02 November 2010

Google offers home ‘slave’ service amid reports staff fleeing to Facebook


By Maryann Wright
GONE are the days when only celebrities, politicians and royalty had “runners” to take care of menial everyday tasks.
Google is trialling giving its employees the royal treatment in a new bid to ensnare talented engineers in the tight US job market.
Under a pilot scheme, Google employees in five major US cities recently had access to free slave-like “runners” through online service TaskRabbit who complete odd jobs such as “clean house”, “patrol poop for small dogs”, “help move office furniture and supplies from one room … to another”, and “cook dinner for 2”.
Prices for tasks can range from $14 to drop off three bags of ice to a nearby location, $37 to pick up blank skateboard decks from a skateboard shop, to the pricier $120 to pull up and dispose of approximately 110 square foot of carpeting.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the perk, but told news.com.au Google had no current plans to extend it.
TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque told technology site Gawker their “sponsored service” could help Google employees achieve a work-life balance.
Google was once again recognised for looking after its employees, making the top spot in the top 10 employer list by Insync Surveys this month.
“It is a competitive market to keep employees happy, and TaskRabbit as a perk helps to differentiate one work environment from another,” Ms Busque said.
Google is thought to have trialled the perk in an attempt to keep current programmers and attract new staff after tech companies have suffered a shortage of programmers in recent months.
Online job search engine Indeed.com found that IT job postings were up 60 per cent since September 2009 in the US.
More so, Google have to keep up with stiff competition from rival companies.
Earlier in September, blog TechCrunch revealed that “sources close to Google” said around 80 per cent of Google employees had been poached by Facebook.
That includes Facebook’s most recent scalp, Australian co-founder of Google Maps, Lars Rasmussen.
Mr Rasmussen left Google’s Sydney office on Friday, bound for San Francisco, telling the Sydney Morning Herald it “can be very challenging to be working in a company the size of Google”.
One Google developer was reportedly offered a 15 per cent raise on his $US150,000 ($153,700) salary and a $US500,000 signing bonus to stay for a year by Google but he still took the offer to work at Facebook.
Tiffany Watson Comment
I’m not sure what to expect next, I am thinking that I should start by asking my employer to start offering this. Oh thats right it’s my husband. Well he does do much of the house work, so I’m not going to complain.
As far as expecting things in the future, I do wonder of any of the Australian employers are offering incentives. If you know of or are one of these employees being offered great deals from work please comment and let us know what they are.
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