WORK RULES! by the Head of Google's HR Department

This time, I'm introducing 'Work Rules! - Change Your Life and Leadership' (Toyo Keizai Inc.). The author, Laszlo Bock, is Google's Senior Vice President of People Operations (HR), the head of the HR department overseeing over 50,000 "Googlers" working in offices across more than 40 countries worldwide. This book lays bare Google's methods for hiring employees, evaluating performance, and maintaining motivation. It lays them bare so thoroughly that the book version clocks in at a hefty 560 pages... In this article, I'll highlight a few particularly interesting points from this massive volume. (Note: As someone with chronic back pain, I purchased the weightless Kindle edition.)

Data Analysis, Communication Design, and Effectiveness Verification

This might apply to all "solutions," but Google's approach to HR also involves

① Data Analysis
② Designing (Communication) to Drive Problem Solving and Behavior Change
③ Effectiveness verification

and they are extremely thorough about it.

Google's People Operations includes an Analytics Group that consolidates and analyzes all HR data to understand the current state. To solve issues identified through this analysis, they design and implement mechanisms that encourage the desired behavioral changes. Typically, they test with a small sample group. If results are positive, they proceed with full implementation. Of course, they never neglect to verify effectiveness even after implementation. ...In other words (if we set aside just how meticulous they are), it's essentially the same as our everyday work! This book offers a rich collection of case studies, not limited to the HR domain, when viewed from this perspective.

Don't trust your intuition during job interviews

Take job interviews, for example. Do you make an intuitive decision about whether to hire someone based on that initial, extremely brief moment? (I know I've been guilty of this...)

This book introduces research showing that interview outcomes can be predicted based on judgments made within the first 10 seconds. Conversely, this means that in a typical interview, you can't learn anything beyond the impression formed in those first 10 seconds. That's problematic. It's just a first impression. It doesn't mean you've adequately evaluated the candidate. So, how does Google handle this?

Although not conducted by Google, research on how well various tests assess a candidate's job performance yielded the following scores:

Unstructured interview (standard interview): 14%
Years of work experience: 3%
Background checks: 7%
Handwriting analysis: 0.04%
Work sample test: 29%
General Aptitude Test: 26%
Structured interview: 26%
Integrity assessment: 10%

Several methods are more accurate than standard (unstructured) interviews. Since combining these assessment methods has been shown to improve predictive accuracy, Google uses them in combination, such as: Structured Interview × General Aptitude Test × Integrity Assessment × Leadership Assessment × Work Sample Test. The term "structured interview" might be unfamiliar. This is an interview method where questions, procedures, and evaluation criteria are predetermined. While it's an excellent evaluation technique, it's labor-intensive to implement. Therefore, Google developed a system that automatically designs and delivers questions based on each interview's conditions, enabling interviewers to conduct interviews smoothly and without errors.

On the other hand, while they once used so-called Fermi estimation-style tricky questions (like "Estimate how many gas stations are in Manhattan?"), they decisively concluded that "they only measure individual skills that can be improved with training and are useless for evaluating candidates." These are now being reviewed.

Nudges Leading to Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Behavioral economics includes the concept of a "nudge." This is defined as "a selective architectural element that changes people's behavior in predictable ways without eliminating options or significantly altering economic incentives. " Google, under the banner of "Optimize Your Life," uses these nudges to intervene in employee decision-making, helping them enhance their health and wealth.

Google is well-known for offering free meals in its cafeterias, and here too, various approaches are being tested to promote employee health.

1) Presenting information that encourages favorable food choices: Applying green labels to healthier options and red labels to less healthy ones.
【Result】☓ Color coding itself was popular with employees, but actual consumption levels did not change.

2) Limiting choices to healthier options: Implementing "Meatless Mondays" where no meat is served.
【Result】☓ Little effect. Furthermore, some employees protested the reduction in meat options.

3) Subtly alter the environment without restricting choices (= nudge): Place healthy snacks prominently on the counter, while placing sweet, unhealthy snacks in opaque containers on lower shelves (with labels showing contents).
【Result】◎ After 7 weeks, employees at the New York office consumed 3.1 million fewer calories (= equivalent to 401 kg of body fat).

Achieving behavioral change still seems to be most effective with "nudges." Such experiments and operational changes are constantly being implemented. Regarding dieting, the author reportedly lost 14 kilograms over two years... Of course, these nudges aren't limited to health. They include "nudges to maximize 401k contributions" and "nudges encouraging managers to behave in ways that help new hires become productive as quickly as possible."

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

Why is Google able to pursue People Operations with such relentless dedication? The book identifies three defining elements of Google's culture: "Mission," "Transparency," and "Voice."

The "Mission" is the famous "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." All of Google's diverse businesses and research efforts are conducted under this mission.

Regarding "Transparency," newly hired software engineers at Google reportedly gain access to nearly the entire codebase on their first day. The intranet also publicly shares everything from product roadmaps and new business plans to quarterly goals for employees and teams. The philosophy is this: if "our employees are our greatest asset," then sharing information reduces waste and increases efficiency. Therefore, we should trust employees to make excellent judgments and share all information.

The final point, "voice," aligns with "transparency": if you believe employees are capable, you should welcome their input.

It is precisely because this corporate culture is deeply ingrained that People Operations can rigorously execute the fundamental process: accurately assessing the current situation, devising effective countermeasures, and reevaluating when issues arise.

The book introduces the adage "Culture eats strategy," which I interpret to mean that even at Google, a collective of brilliant minds, a strategy conceived purely intellectually, no matter how correct, ultimately cannot overcome the culture ingrained within the community.

Beyond the topics mentioned above, this book extensively covers key People Operations functions like "performance evaluation" and "motivation maintenance," including numerous case studies—both successes and failures. However, I felt the most crucial point lies in the underlying corporate culture that gave rise to all these practices.

It's a hefty 560-page volume, but I highly recommend picking it up.