Free gourmet meals. Check. Free haircuts. Check. On-site doctors. Check. Death benefits? Check.
Google has recently announced extraordinary death benefits for its US-based employees. According to a report in
Forbes, should a US Googler pass away while working at the company, their surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a check for 50% of their salary every year for the next decade.
According to Google, there's no tenure requirement for the benefit i.e. no "minimum X days at Google" clause associated with it. Further, surviving spouses will see all stocks vested immediately and any children will receive a $1,000 monthly payment from Google until they reach the age of 19 (or 23 if the child is a full-time student).
Speaking to Forbes, Laszlo Bock, Chief People Officer at Google said "One of the things we realised recently was that one of the harshest but most reliable facts of life is that at some point most of us will be confronted with the death of our partners. And it's a horrible, difficult time no matter what, and every time we went through this as a company we tried to find ways to help the surviving spouse of the Googler who'd passed away."
Even for a company that has a reputation of keeping its employees happy, the death benefits are rather extraordinary, given there are no real benefits associated with the move. Perks are great for retaining employees, but, clearly, that's not a motivation for Google in this case.
Bock adds, "It turns out that the reason we're doing these things for employees is not because it's important to the business, but simply because it's the right thing to do. When it comes down to it, it's better to work for a company who cares about you than a company who doesn't. And from a company standpoint, that makes it better to care than not to care."