Google vs. Yahoo’s HR strategy
Group Pearl
Cassie Smith, Ivana Jukic, Chris Schell, Steven Wong, Kai Fang
1
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3
Mission and Vision Statements ............................................................................................ 3
Benefits Provided ..................................................................................................................... 3
Revenue........................................................................................................................................ 6
Standing in top search engine .............................................................................................. 6
Rankings: Forbes 100 Best Employers in the United States ...................................... 7
Google & Yahoo Future Projects .......................................................................................... 7
Employee Growth ..................................................................................................................... 8
Marketing and Recruiting Strategies ................................................................................. 8
Conclusion: ............................................................................................................................... 10
1
Introduction
We will be comparing the two largest online search engines, Google and Yahoo!.
This will give the readers of the Vancouver Sun, accurate and useful information
in regards to Google’s and Yahoo’s HR strategies so that the readers may be
able to apply similar practices to help their HR departments. We will be
examining many aspects of their business including: vision, mission, values,
revenue, employee growth, competitive standings, benefits, recruitment &
recruitment strategies and future projects. We will be comparing the two
companies in these aspects in regard to HR strategy.
Mission and Vision Statements
Google:
To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and
useful.
Yahoo!:
To connect people to their passions, communities, and the world’s
knowledge.
Summary:
Even though the wording used by Google and Yahoo! is slightly different, the
underlying statements from both companies express the same idea. Each
company is basically stating that their objective is to provide the internet
community with the most organized and relevant information.
Benefits Provided
Benefit
Google
Yahoo!
Medical
3 Carriers
·
Blue Shield (PPO or HMO)
·
CIGNA(PPO)
·
Kaiser (HMO)
3 Carriers
·
EPO
·
PPO
·
HRA
Dental
Comprehensive coverage through Delta Dental
100% coverage for
preventive care and 90% for
basic services, also apply for
family members of employee.
Vision
Exams, contacts, lenses and frames all
generously covered.
Free annual eye exam and
glasses.
Health
Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary
Option to purchase additional life insurance
Flexible Spending Account
Ergonomics
available
available
Day care
available
Free day-care service for all
includes after-school care
with pre-tax dollars.
Adoption
assistance
$5000 from Google for each kid adopted
: $5000 from Yahoo for each
kid you adopted.
Vacation
·
·
·
1st year: 15 days
4th year: 20 days
6th year: 25 days
15 days in year two and an
additional day for each year
of employment after that.
Holidays
12 paid holidays (sick days taken as necessary)
Up to 10 paid holidays and
two personal floating holidays
a year.
Fitness
Gym, and swimming pool
free gym and yoga, boot
camp, martial arts, golf and
$100 fitness card.
Employee
Assistance
Program
Services for employees and their dependents
include free short-term counseling, legal
consultations, financial counseling, child care
referrals, pet care referrals, and more.
No
Disability
Short Term Disability Insurance coverage
provided at approximately 100% of take-home
pay. Long Term Disability coverage provided at
60% of salary once Short Term Disability is
exhausted.
Yes
Business
Travel Accident
Insurance
Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary.
No
College
Savings Plan
This plan provides employees with a way to save
money for post-secondary education.
$5000 a year for tuition,
books and other fees.
Investment
Google 401(k) plan: Employees may contribute
up to 60% and receive a Google match of up to
the greater of (a) 100% of your contribution up to
$3,000 or (b) 50% of your contribution up to
$8,250 per year with no vesting schedule! We
offer a variety of investment options to choose
from through Vanguard, our 401(k) Plan
Administrator. To help you with those tough
investment decisions, employees can access
Financial Engines to receive personalized
Contribute up to 50% of
your salary (up to the irs
maximum) on a pre- tax
basis, and receive a 25%
match from Yahoo!
investment advice
Maternity
Benefits
Up to 12 weeks off at approximately 100% pay, eligible
for an additional 6 weeks if employed at Google for
more than 1 year.
No
Parental Leave
Up to 7 weeks off at approximately 100% take-home
pay
No
Take-Out Benefit
To help make things easier, new moms and dads are
able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during
the first 3 months that they are home with their new
baby.
No
Food
Free gourmet lunch and dinner
Yes
On-site doctor
Doctor, Physical therapy, and Chiropractor
No
Shuttle
services
Free services to San Francisco, East Bay, and South
Bay locations
No
Financial
planning
classes
Free educational classes
No
On-site
services
on-site oil change and car wash services, dry
cleaning, massage therapy, gym, hair stylist,
fitness classes and bike repair.
No
Inclusive
Communities
No
Yahoo!Pride, Accessibility
at Yahoo!, Yahoo! AfricanAmericans, South
Asians@Yahoo, Yahoo!
Women in Tech, Yahoo!
Chinese
Summary:
Google and Yahoo! both have very similar benefits ranging from medical, dental,
eye care and many others that gives employees exciting incentives to work for
their organization. Google and Yahoo! are both trying to create and sustain an
image for their organizations that clearly states that they are concerned about the
well being of their employees and will try to provided services that are needed.
Revenue
Google:
Google have reported positive earning revenues of $5.94 billion USD in the third
quarter of 2009. This revenue figure is representing a 7% increase over third
quarter of 2008. Much of Google’s business now lies outside the border of the
United States of America. Revenues outside the United States reached $3.14
billion USD in the third quarter of 2009. This figure represents 53% of the total
revenues in the third quarter of 2009, earned by Google.
<http://investor.google.com/earnings/2009/Q3_google_earnings.html>
Yahoo!:
Yahoo! revenue , according to CNET News <http://news.cnet.com/830130684_3-10379330-265.html>, have fallen an alarming 12% from the previous
year. In Third quarter 2009, Yahoo! had positive revenues of $1.575 Billion USD
compared to revenue of $ 1.764 billion a year earlier. Yahoo!’s revenue is also
far behind that of Google. Yahoo!’s revenue was slightly less the negative fivefold
that of Google’s.
Summary:
Yahoo!’s revenue continues to decrease over each quarter, and Google seems
to be able to sustain steady increases in net revenues. Google is maintaining
dominance in online search engines in terms of earnings; with it’s growing
revenue of $6 billion.
Standing in top search engine
Time Period
Google Market Share
Yahoo! Market Share
June 6th, 2010
71.65 %
14.28 %
July 7th, 2010
71.43 %
14.43 %
August 28th, 2010
71.59 %
14.28 %
Summary:
Google has continued to maintain the largest market share in North Americas top
search engines with 72% of Internet searches. Yahoo has shown a slow decline
of their market share through out the years gradually giving up more and more
shares to their dominating competitor.
Rankings: Forbes 100 Best Employers in the United States
Google: # 4
This ranking by Forbes is an example of Google’s attention to creating a fun, exciting,
challenging and overall successful corporate atmosphere. Their ability to engage and
empower their employees has lead to many of the top university graduates to seek
employment at Google.
Yahoo!: Not in the rankings
This ranking by Forbes demonstrates Yahoo!s inability to attract the attention of
new employees. They have not adapted well to the new Internet culture and
seem to be stuck in the 1990’s in terms of their recruitment ability. If Yahoo!
cannot attract the newest and brightest talents from across the world, they will be
doomed to stay off the Forbes rankings forever.
Summary:
Although Google and Yahoo! both have very similar benefits, Forbes has ranked
Google as #4 whereas Yahoo! is not listed in the rankings. This shows how
Yahoo has lost its competitive edge in the online search engine industry to
Google, and how Google has grown over the past couple years and gained
recognition as the most important search engine. As well Google’s creative ways
in attracting new talent has lead them to have such a high ranking in terms of
companies to work for.
Google & Yahoo Future Projects
Google:
1) Google Buzz: Released in February 9 2010 and is a social networking and
messaging tool where users will be able to share links photos, videos, as well as
hosts many other features that will be able to compete with Facebook, Twitter,
and other micro blogging services.
2) Google energy: Invested $38.8 million into renewable energy project in two
wind farms in North Dakota. Will be able to generate 169.5MW of power, which is
enough to supply power to 55,000 homes.
3) Google Wave: Was expected to be Google’s next big thing but was scrapped
in 2010
Yahoo!:
1) Yahoo! is working closely together with the two biggest social networks,
Twitter and Facebook, to implement it into their existing web pages, such as
Yahoo! mail, and Yahoo!.com, and Yahoo! Sports. By doing so Yahoo! and
Facebook are rumored to be attempting a “gmail killer” by making Project Titan
Facebook's "full-fledged webmail client," which will virtully eliminate Google’s
gmail if Facebook’s customers follow.
Summary:
The future of Google and Yahoo! is in social media strategies. Google is now
branching off into their own social networking system (Google Buzz) in order to
compete with the already existing Facebook, Twitter, and other micro blogging
websites. Yahoo! however is taking a different approach and has worked closely
with Facebook, and Twitter in order to implement their services into their
websites and gain their customer base.
Employee Growth
Google:
Google hired 2,130 people in their third quarter and now employs almost 16,000
worldwide. It’s very unusual that an amazing 41 % of the company has been
hired in the last 12 months.
Yahoo!:
Yahoo! hired 1,200 people in their third quarter for a total of 13,600 employees.
If we want we can go into detail about their turnover, because the majority of their
CEO's and such have all quit within the resent years?
Summary:
Both Yahoo! and Google seem to have no problem finding people to hire. One
does have to question Google’s hiring strategy in regards to quantity and
possibly turn over rate? It would have to be very hard for Google to train and
manage such a large amount of new employees.
Marketing and Recruiting Strategies
Google:
During the recruitment process Google is specifically looking for future
candidates who are entrepreneur “go-getters”. It is vital that candidates come
from a very strong educational background. It has been reported in the past, that
Google has primarily hired employees who have graduated from Ivy League
Universities or individuals with a 4.0 GPA.
“As Peter Norvig, Director of Google Research, explains: But how do you
maintain the skill level while roughly doubling in size each year? We rely on the
Lake Wobegon Strategy, which says only hire candidates who are above the
mean of your current employees. An alternative strategy (popular in the dot-com
boom period) is to justify a hire by saying “this candidate is clearly better than at
least one of our current employees.”
Google engages in employer branding through their corporate website; they
provide resume prep techniques, and what to expect in an interview. Google’s
recruiting process usually consists of a one or two phone screening interview, an
on-site interview, and an aptitude test, the ‘Google Labs Apptitude Test
(GLAT).’They also give candidates situational and behavioral questions to test
the candidate’s creativity level. Though their recruiting process seems somewhat
normal, it has been known to span over weeks and months due to their HR
departments’ selective selection process.
They try to involve as many departments as possible in their hiring process. By
doing so, they feel that it allows the candidate to have a good understanding
about the organizations values and culture. This also allows the candidates to
have an idea of what kind of people they are working with.
“In late 2005, Dr. John Sullivan, a human resources expert, reported that 350
people
at Google were dedicated to recruitment. With 5,000 employees at the time, this
meant that 1 in 14 Google employees was working in recruitment. That’s an
extremely high ratio, considering that in traditional companies the ratio is 1
recruitment employee per 100employees.”
This effective selection process is vital for the organization as it has important
strategic significance for the success of this fast-growing company.
Yahoo!:
During the recruitment process Yahoo! is specifically looking for future
candidates who are innovative tech savvy graduates from the best technical
institutes of the World.
Yahoo engages in employer branding by setting a clear impression of their
organization. They achieve this by defining the company culture, career paths
and business prospects through their corporate website. They enhance
involvement by providing personal employee profiles; these third-party sources of
information are titled, ‘My Life at Yahoo. Yahoo’s selection process is divided in
to two sections, technological experts, the non technological. Yahoo also
provides a source of information for student internships.
The technological expert’s recruitment process consists of a written test,
personal interview, programming test, and a HR interview. For the nontechnological, they have to complete a written test (MCQ), a technical interview
and finally a HR interview. Unlike Google, Yahoo’s recruiting process has been
known to be very straight forward and is usually completed in a timely manner. At
Yahoo, when an applicant applies on-line for a position, they are promptly
notified by an automatic-email response confirming that their interest has been
notified.
Both:
Both Yahoo! and Google are known to use online recruiting channels through
their corporate websites to communicate they’re branding with their target
audience as their main recruiting strategy. Online recruiting is highly beneficial for
companies. Both Google and Yahoo! provide information about resume
preparation and interviewing, although Google provides this directly through their
site, and Yahoo! provides a direct link to Monster.ca where the information can
be accessed. Google is more effective because they communicate their criteria
for potential employees, opposed to a general guideline.
Both organizations have job search tools that allow for applicants to search job
openings by location and category.This is very beneficial because these days
many people access the Internet to fill out online applications or post resumes.
This growing trend of job-hunting allows recruiting specialists the advantage of
screening a large pool of candidates, many of which are extremely talented and
qualified.
It appears that both Google and Yahoo! use a multiple-hurdle strategy, they
incorporate a series of successive steps in their selection process. Once an
applicant becomes a candidate, both organizations have a Human Resource
specialist contact the applicant by phone to discuss the position in detail and to
schedule an on-site interview.
Summary:
Both Yahoo! and Google use online recruiting, and similar interview processes.
They also seem to be looking for somewhat similar recruitments; highly educated
individuals. Those Google seems to be the better company, in regards to their
standing and revenue, Yahoo! has seem to have won the recruiting process
because of their organized HR team.
Conclusion:
Google is overall the more successful company because their employees have to
be consistently keeping up with the company’s innovative needs, if they want to
continue to be an employee with Google. If Google believes that its employee are
not keeping up with their standards then they have made it clear that they have
no problem replacing an employee with the newest top graduate from an Ivy
League school. Google’s strategies, which consist of great employee benefits
and high innovative and creative atmosphere, is obviously working for them
because they continue to dominate the online search engine market. Though
when it comes to their other project fields, such as Google Wave, they don’t
seem to have the same results. They have failed at some of their side projects,
but every great entrepreneur needs to fail to succeed.
Yahoo! has a great recruiting strategy and treats their employees with great
respect, but that just does not seem to be enough in the online industry they are
struggling to compete in. They have continued to lose revenue and market share
and if they do not create a competitive advantage soon then Google may force
them out of business. With that said Google, and Yahoo! are two competitive
companies who continue to lead with their innovation and creative ideas.
However Google has taken the next step and has been one of the most
successful companies in the new millennium.