Biography and Past Endeavors
A native to the United States, in 1994 Laszlo Bock completed
his undergraduate degree from Pomona College in just 3 short years. He then
went on to receive his Master’s in Business Administration from the Yale School
of Management, graduating in 1999. Before being headhunted by Google, Bock held
employment at Hewitt Associations as a consultant, and McKinsey and Company as
an engagement manager. After these, he held the position of Vice President of
Human Resources, Compensation and Benefits for General Electric Commercial
Equipment Financing, as well as the same position for GE Capital Solutions. In
2006, he received the call from Google, and on March 26th, he
accepted the position as Vice President of People Operations. To put it in
simple terms – the Vice President of Human Resources.
Current Google Human Resource Functions
Being a part of the Google Executive Management team for
almost 7 years now, Laszlo Bock has driven the number of employees nowhere but
up. In 2006, Google had only been around for less than a decade (formed in
1998), and had 3,000 employees. Today, Google has over 34,000 employees
worldwide, only growing larger. In 2010, Bock was named the Human Resource Executive’s HR Executive
of the Year.
Google was ranked number one on Fortune’s Top Companies to Work For in 2012. Many different human
resource functions that Bock oversees are responsible for this, including the
following:
- Unlimited free meals from gourmet restaurants on site (also for guests)
- Free shuttles from 5 different bay areas, escorting employees to work
- Free car washes, oil changes, haircuts, laundry services, and dry cleaning on site
- Compensated $2,000 for each employee referred hire
- Reimbursed up to $500 in food expenses if on leave for a new baby in the family
- Free gym, weight room, fitness classes, massages, and foreign language classes on site
- Free personal concierges, child care, and notaries on site
- Five on site doctors to assist with basic check-ups, free of charge
- Motorized scooters available to use on the pet friendly site
- Provides employees with up to 20% of their paid time to personal development and research
- Utilizes and recognizes employee ideas from this research with Founders Awards, which are made up of millions of dollars
- Highly compensated startup and retirement plans
All of these different attributes make Google a most desired
place to work at, while maintaining high retention rates. The rewards and
compensation delivered to employees is a vital factor. Google allows 20% of
each employee’s paid time to conduct research of their own. This provides
freedom, resulting in satisfied employees. From this, Google also utilizes
their employees’ research and ideas within the company itself. For example, one
employee researched a functional travel route from her house to headquarters because
she was tired of driving to and from work. After presenting her ideas to
Google, they implemented the new shuttle system, free of charge to all
employees. They did not have to hire a research firm; they utilized their own
employees and put their ideas to work. This resulted in giving recognition and
awarding this employee – two of the many ways to increase job satisfaction.
Google also has even placed benefits for employment after
death. If an employee passes away while currently employed, their family will
received 50% of their paycheck for the next decade. On top of this, each child
will be paid $1,000 per month up until the age of 19 (or 23 if they are a full
time student). These two benefits are in affect for all 34,000 employees.
Bock’s Expansion Issues
Since Google was under a decade old, Bock had the ability to
virtually create a human resource plan for the entire company while it was in
its vast growing stage. In 2007, the average daily number of applications
received was 7,000. With the large pool of applicants, Bock wanted to make sure
“the quality of hiring didn’t slip.”
Another issue when expanding was to determine how to
maintain the company’s unique culture. Bock wanted to ensure that all new offices
being opened, in any country, would still have the benefits of the original
offices. To confirm this, Bock created a number of policies, including one that
states each new office must have a Google veteran as one of the first ten
employees hired. This Google veteran will help the “rookies” understand and
promote the culture.
Bock’s Hiring Strategy – ‘Three Thirds’
Laszlo Bock has created a hiring strategy for Google that is
no secret. He created a three thirds team of HR professionals in order to
transform the outside and inside perceptions of Google’s HR functions. One
third consisted of traditional HR people, one-third “high-end,
strategy-consultant” types (some with non-HR backgrounds), and one-third master’s
and doctorate level analytical. This diverse mix allows the Google HR
department to have more empathy and understand the different challenges each
position may have. “[As a team] they’ve seen lots of things happen and they
know how to deal with them. They understand how to work closely with employees,”
Bock stated.
Going on his 7th year as the Vice President of
People Operations of the number one company to work for, there is no doubt
Laszlo Bock has his challenges ahead of him to maintain this status. However,
with a three thirds HR team behind him, Bock is continuing to ensure the
success of Google and all of its future endeavors.
Bibliography
O'Brien, Michael. Building A New Breed. Human Resources Executive: Online, October 2, 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=533322196
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