Cool Little Perks

Google Dance Party

Cool little perks can go a long way with your employees. There’s dog walking. Dry cleaning. Massage therapy. When you read summaries of The Best Places to Work, it’s often the little and quirky things that are cited. Valleywag says this is one way Google keeps its employees jazzed in New York City:

Now here’s a perk: We hear that Google’s New York office gets local employees on the list of three clubs every weekend, so they don’t have to wait in line with the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.

What do you do to make your employees feel special? Being part of the club is fun; getting into a club is even more fun.

[Photo credit: Latham]

Posted on September 6, 2007 by Frank Roche
Filed Under Culture, Engagagement

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rick 11 months ago 1 point
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Cool perqs are hepful. However they are only additive from an employee' pov when most of the basics are already there. Companies with poor work environments cannot make up for it with cool little perqs.

Unfortunately I know too many places that need cool big overhauls!

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Carl Lingen 11 months ago 1 point
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Frank:

I think it is the simple things that can make employees feel like family and that they are appreciated.

We take our all of our employees out to a Chamber golf outing and dinner. For children and families there is miniature golf and swimming at the club.
After a long week or project we will take employees out to the ballpark for an afternoon for lunch and entertainment.

What has been your experience?

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Frank Roche 11 months ago 1 point
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Carl, I think you're right on the money. It's really connecting with people. I used to work for a firm where once a year they would take all of us who worked in the New York office to a Mets game. It was not genuine, came with all kinds of rules about how much time could be spent and how to handle billable hours, etc. It was yucko. What you describe with your team is what real leaders do -- help people work hard and also help them decompress. Plus, recognize that people are away from their families enough. Excellent points!

Rick, ain't that the truth? No amount of fun things will overcome a crappy environment. It's lipstick on a pig.

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Chris Young 11 months ago 1 point
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Google clearly gets it big time. How they treat them employees leads directly to bottom line performance. But let's remember... Without the right people on the "bus" - perks don't mean a thing.

Let's be careful to not worship companies that offer great perks. Instead - we should be looking at companies that have a powerfully comprehensive talent management strategy that begins with hiring the right people and keeping them inspired.

Good stuff!
Chris Young
http:www.rmg.typepad.com

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Frank Roche 11 months ago 1 point
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Chris, yep, great persk at a bad company is like putting lipstick on a pig. It doesn't work. I'm a fun of having it work in concert -- perks, motivation, talent. Google seems to have it figured out.

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albert 11 months ago 1 point
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ha, that's funny. i wonder which clubs they are - where do the goolgeplexers go to drink their $15 drinks in nyc? and what self respecting NYer goes out with the b&t crowd? ;)

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Frank Roche 11 months ago 1 point
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Albert, you know the city...maybe there's a business idea in there for you...something at the intersection of city knowledge, clubs, New York attitude and photography. Hmmm...I bet Google would pay for that.

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albert 11 months ago 1 point
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Heh. Those googlers have probably already created a complex algorithm to measure the hip quotient of any given club and know where to go and how best to avoid the b&t crowd, even on weekends.

NYC attitude, now that's a whole different matter and no algorithm, google-backed or not, is gonna compute that.

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