to be a really small office,’” said Carlisle. “And we can say, ‘Yeah, it’s small now, but we plan to expand it to 300 people.’”

While the interview process is shorter, it’s not necessarily easier, which has the dual effect of weeding out sub-par applicants as well as making the ones who get offered jobs feel like rock stars.

Interviewing at Google “is so hard and arduous, if you make it through, you feel like you actually accomplished something,” said Avichal Garg, a former Google product manager who left after two years in 2005 and has since founded his own startup in San Francisco called Spool. “It becomes part of the lore of the company.”

Compensation, Internships and the Myth of the Startup

Google raised the salaries of all employees by 10% this year, and according to a recent report in the New York Times, new engineering graduates are offered as much as $105,000 a year to start. That pay is buttressed by a bonus structure that can add tens of thousands of dollars to an employee’s compensation, say some ex-Googlers. Google declined to discuss specifics about compensation.

Carlisle said the company asks about salary expectations early on to make sure both parties are in the same ballpark. Managers don’t want to find out at the last minute that an applicant thinks they’re worth 10 times more than Google is willing to pay.

Another way that Google finds candidates is through its internship program, which pays top-flight undergraduates about $6,000 a month, according to two current interns. The company has 1,000 technical interns this summer, a 20% increase from last year, said Stephanie Chenevert, a manager of engineering talent and outreach programs at Google.

Alexander Blessing, a master’s candidate in computer science at Stanford, said that he turned down internships at both eBay and Facebook to work with Google’s people analytics team this summer. Google will pay him $8,000 a month, more than Facebook’s offer of $7,500 and eBay’s $6,000. But money wasn’t the deciding factor, Blessing said. Google offered him the chance to work on human-computer interaction, his research focus at Stanford.

Converting Blessing into a full-time hire will be a challenge. He wants to start his own company, though that’s complicated by his immigration status as a German citizen. If he has to take a job after graduation to obtain a visa, he’ll go to a startup rather than a large company, he said.

“I want to do my own thing,” Blessing said. “I don’t want a standard routine at Google.”

To dissuade desired candidates from joining a startup, Google hiring managers argue that the company is as flexible and entrepreneurial as any new company without the usual constraints on resources. Engineers work in small teams of four people or so, but don’t have to compete for access to computers or server space.

Moreover, a few years at Google can accelerate the path to founding a startup later on. Both potential investors and hires are attracted to those with a Google pedigree, said Dan Siroker, CEO of Optimizely, an A/B testing company, and a former Google product manager.

“It’s a stamp of legitimacy,” Siroker said. “We advertise that ex-Googlers run the company.”

Back to the Future

If you’ve interviewed with Google in the past and didn’t get a job, you could be getting a follow-up phone call soon. Because of fierce competition for the best technologists, Google has developed a program to take a second look at candidates it interviewed years earlier but passed over. The company has more products than it had years ago, Carlisle said, so there could be a spot for someone now who didn’t quite fit before.

“We didn’t used to have YouTube or social networking. We weren’t into TV,” Carlisle said. “If you applied in 2007 and didn’t get a job, we have programs that go back to see if you’re a good fit now.”

The company is also being less rigid about denying qualified candidates simply because there isn’t an opening related to the person’s expertise.

“Something that’s changed is, if there’s a great person but we don’t have an obvious place for them, we say, ‘Let’s find them a job at Google,’ ” Carlisle said. “We shop a candidate around. Maybe you’re looking for a communications job, and we look deeper into the resume to see if there’s something that indicates you could be a good fit for a policy analyst job.”

Counter-offers

Google isn’t alone in its intention to grow headcount significantly this year. Facebook, LinkedIn and other tech companies are also beefing up their staff. To aid its efforts, Google has streamlined some of the bureaucratic hurdles that kept it from updating its offers when competitors attempted to outbid them.

“If we’re engaging with a candidate and we find out they have a counter offer, it used to take us 10 days to get our act together and get back to them with our offer. We can now turn that around much, much faster,” Carlisle said. “A lot of other companies, I’ll admit, do better than us, but because we want to keep our standards high and want to look at the total candidate, we haven’t been as nimble, and we’re much better at that now.”

Expanded University Universe

Google is also recruiting college grads from schools other than the usual suspects such as Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and MIT. Colleges such as the University of Victoria in Canada and Emory University in Altanta rarely saw Google recruiters in the past. Now it’s more common.

“We started to realize that there are small, good liberal arts schools, and if we can get the top two or three people there, they are just as good, if not better than the 50th person at MIT,” Carlisle said.

The company is spreading its recruiters out among more schools, rather than concentrating them at the most elite universities, Carlisle said.

Despite expanding its reach, Google’s recruiting is complicated by students with more career options, Chenevert said.

“Students are becoming more and more discerning with their decision making,” she said. “They’re really informed about the opportunities that are available to them.”

Wall Street Backlash

Of the 1,916 people Google hired in the first quarter of 2011, more than half are working on YouTube, the Chrome web browser, mobile and enterprise technologies, said Jeff Huber, Google’s senior vice president of commerce and local, in a conference call this year with investors.

During that same call, analysts grilled Google executives about its increase in spending, much of it on new hires, along with wage and bonus increases. The company’s research and development costs increased 49.8% from last year’s first quarter to $1.2 billion.

Investor resistance, however, isn’t likely to change the company’s plans. Google believes it must continue to hire the best employees to maintain its long-term dominance, according to former employees.

“If you’re going to change the world like we want to do, you need some bodies,” said Carlisle. “The market is tight right now, but there’s a ton of people out there. We don’t want to miss the round of great people that could be working here.” – By Joseph Walker (Write to Joseph Walker - Joseph.Walker@dowjones.com)

Looking for more news and updates from FINS?

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Google’s Search For New Recruits is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

CEO Turnover Continues In 2011; DISH Network CEO Steps Down

Glassdoor Team — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:10:24 +0000

DISH Network’s founder and CEO, Charlie Ergen, surprised the cable & media industry by stepping down Monday from his leadership role and handing the job over to Joseph Clayton, former chairman of Sirius. In a press release, Ergen said: “Joe is a 38-year veteran of the consumer electronics, telecommunications and satellite communications industries and I am pleased to have him lead DISH Network as president and CEO.” Ergen will remain as chairman of DISH Network.

This comes at a time when, according to ratings on Glassdoor, Ergen held a 22% approval rating based on employee responses when they were asked: “Do you approve of the way Charlie Ergen is leading the company?” Comparatively Mike White, CEO of DirectTV, DISH’s biggest competitor, has a 67% approval rating among employees.

Those who know him find it surprising he would step down. “Ergen is a strong character and an entrepreneur who founded a very successful company, so it’s naturally hard to let go and not micromanage,” said David Joyce, a media analyst at Miller Tabak & Co.

Plus employees may also be wary of a change in leadership. As a Dish Network Customer Service Representative writes, “Upper management actually listens to employee input and makes changes accordingly. Not only that, but changes are made quickly.”

Interestingly, Charlie Ergen is hardly alone when it comes to stepping away from the office of CEO. The past two months alone has already shown to be a big year for turnover in the top job at several other major U.S. companies such as:

Google’s Eric Schmidt stepped down in April, just as his employee-approval rating was at an all time high of 96%.

Boston Scientific’s J. Raymond Elliott shocked Wall Street earlier this month by announcing he will step down at the end of the year for personal reasons – he currently holds a 29% approval rating.

MTV Network’s Judy McGrath was enjoying a 76% approval rating when she made her decision earlier this month to step down, and turn over her responsibilities to parent company Viacom CEO, Phillipe Dauman.

Peter Darbee left the top post at PG&E in April with a 59% approval rating, but his tenure was marred by a deadly explosion in the San Bruno, Calif. that occurred in September 2010.

Below is a look at the company ratings while these CEOs held office and what the overall average company rating has been over the past few years.

CEO Turnover Continues In 2011; DISH Network CEO Steps Down is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Facebook, Google, Burson-Marsteller Controversy Continues: Oh To Be A Fly On The Wall!

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:24 +0000

If the news involving Facebook, Google and a public relations agency named Burson-Marsteller has yet to cross your screen, it likely will very soon.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Facebook Inc. recently hired a public relations firm to push stories critical of Google Inc.’s privacy policies, amid an escalation of the rivalry between the two Internet companies.”

News articles and blogs continue to light up following the back and forth between Facebook and Burson-Marsteller, some commenters are asking: “what else goes on behind the walls?” We turn to Glassdoor to find out what employees at these companies have been reporting as of late – the pros and the cons.

Starting with the ratings, both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s newly appointed CEO Larry Page appear well-liked when employees have been asked about how they rate the top boss’s performance leading the company: earning a 94% and 92% approval rating respectively. Whereas over at Burson-Marsteller, CEO Mark Penn holds an approval rating among employees that is at least 60 percentage points lower than either of the these tech giants.

Facebook employees give the company a 4.4 (very satisfied) rating and Google employees give the company a 3.9 (satisfied) rating. When it comes to employee morale, both Facebook and Google employees report being ‘very satisfied’, receiving a 4.4. and 4.2 rating respectively. Employees at Burson-Marsteller give the company overall and employee morale ‘OK’ ratings, receiving a 3.0 and 3.3 in each area. (Ratings are based on a 5-point scale.)

Here’s what employees have to say about what it’s like to work at their companies:

Facebook:

“The job is all about cooperation, not competition. “ – Facebook Operations Engineer (Palo Alto, CA)

“The pace *can* be a little crazy — one of our values is moving fast, and we definitely do that — and generally that’s a huge pro to working here, but at times, it can be a little much.” – Facebook Business Analyst (Palo Alto, CA)

“Management is constantly pushing you. You don’t work at your own pace, you have to work at everyone else’s pace” – Facebook Software Engineer (Palo Alto, CA)

Google:

“A true meritocracy culture. As egalitarian a workforce as I have ever seen.” – Google employee (Mountain View, CA)

“Competition is definitely mounting up. Stay strong, stay committed to our objectives. Keep bringing strong people into this organization and the future will look bright.” – Google employee (location n/a)

“Getting political, and there is a big difference between old timers and new comers,” – Google employee (Mountain View, CA)

Burson-Marsteller:

“Teams have great work ethic. Regardless of position, insight is welcome at every level” – Burson-Marsteller Associate (New York, NY)

“Lack of employee retention and developing staff; lack of communication within company and practice,” – Burson-Marsteller Manager (location n/a)

“Communicate to your employees honestly, be transparent. As a public relations firm, internal communications at Burson-Marsteller is poor.” – Burson-Marsteller Manager (Washington D.C.)

If you work at one of these companies share your perspective of what it’s like to work there: what’s your company doing well and what do they need to do to improve?

Facebook, Google, Burson-Marsteller Controversy Continues: Oh To Be A Fly On The Wall! is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Tech CEO Report Card: Schmidt Goes At All-Time High Approval Rating; eBay’s Donahoe Climbs As Yahoo’s Bartz Falls In Past Year

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:30:52 +0000

As Google CEO Eric Schmidt prepares to hand over the reins, his employee approval rating is at an all-time high – and the highest among his peer group CEOs, according to new analysis from Glassdoor.com that evaluated employee opinions of 12 large technology companies over the past two years¹. Based on surveys submitted by Google employees over the past 12 months (March 2010-March 2011), Schmidt’s approval rating is 96%, up three points from the prior 12-month period.

He’s followed closely by Apple’s Steve Jobs, who — even while on medical leave — has a 95% approval rating, down 3 points from the prior year. During the same period, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Oracle’s Larry Ellison both dropped four points to 83% and 73% approval respectively.

eBay’s John Donahoe saw the greatest improvement in his approval rating year over year. Between March 2009 and March 2010, he had just a 24% approval rating among employees, whereas between March 2010 and March 2011, he held a 46% approval rating.

Other CEOs on the rise include Intuit’s Brad Smith, who saw an 18-point improvement from 69% approval to 87% in the most recent 12-month period. And, Dell’s Michael Dell saw a 12-point improvement year-over-year, holding an average 48% approval in the past 12 months.

The largest year-over-year decline belongs to Yahoo’s Carol Bartz, indicating her honeymoon may be long over. In the year she started, Bartz maintained a 77% approval rating, which was more than twice the approval rating of her predecessor Jerry Yang, who had a 34% approval upon his departure. In the past 12 months, Bartz’s approval has dropped to 50% after months of declining approval as seen in the line chart below.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer saw the second biggest decline among the dozen CEOs evaluated. Between March 2009 and March 2010, he held an average 46% approval rating, which has dropped to 40% in the past 12 months.

Over the two years, company ratings for the dozen tech companies evaluated remained pretty stable year-over-year. The highest rated is Google at 3.8 (satisfied), followed closely by Adobe (3.6, satisfied), Apple (3.6, satisfied) and Intel (3.6, satisfied). eBay saw the greatest increase, increasing from a 2.7 to a 2.9 (ok) rating in the past 12 months. Amazon slipped during the same period from a 3.3 to a 3.1 (ok) rating.

How will Larry Page rate? We invite Google employees to tell us starting Monday. Even as a co-founder, he has some large shoes to fill. Are you a tech employee? Fill out a Glassdoor survey and tell us how your CEO is doing.

(1) For this report, Glassdoor evaluated company and CEO approval ratings between March 16, 2009 through March 15, 2010, and March 16, 2010 through March 15, 2011.

(2) Glassdoor CEO approval ratings are calculated similarly to presidential approval ratings; Employees are simply asked: “Do you approve of the way your CEO is leading the company?”

Tech CEO Report Card: Schmidt Goes At All-Time High Approval Rating; eBay’s Donahoe Climbs As Yahoo’s Bartz Falls In Past Year is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Want A Job At Google? Here’s What You Need To Know

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:14:43 +0000

With Google expected to hire 6,000 people, many of you may be asking: “Could Google be the next place for me?” and “How do I get a job at Google?”

As Alan Eustace, Google’s SVP of Engineering and Research wrote on the company blog, “We’re looking for top talent—across the board and around the globe—and we’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science.”

He adds, “There’s something at Google for everyone…That’s why the vast majority of our people stay with us, building their careers and taking on new challenges within the company.”

We wanted to put that to the test and find out from other Google employees what they like about their job and employer, as well as some of the downsides, to help provide people who are serious about an opportunity with the Internet powerhouse see both sides of the coin.

In this report, we show how Google is rated by employees in different office locations, how salaries for different job titles compare and what employees have to say about working at Google.

How Employees Rate Google

Overall, it appears employees at several locations are satisfied working for Google. We did note that there are some slight variations within the overall company rating, and we looked deeper into the ratings to see how several offices compared when it comes to satisfaction with career opportunities, work/life balance and more.

When it comes to eight different workplace factors, there are definite variances between offices. For example, employees in the Los Angeles office rate satisfaction with career opportunities a 3.7 (satisfied), while the Dublin, Ireland location rates them 3.2 (OK). The L.A. office also receives the highest ratings in three other categories, including compensation & benefits (4.2), senior leadership (4.2) and fairness & respect (3.7). However, if it’s work/life balance and employee morale that you treasure most, the London office may be the place for you. Employees here provide the highest ratings in both of these categories, 4.3 and 4.6 respectively. If you value recognition & feedback, senior leadership and fairness and respect the most, you might want think carefully about the New York office – employees here designate each category as “OK.”

It may be no surprise to hear, considering Google has been a Best Place to Work in Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards three years running, that no matter the office, employees think the company is ‘OK’ or better. In other words, on average no one is dissatisfied working there.

What Google Employees Earn

Below is a sampling of jobs at Google and insights on the average base salary and bonuses. Not only do the average base salaries come well above the national average salary for most Americans (BLS reports average annual salary in the US is $43,460), but the bonuses appear to be pretty generous as well.

What Google Employees Have to Say

Pros of working at Google

“Peers are sheer geniuses in their realm, very low amount of low performers…AWESOME annual bonus.” – Google Corporate Operations Engineer (Mountain View, CA)

“Many events and theme days make going to work fun and it’s really much more than your average company.” – Google employee (London, UK)

“There has been a lot of work on addressing past weakness with career development through more manager training, more developed mentorship programs, and more talks / transparency on the performance review process.” – Google Software Engineer (Seattle, WA)

“A wonderful employer, with a very good compensation package and equity grants program, awesome perks (gourmet quality free food, wonderful support from facilities staff) and great growth opportunities.” – Google Senior Software Engineer (Zurich, Switzerland)

“People are friendly, intelligent, honest, and genuinely concerned about the user experience above all else.” – Google Associate (Mountain View, CA)

Cons of working at Google

“Lots of internal procedures are always changing and often confusing; not enough hierarchy; difficult to maintain a balance with so many things going on at once,” – Google Software Engineer (New York, NY)

“Can’t get anything done, so much red tape. As a Recruiter you are really just a paper shuffler and Hiring managers rule the roost so if they are incompetent then your hands are tied and there is no way to be successful.” – Google Leadership Recruiter (Mountain View, CA)

“Google isn’t a place for long term career planning. After a point in time you are stuck, and your role leads you no where.” – Google Product Manager (Hyderabad, India)

“Google is fighting the ‘law of large companies’, and is doing pretty well but there’s a certain inevitability afoot too: Over the four years I’ve been there, I’ve noticed scaling back of perks (and also at times a sickening culture of employee entitlement), a steady rise of red tape to run a scalable service in the production environment, a certain amount of stiff corporate speak and a uptightness over branding, image, and in some cases (though definitely not all) an aversion to risk taking has to some extent dampened my enthusiasm a little bit. Still an amazing place to be though.” – Google Senior Software Engineer (Mountain View, CA)

“Sometimes it can take too long to be promoted or get where you want to go. Company is also turning more corporate away from the start up mentality.” – Google employee (London, UK)

Still thinking Google is the place for you? Check out what jobs they have open.

If you land an interview, let us know how it’s going by sharing an interview review on Glassdoor. And if you make it through the gauntlet of interviews and accept a job at Google, come back and share a company review and salary report so you can help pay it forward for the other job seekers out there who’d like to land a spot at the company too.

Want A Job At Google? Here’s What You Need To Know is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

What The Google Pay Raise Means

John Sumser — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:55:58 +0000

It’s hard to grasp how this economic downturn works. Unemployment is high, particularly in California. At the same time, the competition for employees in certain niches is heating up. At fast growth companies like Google and Facebook, the competition for key employees is at the heart of business risk. A couple of years at one of these juggernauts gives you a lifetime compensation kicker.

Everyone wants them. They are in short supply. It’s a dream market for aggressive recruiters with money to spend.

Although Google rarely confirms internal policy decisions, the industry was abuzz yesterday with their move to grant all employees a 10% raise and a $1,000 bonus.

So, they are getting some things right at Google.

Most people, even the best and brightest, go to work to make money. If they didn’t need the money, they’d often (even usually) do something else. Working is an economic thing.

In the past several years, HR people have started using the word engagement. They claim that being engaged trumps a good paycheck. This silliness has gotten a great reception in the economic downturn.

The smartest way that you can translate this idea of engagement is as follows: “Since jobs are hard to come by, we expect you to work for less with an even bigger smile on your face. If you are not engaged, we don’t want you here.” This has nothing to do with the idea of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Instead, it’s just another joke on the working stiff.

Silicon Valley companies have been at the forefront of employment nonsense. In recruiting circles, the hottest company is always held up as the model for contemporary tactics in recruiting. They’re the current fair haired child so what they do must be the new paradigm.

The truth is that the hottest Silicon Valley companies can and do exploit the fact that people think they’ll get rich by working there. It’s no challenge to attract workers to a hot company. The harder thing is getting applicants to stay away.

The other thing you can take away from this announcement is that the bloom is off of Google’s rose. While it will continue to be a tech giant well into the future, the exciting early days are behind it. Now comes adolescence and adulthood. Growth is harder and employees no longer bite on the whole ‘it’s cool to work here’ bit.

Adulthood is inevitable for people, companies and cultures. We are making a turn in our economic existence that favors probability over speculation. Expect to see far reaching consequences of Google’s decision…. more raises, fewer benefits, and more focus on economic parity.

What The Google Pay Raise Means is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

25 Best Tech Companies To Work For (Silicon Alley Business Insider with the help of Glassdoor)

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:19:07 +0000

How does your tech employer rank among other companies in the industry? Today, Silicon Alley Insider reports on the 25 Best Tech Companies to Work For*, a list compiled with the help of Glassdoor.

Google, long known for employee perks offered at the Googleplex and beyond, topped the list. CEO Eric Schmidt holds a 97% approval rating and the company currently holds a 3.9 rating – and it’s not just because of the food. Employees are proud to be a part of the search king and comments include:

“Intelligent, hard-working co-workers who are all such interesting people with incredible talents beyond their work.” – Google Senior People Programs Specialist (Mountain View, CA)

“Upper management is very transparent and open.” – Google Employee (Seattle, WA)

Even with layoff concerns and recent employment uncertainty, Adobe ranks as the second best tech employer on SAI’s list. Employees note the collaborative environment and top notch products as a reason to love their job. Recent reviews include:

“I respect Adobe’s management/senior leadership and believe that the company has a solid strategy for meeting the challenges of the future.” – Adobe Employee (San Jose, CA)

“Very good benefits, from PTO to health plans. Discounted software. Flexible work hours – must be in core hours but able to work from home on occasion.” – Adobe Employee (San Francisco, CA)

What about current Wall Street favorite Apple (APPL)? Apple receives a company rating of 3.8 and comes in 4^th on the list of top 25 tech companies, and CEO Steve Jobs receives a 98% approval rating. Employees report on the focus around customer satisfaction while also being treated to high salaries, exceptional discounts and freebies, and solid benefits—but occasionally long hours. Recent reviews include:

“Great senior level management, I can see how Steve Jobs gets voted the Best CEO. Streamlined operations, very lean, disciplined and focused. You feel proud working for the company.” – Apple Engineer (Cupertino, CA)

“The best reason to work at Apple is that everyone is passionate about what they do. You work with people that share your interest in technology and more importantly are invested in helping people.” – Apple Genius (location n/a)

Click through to see what other tech workplaces made the Top 25 >>> with many photos provided by Glassdoor users.

Think your employer is a best place to work? See how companies stacked up on Glassdoor’s 2010 Best Places to Work list, an Employees’ Choice Award. Want yours to be considered for 2011 – or not – fill out a company review for your current employer or an employer within the past three years.

* Top 25 tech companies based on reports including 25 company and CEO approval ratings

25 Best Tech Companies To Work For (Silicon Alley Business Insider with the help of Glassdoor) is a post from: Glassdoor Blog