Everyone has heard about working at Google. It’s fun! It’s wacky! It has sliding boards, pool tables, and unimaginable perks. Here’s the (tamed down) overview of the work environment, courtesy of the Google Web site:
Google provides a fun and flexible working environment with perks that are designed to make life easier and more convenient for employees to manage their life-work balance. Local benefits may vary by location, but one thing that remains constant within Google is that we put employees first. Whether it’s perks like massages or onsite gyms to just help you relax and feel good, or more essential benefits like comprehensive health coverage – Google proves that there still is such a thing as a free lunch (and breakfast, and dinner).
Google has been voted one of the best companies to work for by various publications, including topping Fortune Magazine’s Best Places to Work and British Computer Society’s Women in IT lists, Best Companies to Work For in Ireland, UK’s Times Most Progressive Employer, Best Workplaces for Commuters by the Environmental Protection Agency, and consistent top ranking on the Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign in the U.S.
But based on an e-mail circulating over the summer, the fun and flexible environment in Google may be considered slightly excessive, at least in the opinion of some more conservative minded facility managers. The following photos illustrate the working conditions in Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich, Switzerland.
Check out this brief movie from Nicholas Carlson, who prefers to take the fire pole from floor to floor when he visits other offices. Stairs are so passe, you know.
