Rewards
A motivated and driven workforce is fundamental for the growth for the organization. An organization should see to it that all the employees are inspired to work. Motivation and productivity are inter-related and inter-dependent on one another. If an employee is not motivated then it affects the productivity of his work (Argyris, 2017). Google is one such company that keeps its employees motivated unquestionably. It is among the top few companies that knows the secret to utilize human resources in an innovative and productive way. Google today has over 50,000 employees all over the world. Google uses various different methods to keep its employees driven all the time (Baldonado, 2015). Employees that work with Google are pampered with great perquisites and benefits. It believes that its employees are the most important assets of the organization (Conchie, 2013).
Google is one such example of the world’s top most company to make employee satisfaction and needs their first priority. It is a very risky situation for the company if the employees are not motivated in the kind of work they do. Once the employees feel motivated they will be able to perform better, take challenges, reach personal goals and facilitate self-development. Once they give the right efforts, they will get the right results. This in turn will motivate them to give more input and work with dedication. From earlier times, philosophers and thinkers have tried to establish various motivational theories. Each motivational theory has a different approach to the problems faced by employees. The management of Google has implemented the Triple Bottom-line Framework to ensure a sustainable future for the organization. The different types of rewards provided by the organization help Google to retain their employees easily. Some of the rewards are as follows;
- Recognition-The recognition of the best employees of the month helps the employees to get motivated
- Management feedback-The management feedback system is a unique and self guided process that helps to improve the leadership effectiveness of the managers and the supervisors.
- Opportunities for growth- Google provides its employees with a number of different promotional posts. There are different levels in the administration of the company which the employees can easily achieve through their performance.
- Benefits- The company provides a number of different benefits to the employees like free dinner and lunch, sleeping pods, annual bonuses
- Competitions-Competitions to become the best employees are present in the company
- Modified Job Requirements- The employees are assigned to modified duty may perform a portion of different duties of her regular job or a completely different job
- Salary and Bonuses-The Company provides healthy salary packages to the employees
- Annual Rewards- Annual rewards help the organization to identify the best employees and provide them with rewards
Google supports their employees in every walks of their lives. Be it financial, medical or legal. The giant organization provides its employees up to five thousand dollars reimbursement for legal expenditures. Not only women but also men have maternity leave benefits. The employees get eighteen weeks off and about ten per cent pay. They have this policy, which is known as the ‘take-out benefits’. The parents of a newborn are given five hundred dollars for take-out in the first three months that they spend at home with the newborn. The Adoption Assistance policy of Google promises to give financial aid to any employee who decides to adopt a child (Dweck, 2013). They get extra perks like car wash on the site, repair, oil change and dry cleaning. Google offices separate rooms for dry cleaning, gymnasium, massage, spa, hair salon with a stylist.
This paper will discuss three such motivational theories. The most well-known theory is Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory. In this motivational theory, Maslow concludes that there exist basic physiological needs and daily necessities. He classified the human needs in a hierarchical manner that is from lower to higher. According to Maslow, once human beings reach a level of satisfaction he no longer strives for the same but he strives for higher levels of satisfaction. Man has never ending needs and he strives to fulfill each one by one. At Google, the employees get the best of everything from gourmet cuisines to dry cleaning. Thus, anyone who leaves Google will only strive for a better place than Google. Maslow also mentions about the need for an individual’s self-esteem in this theory. A person working in an organization will look for building self-confidence, achievements, knowledge and freedom. Google not only supports its employees financially but also in times of their emotional needs. It makes sure that the employees can work in a safe, healthy and positive environment. Man is a social animal. Therefore, humans are always looking for opportunities for social interactions, companionship and belongingness (Steiber& Alänge, 2013). Employees at Google not only work but they must interact with other team members and know everyone well. Google believes it is a one big family. In McClelland’s Need Theory, he talks about the needs that rise out of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This theory primarily focuses on three needs that is need for power, achievement and affiliation. Everyone has an inner drive to excel at their work and be appreciated and recognized for the same. Humans have an inherent need for power. At Google, every employee has a voice of his or her own. Their ideas, thoughts and opinions are given due importance and respect. Nobody feels his or her freedom and rights have been curbed at Google (Taneja, Sewell& Odom, 2015). Humans have a hidden desire to feel appreciated for even the smallest of things. Google makes sure that the employees are appreciated from time to time in whatever way possible. In Argyris’s Theory he proposes that an employee can feel discouraged and demotivated due to the passive and cold behavior of the management. A manger’s attitude towards his or her employees can directly affect their performance and their motivation to work.
Motivational theories
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory- The management of Google has employed the Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory to ensure the presence of motivation at workplace. The pay scale of the employees is reasonable but is quite competitive to those in the same industry in the same domain. The policies of the company are not too rigid and provide all the means to satisfy the employees. Google also ensures the presence of a safe, clean and hygienic environment. Apart from this the company also offers health care plans to the family.
Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs- The Company ensures creativity and problem solving abilities to help the employees. Google also ensures the presence of a safe and secured environment for the employees to work in.
The office of Google at New York City, gives an authentic New York City vibe with the hallways paved in subway like tiles and fire hydrants and a New York City apartment themed conference rooms. There are private phone booths that have doors with New York style graffiti on them. The office in New York City also has a library that contains walls that depict the adoption of Victorian version of Star War characters and the bookshelves have secret doorways that lead to private reading rooms. Google has always been a dog-friendly organization. The employees are allowed to bring along their dogs because at Google most employees work for long hours. However, cat lovers are not that lucky in this department. Working at Google one will have an unique experience (Duhigg, 2016).Thus, Google leaves no stone unturned when it comes to satisfying their employees.
At Google, the employees and the workforce are considered the most important aspect of the company, which is why the health of its employees have also not been overlooked. There are stocks of healthy and scrumptious meals available at Google’s restaurants, cafeterias and micro-kitchens. At Google, the infrastructure is built in such a way that each office is located not more than a distance of one hundred and fifty feet away from the cafeterias or kitchens (Maslow, 2013).This way it makes it convenient for the employees to snack frequently and even interact with their colleagues from other team. Google also has its own open kitchen with gourmet chefs making gourmet dishes for health conscious employees. Employees get a benefit to choose the design if their individual workspace (“Our stories | Google”, 2018). They can design their desks whichever way they want. Some software engineers have standing desks to treadmills attached to their workstations. Google is all about implementing creative methods in its policies that will keep their employees motivated. The behemoth organization grants its employees twenty percent free time for their own projects. Interestingly, Gmail and Google Suggest are results of the projects created by the employees. The extrinsic benefits offered by Google are humongous. Flexible spending accounts, No-cost health benefits, insurance, tuition reimbursements, travel allowances and dental care benefits. Every Friday there are employee forums where discussions of the most asked questions take place. An employee can choose from variety of options to voice their opinions and thoughts. The workforce at Google is given the freedom to voice their thoughts and ideas. Thus, at Google every employee is valued and respected.
Conclusion
The key factor that helps in motivating the employees is their own determination and commitment towards their work. The Manager must make sure to take feedbacks and ideas from the employees. These rewards given to the employees can help the organization in the long run. The employees should be ensured that they are an integral part of the organization. A simple acknowledgement from the management team can go a long way. There should be a two-way relationship between the employees and the company. This helps in building loyalty and good will. It is also important for any organization to have an ‘open-door’ policy. In this type of policy, the employers and the employees can have an open discussion about almost everything.
References
Argyris, C. (2017). Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge.
Baldonado, A. M. (2015). Workplace fun: learning from Google, Southwest Airlines, and Facebook. International Journal, 15.
Conchie, S. M. (2013). Transformational leadership, intrinsic motivation, and trust: A moderated-mediated model of workplace safety. Journal of occupational health psychology, 18(2), 198.
Duhigg, C. (2016). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine, 26, 2016.
Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology press.
Maslow, A. H. (2013). A theory of human motivation. Simon and Schuster.
Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.
Steiber, A., & Alänge, S. (2013). A corporate system for continuous innovation: the case of Google Inc. European Journal of Innovation Management, 16(2), 243-264.
Taneja, S., Sewell, S. S., & Odom, R. Y. (2015). A culture of employee engagement: A strategic perspective for global managers. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(3), 46-56.
Our stories | Google. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/about/stories/
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