{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Happy","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk","title":"Google: Hire Great People and Give Them Lots of Autonomy","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ytuqXWoJOv\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/google-hire-great-people-and-give-them-lots-of-autonomy\/\">Google: Hire Great People and Give Them Lots of Autonomy<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/blogs\/google-hire-great-people-and-give-them-lots-of-autonomy\/embed\/#?secret=ytuqXWoJOv\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Google: Hire Great People and Give Them Lots of Autonomy&#8221; &#8212; Happy\" data-secret=\"ytuqXWoJOv\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.happy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/google-900-1.webp","thumbnail_width":900,"thumbnail_height":500,"description":"On the one hand its about fun, creative workplaces with lots of colour and feature elements like slides. But its also crucially about trust and autonomy, and hiring the right people. Look for \u201cGoogliness\u201d \u201cWe look for a cultural fit with the company\u201d, explained Yvonne. This includes a passion for what you do, interests beyond work. \u201cWe like people who travel, we like people who speak more than one language and engage with their community.\u201d \u201cNow we don\u2019t hire people if we don\u2019t think they are \u201cgoogly\u201d. If they mis-treated the receptionist or came across as arrogant, we would not hire them whatever their skills.\u201d When Google got it wrong In a period of extreme growth, 2005-2008, there was a focus on hiring the right skills. In 2007 they realised they were having challenges in some of the people they\u2019d recruited, picked up especially in the regular Googlegeist, the employee satisfaction survey. Google realised they had veered off in their hiring practice and had brought in senior people with a more command-and-control approach, \u201cwhich doesn\u2019t work at Google at all.\u201d The response was to dramatically improve the induction process, to help people understand culture and weed out people who have a \u201ctell\u201d approach. Autonomy is key I often ask people, at our events, who should set targets \u2013 the manager or the member of staff. Most respond that they should do it together. My view has always been that if you can get individuals to set their own targets they will be likely to both set tougher goals and to be more likely to achieve them. Yvonne makes clear this is also the Google approach. Every quarter the corporate strategy is revealed for the next three months. \u201cAs a manager it is not your role to tell your people what they should be doing, rather its a bottom up process. Each Googler is expected to understand what the corporate objectives are and figure out how they contribute.\u201d Within three weeks of the whole company objectives being set, every one of the 38,000 members of staff will set their own OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Which means they each determine what they will be doing for the quarter. Be transparent, share as much as possible In their IPO letter Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page made clear \u201cWe are not a conventional company\u201d. For Yvonne a key element is that \u201cI have never worked in a company that shares as much information as Google does.\u201d Every week Sergey and Larry hold TGIF (Thank God its Friday), where they personally talk with hundreds of Googlers at the Mountain View HQ and thousands worldwide. They explain upcoming product launches, and share information on what the company is doing. Plus they take questions and \u201cpretty much nothing is off limits\u201d. Googlers use simple online technology to vote questions up and down and decide what gets asked. (Though it took 15 years for somebody to figure out it would work better on Thursday, so more international Googlers can participate in real-time.) Imagine that in your organisation: How could it improve communication if the top bosses held a regular inter-action on what\u2019s happening \u2013 involving all staff? Related Blogs"}