At Empire Google: Gourmet Food and Personal Concierge
CHICAGO _ If history judges this period in America to be similar to the fall of the Roman Empire, replete with rampant hedonism, corruption and declining moral values, somebody might just check Jan. 22 Fortune’s cover story on the 100 best companies to work for.
At least for now, oh, to be a Googlite!
No surprise, Fortune’s winner is Google, where, reporter Adam Lashinsky found, “the roasted black bass with parsley pesto and bread crumbs” at the Cafe Seven campus eatery “had a delicate flavor, superior mouth feel, and a light yet satisfying finish that seemed to me unmatched among the 11 free gourmet cafeterias Google runs at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.”
The food, he writes, is just the appetizer.
“At Google you can do your laundry; drop off your dry cleaning; get an oil change, then have your car washed; work out in the gym; attend subsidized exercise classes; get a massage; study Mandarin, Japanese, and French; and ask a person personal concierge to arrange dinner reservations. Naturally you can get haircuts onsite.”
“Wants to buy a hybrid car?” Lashinsky continues. “The company will give you $5,000 toward that environmentally friendly end. Care to refer a friend to work at Google? Google would like that, too, and it’ll give you a $2,000 reward.”
“Just have a new baby? Congratulations! Your employer will reimburse you for up to $500 in takeout food to east ease your first four weeks at home. Looking to make new friends? Attend a weekly TGIF party, where there’s usually a band playing. Five onsite doctors are available to give you a checkup, free of charge.”
There’s much more, including swimming pools and Wi-Fi-enabled commuter busses. All of which I’ll try to forget next time I stick a buck in the office vending machine for my tiny bag of Nacho Doritos. And I’ll forget what Fortune suggests is the unbridled arrogance of the Google workforce, who “almost universally see themselves as the most interesting people on the planet”; men and women on a mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
As with empires, what goes around comes around for companies. Let’s check back on the free roasted black bass in 10 years.
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