Compensation and benefits system at a major U.S. company

Google Pay & Benefits

The author of this report has been asked to select a major company within the United States and focus on its compensation and benefits system and framework. The company selected for the purposes of this report is Google. While Google was barely a twinkle in its founders' eyes a scant generation ago, it has grown to become a United States and international powerhouse. Indeed, they have a compensation and benefits program to match. This essay shall focus on the details and facets of that pay and benefits program. The data gleaned will emanate both from what Google itself has to say about the subject as well as what other sources have said. While Google does not have a monopoly on offering robust pay and compensation packages, they are certainly among the elite companies within the United States and the world at large.

Analysis

The first source the author of this report was used was the proverbial horse's mouth, that being the Google website itself. Google was an easy choice for the author to make when coming up with the company for this paper. As noted on the Google website itself, they have been named by Fortune Magazine as the "Best Company to Work For" and 2014 was the fifth time that this had occurred. In terms of the benefits in particular, Google's espoused mission on its website is to "make your life better and easier." (Google Benefits). They also assert that they "want our benefits to work for you" and that "we care about you AND your family" (Google Benefits). The specific benefits they point to include onsite physicians/nurses in addition to comprehensive healthcare coverage, travel insurance for all travel including personal excursions and vacations, time off for new parents (men and women) as well as a cash benefit for the same, college and other learning reimbursement programs and legal aid for their associates in case they are in need of legal advice for actions like evictions, small claims cases and so forth (Google Benefits).

However, it would be wise to look at sources and data specifically outside of the Google bubble because they will no doubt paint a rosy picture about themselves irrespective of what others might have to say about them. When it comes to the actual wages paid, Payscale has a pretty good data set on how Google pays its employees. In total there are three main facets to what a Google employee is paid. Those facets include the base salary, bonus and profit disbursement. As an example position, a software engineer at Google is purported to make anywhere form $87,156 a year to about $138,452 in base salary. The bonus paid for that same position ranges from about $5,000 a year to about $24,781 a year. Of course, that certainly varies based on the performance employee and/or the performance of the department/company at large. Finally, the profit disbursement level for the software engineer is purported to be anywhere from $1,000 to about $40,963. Indeed, that puts the overall salary range for the employee at anywhere from $87,710 in total compensation to about $169,544. While a lot of that comes from discretionary payments in the form of the bonus and the profit disbursement, a potentially very large share of the compensation is from the base compensation alone. Indeed, in looking at other positions in the firm as listed on Payscale, much the same pattern is seen. The other positions noted include Senior Software Engineer, Technical Program Manager and Product Marketing Manager (Payscale).

Even with those generous pay packages, some may feel inclined to try and negotiate a higher salary when they interview and/or are offered a job by Google. However, a former principal recruiter for Google by the name of Bob See asserts that Google will not capitulate or otherwise be swayed by such tactics. For example, if a person is offered a job with Google and the asserted starting salary for the job is to be $70,000, a job applicant might be inclined to cite websites like the aforementioned website Payscale.com or other sites like Glassdoor or Salary.com. However, Google will not negotiate their initial salary offers and this is a hard and fast rule that they follow. Indeed, the only time that Google will flex on its initial offer is if they are told of a competing offer or the current compensation for the employee at their existing job is at odds with the offer Google is extending (Gillet).

Using the prior example, Google may be inclined to raise its offer if the applicant is currently making $75,000 as compared to the $70,000 that Google was initially offering. Absent something like that, Google will generally not budge from any offer they extend. However, this is not to say that Google's offers are not informed and consistent with the applicable data relevant to the job to be performed and where the person will be performing said job. Indeed, there are several things that Google does as part of every offer. These include the recruiter gathering current and competing offer information from the candidate, a compensation analyst putting together a standard offer package that takes factors into account such as role, location and the level of the position and a comparison of whether that standard offer is more or less than the amounts otherwise being offered or paid to that employee. As noted above, if the standard offer is superior, it will not be adjusted later. However, if it comes in under another offer or the current pay, there will be an adjustment (Gillet).

In terms of the benefits of Google as compared, contrasted and summarized by non-Google sources, there are some very notable surprises to be found. Writer Meghan Casserly offers a treatise on the subject and is quick to first point out the commonly known about benefits of Google that include free haircuts, gourmet food, on-site doctors and high-tech cleansing toilets, just to name a few. However, there is one benefit that is not commonly discussed. In a rarely granted interview, Chief People Office Laszlo Bock speaks about this relatively unknown but monumental benefit. Before getting into that, it should be noted that the oldest employee at Google as of the 2012 publication of the article being talked about right now was eighty-three years old. This alone brings up the subject of what, if anything, Google does when an employee passes away while employed with Google. The answer is a profound one. Indeed, if a person dies while employed with Google, their surviving spouse or domestic partner (legally married or not) will receive fifty percent of the decedent's salary for the next ten years. For example, if a person's base salary is $100,000 and that employee dies, the person's spouse or domestic partner would receive pay of $50,000 over the next ten years. That example alone would come to half a million dollars in direct benefits to someone who is not even employed by the firm in question (Casserly).