Why Google's workplaces make other office workers envious
Google's Kitchener, Ont., is the latest office to offer staff a variety of benefits, from a cafeteria with free food to a climbing gym for keeping fit.
Google's Kitchener, Ont., latest to offer staff a variety of benefits
CBC News ·
Google's new Canadian engineering headquarters is in Kitchener, Ont. (Peter Power/Reuters)
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Google officially opened the new headquarters for its Canadian engineering and development team on Jan. 15, 2016. The new office, located in Kitchener, Ont., features everything from micro kitchens offering snacks around the clock to a climbing wall. The building's amenities rival those of Google's other offices around the world.
Not many offices have a Blue Library. With a secret passage.
The blue library at Google Canada's headquarters features a secret door and workspace if you need some privacy. To access the secret room, you have to pull a particular book off the shelf.
Google's Kitchener office includes a Blue Library. (Amanda Grant/CBC)
Few offices let you play a quick round of rooftop mini-putt.
Google employee Andrea Janus demonstrates the use of the mini putt green on the rooftop of Google's Toronto office. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
Or offer a music room, where you can play DJ.
Google's office in Toronto has a music room. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
You can work in a cool bean bag chair.
Google's Los Angeles, Calif., office is located near Venice Beach. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
Or have a glass of juice in a conference room named after a local dance club.
Google's Berlin office has a conference room named Cookies, named after a local dance club. (Adam Berry/Getty)
Employees dine for free.
A full-service cafeteria with free food keeps Google staffers in Kitchener going through the day. (Amanda Grant/CBC)
And can use a gym with an exercise cycle that powers a fruit smoothie blender.
A view of the employee gym at the Google office in Toronto. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
Some Google offices let you climb their walls...
Google employee Dalya Gershtein, left, works out at the gym at Google's Kitchener office. (Peter Power/Reuters)
...Or drop in on colleagues.
Google's tech centre in Zurich, Switzerland. (Google/AP)
At one of Google's California offices you can hang 10.
Surfboards lean against a wall at the Google office in Santa Monica, Calif. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
Google lets you bring your dog to work...
An employee shares a moment with his dog in his office in Mountain View, Calif. (Erin Siegal/Reuters)
...Though some people prefer other pets.
The Google offices in downtown San Francisco are decorated with a safari theme. (Erin Siegal/Reuters)
Google also lets you have quiet time alone...
An employee takes a nap in a nap pod which blocks out light and sound at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. (Erin Siegal/Reuters)
....Or with colleagues.
Pods are used for meetings at the new Google European tech center in Zurich. (Google/AP)
One of its buildings is designed by famous architect Frank Gehry, with sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
Google's office in Venice, Calif. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
