Introduction
The business environment of the 21st century just now starts to realize how important human capital is for a company’s performance. The best practices for human resource management (HRM) become as valuable as any of the financial or legal aspects of scaling a business. When discussing the most effective HR solutions, it is impossible not to mention Google. The company remains one of the most well-regarded employees in the world in addition to having a recognizable employer brand. Human resource teams at Google ensure that hiring, training, and retaining the best staff leads to constant benefits in core operations. Google is certainly one of the primary examples of organizing an HR system, which keeps employees happy and motivated. Despite the aforementioned practices of employee empowerment, however, the company has recently faced some backlash for its HR decisions. It is safe to conclude that no business is perfect, which means that even such a giant as Google has to rethink its practices of managing the human capital. This paper focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of Google’s human resource management, aiming to design the most effective HR practices for a similar company in the tech industry, particularly in terms of compensation and performance management.
Necessary Changes
Although HR experts agree that Google is one of the greatest facilitators of effective hiring and training strategies, it is important to acknowledge that the work environment the company prides itself in has been in somewhat of a decline recently. It has been revealed that several of Google’s executives were involved in inappropriate sexual behavior towards colleagues (Hollister, 2020). However, what is more concerning is the fact that these high-level managers got big severance packages. As a result, close to 20,000 Google workers participated in a walkout, which attracted the attention of global media networks (Hollister, 2020). Thus, it is evident that Google’s existing HR may have been innovative in the past but prove to be rather old-fashioned and anti-employee at the moment. These situations demonstrate that Google puts more value into its reputation, rather than employees, especially those who fell victim to the company’s work environment, which apparently supports sexual misconduct.
Google needs to rethink its HR strategies and invest in developing a framework, which is actually going to empower employees. There have been multiple reports focused on the innovative use of analytics in the company’s HR practices. Instead, HR directors at Google should focus on personal testimonies and employee experiences. Hiding behind numbers and statistics creates a gap between data, which no one denies is probably correct, and personal experiences of employees at the company. Hence, Google should emphasize the importance of interviewing employees about their work environment on a regular basis. In addition, it has to regain its workers’ trust by initiating a firing-without-severance policy for anyone responsible for harassment, sexual misconduct, or discrimination.
Lessons from Google
Despite the aforementioned criticisms of Google’s recent HR decisions, it is crucial to recognize how innovative the company has been in terms of human resource management. Mist of the practices of hiring, compensation, performance management, and training deployed at Google align perfectly with one another. Stewart and Brown (2019) note that productive employees most likely become successful, which is, in turn, influenced by the business’ ability to motivate and engage its workforce in an effort to keep employees satisfied.
One of the key aspects of Google’s success as an employer is innovative work culture, which values commitment and passion. It is important to mention that this exact culture helps to tie all of the HR practices together. First, it translates into recruitment strategies since Google hires only those people, who prove to be culturally compatible with the company. Second, Google HR teams ensure that every employee has equal chances of development. In terms of performance management, the company uses 360 degree feedback to review the work of its new hires. This way, good performers are rewarded greatly, while under-performers are rightfully not recognized in the workplace for their lack of contribution. As for training and development, Google invests in providing employees with opportunities for continuous learning. In addition, it reimburses its workers for advancing their knowledge in universities or pursuing other forms of further education. Lastly, innovation is reflected in the fact that Google ensures its employees receive the best benefits, instead of saving money on this aspect of business operations. Thus, people working for Google have flexible schedules, amazing health benefits, generous parental leaves, great retirement plans, and so on.
Structuring the Human Resources Practices of a Similar Company
While it is important to analyze successful companies’ HR practices, it is crucial to then apply them to the process of developing human resource procedures for a new business. Thus, a new venture in the tech industry can learn a lot from Google. The first lesson is that an employer should ensure the workers are compensated properly. In addition to baseline salary and medical benefits, it is important to create the appropriate conditions via flexible schedules and development opportunities. In terms of performance management, a tech start-up must invest in making sure every employee feels like their work is properly recognized. Creating regular review procedures and providing appropriate feedback are some of the examples of HR practices, which would help with performance management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google is one of the many companies, which manages to continuously innovate its HR practices to keep employees satisfied and empowered. Despite that, there are certain issues regarding the company’s human resource decisions, which proves that there is also space for improvement. A new company in the tech industry can apply lessons learnt from Google into its own HR practices in order to ensure workers are sufficiently motivated and engaged in the process.
References
Hollister, S. (2020). Google’s head of HR is leaving while worker unrest continues. The Verge. Web.
Stewart, G. L., & Brown, K. G. (2019). Human resource management (4th ed.). Wiley.