Search Google for the terms “Google” and “free food” and 639,000 hits result. Which is not surprising given that an oft-envied part of the tech titan’s legendarily generous roster of employee perks is high-quality food in unlimited amounts.
Food figured big into the design of Google’s New York offices, 500,000 square feet of work space spread over several floors of a former warehouse that spans a full block in Chelsea. In a space designed to promote collaboration and build community, the numerous “micro-kitchens” — bars stocked with espresso machines (which send spent grounds into a compost bin), energy drinks, nuts, yogurt, chips and other quick bites — are a key ingredient.
“We’re looking at how to bring people together,” says facilities manager Laura Gimpel. “Well, you know how at a party, everyone ends up in the kitchen? We wanted to make it a place to congregate and to bump into people.”
They even keep certain items exclusive to different kitchens, to encourage workers to circulate. And it’s not accidental that the “tech stops” — in-house tech-help centers — sit in the kitchens’ orbit. If you’re getting your laptop fixed, maybe you’ll stop for a cappucino, and maybe while you’re at it you’ll run into someone you’ve been meaning to e-mail. Then maybe you’ll sit and toss ideas around in one of the many “breakout” spaces, which include informal conference rooms, couches and other nooks, generally with a whiteboard not far off.
“Everything is pointing toward talking to people and collaborating,” says communications manager Sean Carlson.
Gimpel speaks in terms of creating “neighborhoods” within the office landscape, and different locales are dubbed with names drawn from the city — you can meet someone at South Street, Lincoln Center or the Cloisters. (Or, in an adjunct space across Ninth Avenue, Ho-ho-kus or the Meadowlands.)
Diversions like pingpong and Xbox are another oft-cited part of the Google environment, and sure enough, there’s an expansive game room where tech geeks can take a “Guitar Hero” break or shoot some pool. And the Google compound communicates fun in any number of other ways — communal scooters used for zipping down the wide hallways, plywood walls covered with graffiti, a wall lined with bins of Legos, a playground slide that links the main level to a gathering space below.
“We’re a creative business,” says Gimpel. “We want employees to walk through the space and be jarred out of their everyday mind-set.”