万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-06-03&04, 美国最好的雇主公司:Google

At first, you'd think you were back at college. It’s 11 am, and these googlers are hard at, well, anything but work. A few yards away, others soak up the late morning sun. It’s certainly a unique office environment. But according to Fortune Magazine, this is what made Google the best company to work for in the United States.

Coming here to the Googleplex in mountain view California, it’s easy to see why. For staff here, there are a lot of perks². Like a well-equipped gym, on-site massages³ and medical care, transport, ranging from company-provided scooters and pushbikes, to a massive fleet of shuttle buses and free food. It’s all part of a plan to attract the best and brightest. Now Stacy Sullivan is Google’s chief culture officer. Flashy job title, but bottom line, she is the architect of the company’s human resources strategy.

There is many reasons people want to apply to a company or to a position, and probably first and foremost will be, you know, for the work, I wanna go someplace where I will be doing something really interesting, really challenging, really unique, and in a, and in a product that I believe in. But then, combine that with, you know, here it's a really cool place to work, I hear there are really great benefits at work that will actually help me be more productive during the day and have more of a life when I get home. Because I won’t have to do my dry cleaning, I won’t have to get my haircut outside of work. I can go to the doctor while I am actually at the office and I won’t have to leave for meals. And so I think it’s a really big factor, but just, it is just one of many.

The formula is working. Google gets over 3000 job applications a day, from people wanting to join teams like these. And to keep staff happy, there seems to be almost no restrictions⁴. Another perk¹? They get what’s called 20% time, a chance to spend a day a week working on independent projects. This has spawned⁵ some of Google’s successful spin-offs including Gmail. And at the office, apart from some funky⁶ design that includes white tents for colleagues to meet, googlers appear free to do their work any where. An environment designed to encourage employees to be googly.

This is kinda like being smurfy, if you are a smurf, if you are a googler, it’s, you know, it means having a positive corporate⁷ culture that’s not too corporate and not too specific, it kind of shifts as googlers shift and allows you to do everyting from kind of bring your dog to work, to question authority, and work on the type of projects that interest you.

Well, Brett recommends one of the primate’s salads here at the no name café, this is one of eleven gourmet⁸ restaurants here at the Googleplex. I am trying the Kasha, Blood Oranges, Goji Berries, and Cinnamon Salad. With all these foods and all those other benefits, I wonder if one could leave the company.

It’s a great question. I don’t know if I can work anywhere after, after Google. I think after Google, you'd either have to retire, or kinda going to start at them.

Kristie Lu Stout⁹, CNN, at the Googleplex.

1 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。

2 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

3 massages   

按摩，推拿( massage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At present the doctor is giving him daily massages to help restore the function of his limbs. 目前医生每天在给他按摩，帮助他恢复腿臂的功能。
• His father massages his nose and chin. 他爸爸揉了揉鼻子和下巴。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

6 funky   

adj.畏缩的，怯懦的，霉臭的；adj.新式的，时髦的

参考例句：

• The kitchen smelled really funky.这个厨房有一股霉味。
• It is a funky restaurant with very interesting art on the walls.那是一家墙上挂着很有意思的绘画的新潮餐馆。

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

9 stout   

adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的

参考例句：

• He cut a stout stick to help him walk.他砍了一根结实的枝条用来拄着走路。
• The stout old man waddled across the road.那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。