Any company that becomes a leader in its area of operation has at least one interesting story related to her backstage. With the search giant Google could not be different, since it is a company known for constant innovation and the working methods that are beyond the traditional.
In this article, we gathered some curious little published about the company, including information related to construction, business philosophy and employee relations. Below is the list, and be sure to post your opinion (and other curiosities) in our comments section.
Do not be evil
This is the unofficial motto of the company, which appears highlighted in the code of conduct that all employees must follow. Besides serving as a reminder that the company has a commitment to follow the law of different countries, the phrase serves as a way to stimulate the development of efficient products, and have mainly focused on the comfort of each user.
Bill Gates considered buying the company
In 2002, the then CEO of Microsoft had the chance to buy Google. However, Bill Gates saw the price charged, $ 2 billion, too expensive for a company that did not have any kind of revenue. Time has proven that if Gates had invested in the idea, would have found the investment a bargain.
Money for beautiful women
While 2005 YouTube was not yet owned by Google, it is difficult to disassociate the two companies today. Part of the success of the video site, at least in its early stage can be attributed to the stimuli that gave its creators considered beautiful for women who post contributions.
Every 10 videos produced, each of the girls received the amount of $ 100. It is unknown whether this was essential to transform the site into a true phenomenon of audience, but measures such as the show creators were willing to make it a success.
Obsession with test scores
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Bin, are obsessed by the notes that its employees took the SATs, a sort of entrance exam conducted to determine who enters the U.S. universities. Several employees reported that the answer to this question was essential so that they got the jobs for which they were interviewed.
The company believes that these notes are relevant to determining the cleverness of its employees and therefore their ability to work and develop new inventions. Hence all the importance given to this criterion during job interviews.
Only 20% of employees still use Windows
(Image source: Microsoft) During the question and answer session held after the keynote of the more recent Google I / O, the company's co-founder Sergey Brin said that only about 20% of the machines used by developers of the company have the Windows operating system.
The news that shows the company is going against the tendencies of the corporate market, which is still largely dominated by Microsoft systems. But with the increasingly rapid development of Chrome, it's no wonder that the company is gradually ceasing to use competing products.
According to Brin, the expectation is that within about a year, only a small portion of people still use systems from other companies for work. The expectation is that Chromebooks developed by the company to become the working tool of choice for new product development.
Protection against earthquakes
To ensure the protection of employees in case of earthquakes and other natural disasters, Google provides a backpack filled with supplies for each. Thus, hopes to assure the survival and comfort of all if you need to wait some time before rescuers unable to reach the workplace.
$ 72 million spent on food
This is the amount spent annually by the company to supply all employees around the world - on average, each employee costs U.S. $ 7,530 per year for the company in this regard. The details vary by location in the world where the person acts, but in all the company maintains the philosophy of giving its employees well fed.
At the Googleplex, the company's headquarters in California, every employee is entitled to two free meals per day at one of 11 coffee shops around the complex. Besides the various choices of dishes offered at these locations, the company also has several smaller cafeterias where many free snacks are available.
Help for all aspects of life
Besides taking care of feeding employees, Google also offers a variety of services that include free haircuts, foreign language classes, day care centers and physicians located in the workplace. Who owns a car can even use the company's structure to wash it and carry out free oil changes.
The list of benefits offered is varied and includes academies, professional masseurs and even a laundry room for clothes of employees. As a bonus, employees who live alone and have dogs can bring animals to the work that they do not feel lonely at home.
"I'm Feeling Lucky" brings harm to the company
Each year, the feature I'm Feeling Lucky "is responsible for losses of some U.S. $ 110 million to Google. As the user is redirected to a single site after clicking on the button, it stops displaying the advertisements on the results page of the site, resulting in a loss of revenue for the company.
According to Marissa Mayer, an executive of the company, the intention of action is to remind the user that the service is done by people like him. In addition, Google believes that by providing immediate results for each search, it strengthens his image as a company that operates differently from the competition and that has the sole purpose of profit.
First server is built with LEGO
The first machine used to store data that would become Google, which in 1996 was still called BackRub, was partially built with LEGO bricks. The computer, which had only a 40GB HD, has been preserved and is displayed as a museum piece from Stanford University.
According to legend, the pieces of LEGO are the best way found by the project developers to get hold 10 hard drives of 4GB each. After all, this is a relatively inexpensive material and can easily be expanded as needed by the user.
Google is looking at your emails
(Image source: GMail) Despite the good image that Google retains, not all their actions are well seen by the general public. GMail users, in particular, suffer from a system that, for many, is a violation of privacy.
All messages sent and received are reviewed by a process called "content extraction", which detects keywords and sends them to advertisers. The result is advertisements that appear in the pages of the service, very efficient to guess the user's interests.
This is not the first act of dubious character that yields critical to the company, known for enforcing local laws even when they go against the popular culture. The greatest proof of this is China, where Google is known for collaborating with the censorship imposed by the government and hide results that lead to pages with content considered subversive.
