Total Reward (Google) - Essay Example

Total Rewards Program at Google A total rewards program comprises all the tools that an employer would use in order to attract, motivate and retain employees. Google offers various such incentives, including high salaries and flexibility in the workplace environment. In the case of skilled employees in particular where there is a dearth, one of the most commonly used methods used by employers to attract the best candidates to their firm is to offer good monetary rewards, such as high salaries, signing bonuses and attractive benefits (Pfeffer, 1998).

There are two components to providing high compensation that is contingent on the performance of the employee; higher salary that what is normally paid for a comparable job and specific performance related incentives, such as bonuses. As Pfeffer (1998) points out, one of the means most companies use to attract high calibre employees to their organization is to offer them high salaries and added monetary benefits. In the case of Google, the Company not only offers a good monetary package, it also offers other rewards such as a sum of up to $8000 a year in tuition reimbursement, unlimited sick leave and 27 days of paid time off after a year of employment. (www.greatplacetowork.com). Additionally, the Company also provides employees the opportunity to avail of a five year leave of absence to pursue an education worth up to $150,000.

Additional perks are also available on the job, such as medical, dental and child care facilities, valet parking and free meals. A total rewards programs helps employees to feel motivated and valued. It helps them feel that their organization really cares about them and about their welfare. A study that was carried out by Batt (2002) to examine the relationship between the quit rates of employees in call centres and their organizational performance to the kind of human resource reward practices that were being used at the firm.

The findings in this study showed that quit rates were lower and there were high levels of sales growth in those call centres where employees participated in decision making and were offered HR incentives such as job security and high levels of pay.Since there is a great demand for talented employees in the workforce, the level of competition among employers to attract such employees is high and the offer of greater monetary benefits may serve to achieve this objective. Google requires very skilled and talented employees and its higher salaries, bonuses and incentives have proved to be very effective, because it is ranked as one of the best places to work (www.

greatplacetowork.com). People are keen to work at Google and the Company receives approximately 1300 resumes in a day when job openings are advertised. The No: 1 ranking the Company has received among a Survey conducted to determine the best companies to work for, also suggests that Google’s reward programs are very effective in attracting the best and most talented calibre of employees to the firm. A rewards program may not necessarily be desirable as a general rule. High compensation for instance, may not necessarily achieve its goal of motivating employees to remain with a particular organization; on the contrary, the focus on pay-related incentives could impel an employee to purely use monetary benefits as a criterion in work related performance and leave a job if s/he is offered better pay elsewhere.

According to Herzberg (1968), money may not always be the guiding criterion for motivation; employees may be motivated to higher levels by satisfying their intrinsic needs, such as the need for recognition and respect.(Herzberg, 1968). When employees are provided with too many rewards, it may detract from the satisfaction they derive from their jobs and their ability to be motivated purely by the nature of the work. Employees who could have derived satisfaction purely from doing the job they have been hired to do, tend to become dissatisfied and discontented because they begin to compare themselves to employees in other firms who are receiving higher monetary rewards.

Rewards may then serve as a de-motivating factor rather than a source of motivation. In the case of Google however, its reward programs include not only monetary benefits but also an entire range of other benefits that help employees to feel valued. The company’s No: 1 ranking suggests that its rewards program has been every effective. References:Batt, Rosemary, 2002. “Managing Customer Services: Human Resource Practices, Quit Rates, and Sales Growth.” Academy of Management Journal. 45(3):587-597.

Herzberg, F, 1968. “ One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees”, pp 85-95 in Harvard Business Review: “Breakthrough Ideas: 15 Articles That Define Business Practice Today”, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.Pfeffer, J, 1998. “Seven practices of successful organisations”, California Management Review, 40(2), 96-124.“Why is Google so great?” http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/100best2007-google.php;