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# A googol of reasons to work for Google in Santa Monica
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/a-googol-of-reasons-to-work-for-google-in-santa-monica/
- Published: 2008-06-19T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:55:50.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Bring your dog, kayak and dry-cleaning to work*

*By ALICE OLLSTEIN Special to the Daily Press*

ARIZONA AVE One rarely thinks of Google as a corporation staffed by human beings. I myself always pictured a super-computer, a kinder, gentler HAL, churning out the answers to all my queries. Yet on the corner of 6th Street and Arizona Avenue, over 300 engineers, product managers and linguists toil daily to maintain and improve the most popular search engine in the United States.

Having heard that the company’s unofficial mottos include “Don’t be evil” and “Work and play are not mutually exclusive,” I was curious to have a look behind those red, blue, yellow and green letters to see what it is like to work for one of the most employee-friendly businesses on the planet (Fortune Magazine named it the best place to work in 2007).

While I waited in the lobby, I watched a special screen where real-time search terms from all over the US popped up and faded back into cyberspace. I was trying to figure out why someone would Google “icing” instead of using Epicurious, when my guide, product manager Loren Donelson, collected me for the tour.

He explained that the cubicles were arranged in an intricate pattern of clusters, separated by low, glass dividers “for the cross-pollination of ideas.” Some employees sat on chairs, some on beanbags, some on the floor. Giant monitors displayed current weather and Santa Monica traffic, and board games and musical instruments lay around every corner.

“They say an engineer can never be X number of feet away from food,” joked Donelson, as we cruised past a fully stocked barista bar.

Apparently, there is such a thing as a free lunch. And a free dinner. Lunch is catered by Bon Appetit, a food management company with a focus on sustainability, and employees vote on which restaurant to order from for dinner. An on-site nutritionist consults with the Food Committee on meal choices, perhaps to combat the stereotype of the pale, overweight computer programer slogging over the keyboard with a candy bar in hand.

In the dining room I witnessed the fruits of the Green Committee’s labor — reusable plates and silverware replacing their disposable relatives, a poster indicating what can and cannot be recycled and a reminder to buy local produce. Donelson told me that one Googler takes it upon himself to venture every Wednesday to the Downtown Farmers’ Market to buy fresh fruit for the office.

I later learned further evidence of the emphasis on both personal and global health. Not only does the company offer discounted gym memberships to employees, it promotes biking and walking with monetary incentives. In a program born from an employee suggestion, Google pays employees to park if they choose to drive, and for those who don’t, Google hands over what they would have paid for parking.

According to Donelson, this has led to “a huge number of people biking to work,” some on Google’s complimentary fleet of beach cruisers. Spotting a Googler coasting down the bike path with a laptop in the basket is apparently a common sight. One employee even kayaks to work from Marina del Rey.

Employees who live too far to enjoy those methods often carpool or design a route for a company van to take them to the office. If employees have other ideas for helping the planet, they can have all their donations to charity matched by the company.

After arriving at work, attention is paid to their physical and mental health. An entire room is devoted to Pac Man, foosball and Guitar Hero, another to ping pong, and another to pool.

“It’s all about results,” Tom Williams, the site director for the Santa Monica office said. “If you need to walk away from your desk for a minute to be able to focus, go ahead. If you want to play a video game to de-stress, great.A lot of the time, you’re unproductive because you’re stuck, so having fun is really valuable, because it gets you unstuck and helps you meet other people.”

Williams then speculated that the casual, supportive work atmosphere, which includes mentoring for new Googlers, a go-ahead for bringing a dog to work and dry cleaning delivered to your cubicle, functioned as a sort of reward for the “brutal exercise of getting hired.”

During an interview that was part speaking face-to-face with those around me and part talking to an employee in Northern California via video conferencing, I learned that a staple of the Google philosophy is the “20 percent rule,”which mandates that Googlers use one of their five work days to pursue an independent project of their own design.

Company successes such as Gmail and GoogleNews were born from this free time. Smaller, but still effective epiphanies include “testing on the toilet” and “production on the potty,” fliers with tech tips posted in the office bathroom stalls.

“There’s a belief that good ideas can come from anyone,”said Calum Docherty, a Googler from the Mountainview office.

Linguist Gianluca Storto elaborated. “It’s the modus operandi of Google to hire top-tier graduates and let them run free. You’re not expected to stay in one role.You’re expected to be curious.”

You’re also expected to be brilliant. “In college I sometimes stepped into a room and felt like the stupidest one, but those occurrences have increased here,”Storto joked.

Every Friday, the office gathers in a conference room for TGIF. Over pizza and beer, they video-chat with the CEOs of the company, who announce and discuss any new programs or ideas they have been concocting that week. Any employee at any level can grill the CEOs, which is part of what Docherty calls the “open, transparent culture of Google.”

“We believe in accountability, democracy and free food,” he said.

At other times,the same conference room is used for video conferences and live talks with guest speakers, who have ranged from Salman Rushdie to the chefs of the Border Grill to the current presidential candidates. These talks, said Loren, are simply for “expanding the knowledge base” of Google employees.

Several afternoons a week, the chairs are cleared from the room for a free yoga or pilates class to help Googlers stretch their muscles and clear their minds. If a backache persists, an employee can schedule an appointment with the onsite masseuse.

What struck me most was the volunteer culture that had sprung up at the office. “Most people end up giving back,” Williams said. “They like defining a part of what it’s like to work here.”

Storto elaborated on the system of giving. “If someone’s working on a project, they can send messages to the whole company asking for a few hours of help, and people are always willing to jump in and help.”

When asked why, he thought for a minute before answering. “Well if I can do in a few hours what it would take someone else days to do, then everybody is best served by me taking the time. The atmosphere of volunteering sort of rubs off on you here.”

All agreed that this same atmosphere leads to a team of happy and dedicated employees.

“It’s the place where everyone can feel comfortable being themselves,” Williams said. “Whoever you are, you get to be that person at work. It’s something really precious.”

In 2006, the verb,“to google” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, joining brand names like Kleenex, Vaseline and Xerox that have worked their way into the English vernacular. Google, unlike other companies, embraces this phenomenon.

“When people started saying ‘Xerox’ when they meant ‘copy,’ the company fought it, saying they had a trademark on the name,” Donelson said. “But Google is excited about becoming a verb. The best press is free press.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/061908-06_01.jpg)

(Photo: BY ALICE OLLSTEIN Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061908.pdf?ref=smdp.com)