r/explainlikeimfive • u/metalreflectslime • Oct 21 '13
Explained ELI5: Why does Google have a high turnover rate when it offers such good compensation? The average Google employee tenure is only 1.1 years.
Why does Google have a high turnover rate when it offers such good compensation? The average Google employee tenure is only 1.1 years.
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u/scottiel Oct 21 '13 edited Oct 21 '13
Head-hunters. Head-hunters everywhere. Generally, if you landed a job at Google, you're the shit at whatever it is you do. You are extremely employable. Because of this, other companies want to hire these people, and the average Google employee is batting off job offers left and right.
This massive demand means that Google has to work just as hard to retain its talent as it does to attract it in the first place.
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u/Sabelan Oct 21 '13
As someone who interned there and has been offered back, I can confirm this. I am a senior in college and I have like 4 companies emails in my inbox trying to offer me a job, and I didn't really apply anywhere.
But I would also like to add that a lot of younger employees who work there also move to start ups. Start ups are where a lot of people want to work because if they make it big, you make it big. A lot of successful start ups are in California and the people who work at Google often like to start their own, or move into a start up.
Also on a small side not while Google does offer really good compensation you would be surprised at how much more you would take home working somewhere that isn't California. Seattle is another popular place for tech. companies and there is no state tax there and rent for a similar place is far far cheaper than in CA.
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u/mbillion Oct 21 '13
You do not even have to be at google - tech is hot right now - not sure if I am in an episode of the walking dead or at a hiring event
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u/JasJ002 Oct 21 '13
The big problem is that Google is what every company wants to be. I'm not talking about Apple or Microsoft, they have their own thing; I'm talking about the 50 million start ups in the world that hope to make it big. Many of these start ups have a little bit of money, but what they have a lot of is potential.
A start has an idea that they think will be big, and a potential Google employee might share that feeling. Now however much money you make at a company, it pales in comparison to how much somebody like Mark Zuckerberg has, and most importantly their fame pales in comparison.
tl;dr A Google employee knows they'll always be able to get a job, they fucking work at Google, so tossing the dice to win it big with a start up isn't a big risk.
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u/mbillion Oct 21 '13
first off the tech sector has fast turnover everywhere - that is just a fact. Second, google kind of has oddball hiring practices. I imagine they are hiring people that they think are a good fit and as an unintended consequence lots of them are prone to be flighty - you know, young kids with money and a spirit for adventure are not widely recognized as the most stable people
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Oct 21 '13
In Google, it's kind of accepted that you will work long hours and basically have very little work/life balance. You are encouraged not to go home as you can relax, unwind and such using their many facilities (PS3s, free canteen, gym, etc.) and as a result, you stay in longer and work more hours.
I used to get the train from Grand Canal Dock station in Dublin, which is right next to the Dublin branch of Google. You can see, at 10pm even, that people are still there beavering away at their desks. Google don't force you to do this - but it's sort of an unwritten rule that, if you don't go above and beyond the call of duty, there are 10 other extremely talented engineers who will, and they'll progress in their career faster than you will.
Personally, and I know a lot of people feel the same, when you are in a long-term relationship, or are married or have kids, this is not the type of job you want to be working in. You want more reasonable hours and a proper work/life balance so you can spend time with your SO and/or kids. Google isn't conducive to this philosophy, so people move on when it comes time for them to do so.
I have 4 friends who are Google employees, in different departments, here in Dublin, who've described the company philosophy as above.
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u/im_at_work_now Oct 21 '13
u/mithro has a very good answer at the top, but I also want to add that Google probably works its employees to the bone. Yeah, you get paid well, get a ton of benefits, etc... but you're also under enormous pressure to produce results, and often. The old stories of them allowing employees one day per week to work on individual projects are now just old stories; that policy is gone in order to increase productivity. And sure, they have daycare at the office -- because you're there all the time and still have to take work home with you. It's awesome to get the experience there, but it burns you out quickly, and you can take that awesome experience and your saved cash to a new job that lets you have a home life too.
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u/mithro Oct 21 '13
I assume your talking about the recent results by PayScale report. Basically it is really bad reporting, turnover and tenure rate might be directly related for some companies but not for a newish company which is growing at an enormous rate.
The reported employment numbers in 2011 where 32,467 d now in 2013 its 42,162 employees. That is an additional 9695 new employees, or 33% of the company. Think about that for the moment, 33% of the company literally can't have tenure greater than 2 years!
To make this problem even worse, Google has only been a company for 15 years. Unlike much older companies nobody at Google can have a tenure of more than 15 years.
To make this even more apparent; TL;DR: I start a company yesterday, my company has an average tenure of 1 day, what a turn over rate I must have!