Strategic HR Planning at Google Inc

Google, a search engine was founded and named by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google primarily provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of tools and platforms including its more popular products: gmail, maps and you-tube. Most of its Web-based products are free because Google makes its money from highly integrated online advertising through its Ad-words and Ad-sense platforms. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information.

Analysis

• Google has been named as the best company of the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine.
• It offer various benefits to its employees
• Faces many challenges
• Has about 10000 staff members

Has strict hiring process

Challenges

• Google has to motivate its employees to accept challenging tasks by offering great benefits
• Has to maintain its best employees against its competitors like Yahoo, Microsoft etc
• Numbers-oriented work environment
• Providing the balanced culture to diverse team.
• Gearing up employee selection process

Suggestions or Recommendations

Google is an ideal company to work for although it demands loads of hard work. It must focus on its hiring process more because research shows that many employees leave because of their tough hiring process.

Questions

Q1: What do you think of the idea of Google correlating personal traits from the employee’s answers on the survey to their performance and then using that as the basis for screening job candidates? In other words, is it or is it not a good idea and please explain to answer.

Ans:  I think the Google’s new idea regarding their hiring process is going to work very well, as it will take less period than before as well as its more specific to their Job Performance factors. They have been successfully screening employees in the past but to make the old process more precise and to maintain the right balance between letting Google and the candidates get to know each other Google management has concluded with this new style of hiring process.

Q2: The benefits that Google pays obviously present an enormous expense. Based on what you know about Google and on what you read in this book, how would you defend all these benefits if you’re making a presentation to the security analysts who were analyzing Google’s performance?

Benefits	Employee’s Reaction
Stock Option	It is observed from case that it makes employees feel like working for own
Bonus for referring new employee	This cause benefit to company as well because it saves its cost on one hand and on other hand leads to employee’s motivation.
Games	Employees feel good when after heavy work they have anything to get relax.
On-site free doctors	Employees feel safe
Free Lectures	Helps employees learn more
Paid trips	Employees are keen to work when they know that after completing their projects they have to went outside with their families to enjoy.

It is observed from think that the above mentioned benefits lead to employee’s satisfaction and motivation, and ultimately motivated and satisfied employees become more productive for the organization.

Q3: If you wanted to hire the brightest people around, how would you go about recruiting and selecting them?

Ans: - For hiring the brightest people around the world, there must be a tough selection criteria. Before all there need to be an applicant pool which can be sought through many ways like,

• Internet Recruiting
• Referrals
• Walk In
• Outsource Recruiting

of which its necessary to sort out the best which is a complex step, after recruiting is done then comes the Selection Process, which can take time because its done rigorously.

It can be done through

• Interviews
• Tests etc

Q4: To support its growth and expansion strategy, Google wants (among other traits) people who are super-bright, and who work hard, often round-the-clock and who are flexible and maintain a decent work-life balance. List five specific HR policies or practices that you think Google has implemented or should implement to support its strategy, and explain your answer.

Ans:- Google was once an organization with 3 employees with worth 0 but now it has expanded a lot and all this was possible because of its policies to support its strategies  for great success. Few of their HR policies are listed below

Strategy	Practices
Employee Training and Development	Google is continuously making tremendous efforts for its employee’s learning process. Google arranges free lectures for its employees. Google
Team Work	Google while hiring process look for employees who are team oriented. They think that team work is a norm for big projects.
Diversification	Google is an equal opportunity employer. It does not take into consideration any gender, race, age, color, religion factor while hiring process.
Employee benefits	Google is offering various benefits to its employees to make its employees able to maintain personal and work life balance.
Effective Selection Process	Google is following tough selection Criteria because Google thinks that hiring best people is the key to success.

Q5: What sorts of factors do you think Google will have to take into consideration as it tries transferring its culture ad reward systems and way of doing business to its operations abroad?

Ans: As Google is expanding continuously, it’s obvious that it has to provide same benefits and culture everywhere, for this it has to take many things into consideration like

• International market demands
• International Laws
• International taxation issues
• Government rules and regulations of that country
• People’s preferences
• Culture of that country etc

Q6: Given the sorts of values and culture Google cherishes, briefly describes four specific activities you suggest they pursue during new-employee orientation.

Ans: - Keeping in mind the values and culture Google cherishes, I suggest following activities which Google can pursue during new-employee orientation.

• There should be special get-together lunch with that new employee for making him more comfortable on the very first day.
• Encourage him/her to tell about his/her preferred style of working.
• Give him welcome wishing cards, and play a video based on company’s slogan song, information etc to make him more enthusiastic to work
• Invite him/her on dinner outside on the first day with family to make him feel like entering a new family.