Last week on our business trip to Silicon Valley we also visited current Google headquarters “Googleplex”. Google is taking quite a big part of Mountain View area in California and is almost like a ‘city’ including city sign named Google showing on the picture below. We got a little bit of the insight of the company and it was an enjoyable experience. Google has a bit of a different spirit as the other companies in the Silicon Valley because of all the colourful buildings, playfulness parks and campuses around it. Google has a variety of facilities offering their employees, such as free gym, massages, nap areas and even their own clinic, where they are also partnering with Harvard Medical school. It feels that Google really offers all the work conditions that people working there could ask for. The company is also very good at motivating people as they offer 20% program to achieve 120% at work for the most ambitious employees. 20% program was created for the people working at Google who want to achieve more, such as get to a higher position, swap to other department or simply collaborate with other departments within the company and fulfil inner self by achieving personal development. “In practice, this means engineers who are especially motivated are free, as at any other job, to use their nights and weekends to do even more work” (here). Which I believe is beneficial for the company as well as for the employee who wants to discover and learn more. At the end of the each project employee can even pitch the idea and if it is successful they also develop it further. One of the most ‘famous’ project created with 20% program was Gmail. Google encourage collaboration between employees and is structured in a way that employee can meet as many people outside their department. What was also very interesting for me is that they developed an app where employees could meet with each other during lunch breaks. This also helps newcomers to not feel isolated and being part of the community. Founders of Google does not lead the company to its traditional management and they understand that the innovation and creativity are the way to move forward. They understand the importance to attract young creative minds. Google also offer transport for their employees by having their own buses so that people who live outside of Silicon Vally can safely come to work.The culture at Google is a place that values curiosity, passion and desire to learn (here).When starting a Google Larry and Sergey’s mission was “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (here). Google organisation structure stands for: open, innovative, smart with emphasis on excellence, hands-on, supports small-company-family rapport (here), which can also be felt when walking through the company and see the way people there work.“Google’s success is linked to the effectiveness of its organisational structure and organisational culture in supporting excellence in innovation..This benefit is manifested in the case of Google’s businesses that continue to expand and prosper” (here). Overall, visiting Google was an eye-opening experience and all the knowledge I have gained through the trip to Silicon Valley will be the drive and further motivation when creating company core values and culture.