Controlling

Google controls its employees not through fear, but by motivating them to do good works: "With millions of visitors every month, Google has become an essential part of everyday life - like a good friend - connecting people with the information they need to live great lives" it proclaims (Top ten, 2009, Google). Google offers generous compensation packages to its employees that are individually tailored, and given the difficulty of finding good health insurance and 401 (K) s in the current economy, this also acts as an incentive to remain at the company.

Google's workplace environment, which includes free lunches, free fitness classes -- even free dry-cleaning -- creates an atmosphere of a college campus or even a summer camp. Employees have little incentive to leave the workplace. They have a greater sense of investment in a company that seems to care so much about their welfare. Google's controlling mechanisms are thus primarily internal in nature in the sense that they make use of the psychological loyalty encouraged by the company's...

Tuition reimbursement up to $12,000 a year, free child care for up to five days if the employee's child care falls through (for California employees), and even adoption and financial services counseling are all provided by Google.
Ethically, it is possible to contend that this is Google's way of creating a culture in which employee's entire lives, personal as well as professional, are interwoven into the company's future. Even employee's hobbies, such as fitness, become a part of Google's domain, which makes changing jobs more psychologically difficult for an employee. However, in a world where companies often show little care and concern about their employees, it is difficult to criticize the Google approach.