BHRM705 People Resourcing Assignment Semester 1 2015

Google case study

History of Google
Google was founded in 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who met at Stanford University in 1995. By
1996, they had built a search engine (initially called BackRub) .Larry Page, the co-founder and CEO,
once described the “perfect search engine” as something that “understands exactly what you mean and
gives you back exactly what you want.” Since he spoke those words Google has grown considerably in its
range of products but the spirit of what he said remains. From search function, to internet browser,
Chrome, to Gmail—the company goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to find the information you
need and get the things you need to do, done. There are now three main Google product offerings: (1)
the personal service of gmail and search engines, (2) the service to business, such as advertising, and
cloud computing services, (3) and their services to improving the web.

Google in London
The Google Headquarters in California is known as the Googleplex and currently there are over 40,000
Googlers (workers), and 70 Google offices in 40 countries around the globe. Recently Google has
decided it needs more office space in London and has agreed to lease the whole building at 6 Pancras
Square in King’s Cross. The office is expected to accommodate up to 5,000 Googlers covering the whole
range of google products and services. As the company’s current UK headcount is nearly 2,000 this
suggests that Google intends to expand considerably. This means there will be a significant recruitment
drive at Google London.

Google recruitment and selection processes
The current UK hiring process is quite similar to many other organisations. Applications are generated
from online sources, mainly Google’s own website or Linkedin. According to glassdoor, responses can be
anything from 3 days to 2 weeks. A successful online applicant will then have a telephone interview
with a recruiter, followed by a number of interviews with Google staff at Google offices. Google are
looking for 4 things in their candidates: Leadership, Role Related Knowledge, Fluid intelligence
(ability to learn), and “Googleyness” (people- organization fit, see their website for more details).

The recruitment process model for Google is designed by Lazlo Bock, Head of People at Google, and is
compared to a typical recruitment process in the diagram below. Google invest heavily in their
recruitment and selection process, as they consider that getting the right people on board is very
important.
Source: Bock, L (2015) (24% kindle edition)

Google and diversity
Google have publicly stated their strong commitment to diversity, but currently their demographics
indicate that 30% of their global employee base is female and 70% are male, with only 18% of Google
female employees working in the technical areas. Likewise 60% of the US staff are white, and whilst
historically technical areas have employed high levels of ethnically diverse staff, 59% of the
workforce in the US technical areas are white (Google, January 2015). Google is committed to:
1) Hire diverse Googlers
2) Foster a fair and inclusive culture
3) Expand the pool of technologists
4) Bridge the digital divide.
(statistics from Google’s website)

Google are not the only STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) organization that struggles
with diversity. CASE (Campaign for Science and Engineering) reported on the issues in the UK in 2008,
and their follow up in 2014 shows little is changing. Whilst employing diverse staff is an area Google
has committed to improving, it admits that it is still struggling.

Bock, has considerably changed Google’s people strategy, famous for its quirky interviews, to something
more systematic. Approximately 2 million people apply for a job at Google every year, so there is
evidence that it attracts talent, but only 5,000 are hired (Guardian April 2015). In his new book
Lazlo Bock outlined the following in a recent interview in the New York Times:
1) There is no such things as the perfect interview, but some techniques are better than others
and therefore worth the time.
2) Consistency is key, so use the same techniques for any post.
3) Behavioural interviewing works
4) Backwards review is good people management, your staff are happier if they get a say, so
employees also appraise their bosses.
5) Brain teasers are a complete waste of time. Google was once famous for asking impossible
questions, however these only serve to make the interviewer feel smart.
6) Test scores are useless for predicting job performance, apart from when fresh out of college.
7) Big data can only get you so far, human intuition and reaction will always be part of the
process.
Source: recruitloop.com

Your Task
With the expansion of the London office Google will undertake a significant recruitment drive. In the
light of this, investigate Google’s practices further and then:
1. Critically evaluate Google’s commitment to diversity and whether the recruitment and selection
tools it uses for technical, sales and service jobs will progress the diversity agenda in the short
term.
2. Evaluate its recruitment and selection, talent management, labour markets and diversity
practices in terms of whether they will deliver its long term goals of better diversity, drawing on
relevant literature in relation to these policy areas.
3. Write a report addressing the above considering external influences that impact google, as well
as the internal issues arising within Google.
4. Compare Google to other STEM organisations, analyse the issues and make recommendations to help
Google fulfill their talent needs and improve their diversity. Your report should include a costed set
of recommendations.

Sources
(sourced online, through google.co.uk, the guardian.co.uk, glassdoor.co.uk, recruitloop.com and also
Bock, L. (2015) Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How you Live and Lead, John
Murray publishers, London,
CASE report, Improving Diversity in STEM)

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