Inside Google's multifaceted approach that maximises employee performance and growth; here's what's going on

“For two decades, India has been the crucible where Google’s innovation has thrived. We’ve grown our presence across five cities and created a workplace and culture for India’s best talent to develop many of our global solutions with India’s unique needs at the forefront,” says Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President of Google India.

Driven by this, Google offers customised development opportunities to employees (called Googlers), which ranges from formal programmes to informal learning through projects and cross-functional collaborations. For instance, full-time employees are eligible for the ‘20% Projects’ programme that lets them dedicate up to 20% of their work time to pursue side projects of their choice.

“This fosters creativity, experimentation, and skill development, ultimately benefitting both the individual Googler and the company as a whole,” says Google India’s Head of HR Shraddhanjali Rao.

While these initiatives give employees opportunities to explore beyond their existing role or put their expertise to use within the company, Google also encourages them to keep learning. “Under the Educational Reimbursement programme, we offer $3,500 annually to eligible Googlers across all levels in India to participate in personal or business-critical courses to directly improve a skill outside of what’s offered at Google,” explains Rao.

While many organisations are increasingly focussing on gender equality and inclusion, Google has gone a step further. “We also take concrete steps to reduce bias systemically. For instance, our hiring tools are programmed to detect and prohibit pronouns when submitting candidate feedback, encouraging the use of gender-neutral pronouns such as they/them,” says Rao.

Additionally, feedback packets are created without identifiers like name, surname, or ethnicity, ensuring the focus remains solely on skills, qualifications, and experience, she adds.

Google has also been working towards ensuring fair compensation for women globally, making annual equity adjustments since 2017. “Every year we run a rigorous statistical analysis to make sure all new salaries, bonuses and equity awards are fair. We leverage data to make structured decisions and ensure that decisions are taken whilst preventing bias and leveraging multiple perspectives,” says Rao.

Google takes into account things that should impact pay, such as role, level, location and performance. “If we find any differences in proposed pay between men and women globally, we make upward adjustments,” she adds.

A key tenet is also how Google prioritises employee well-being and offers flexibility at work. From initiatives such as the option to work from any location outside their primary work location for four weeks a year, to work-from-anywhere in case of extenuating family circumstances for up to 12 weeks in a rolling 12-month period, Google offers several options. There’s also carers’ leave for each loved one (family member, partners, and dependents) per lifetime for serious and critical illnesses of eight weeks.

“We also offer three months of baby bonding leave for non-birthing parents and work from home of three months for birthing mothers post six months of maternity leave,” says Rao. Google also has a ‘Ramp Back Time’ for returning mums that allow them to work a minimum of 50% of their normal weekly working hours, while still being paid 100% of their normal weekly salary in their first two weeks back at work from maternity leave.

Google also provides equal access and coverage through the India health insurance policy, which is inclusive of all LGBTQ+ identities. Its medical insurance cover includes domestic partners, while there is a Transgender Healthcare Program that supports Googlers and their dependents who are transitioning by helping them find doctors, navigate the healthcare system, pay for treatment, and more.

Google has also adopted a hybrid approach to work as it expects most employees to spend approximately three days in the office and two days wherever they work best.

The company also offers opportunities to employees to apply for completely remote work based on their respective roles and teams’ needs. All these measures have contributed to Google India being a regular among the top companies in the BT-Taggd survey of The Best Companies to Work For in India in recent years.

@nidhisingal