by laszlo bock

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We spend more time working thandoing anything else in our lives.

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But for most of the four billion of us with jobs, work is just a meansto an end. Or worse, it’s a downright miserable experience.

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# W O R K R U L E S | W O R K R U L E S . N E T

It doesn’t have to—and shouldn’t—be this way.After I arrived at Google in 2006, I began

to notice places that took a better approach.

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Companies like Wegmans, Brandix, and Costco put their people first. Maybe it waspossible to build a great business while also treating people really, really well.

Maybe we just had to do things differently.

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Larry and Sergey, for example, founded Google with a strongvision about the kind of company they wanted to create.

Google operates on the belief that people are fundamentally good.

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As head of People Operations, my job is to find and growour employees, self-dubbed “Googlers,” and keep them happy.

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So far, the effects of this philosophy are promising.

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Google is not alone when it comes to being a greatplace to work. Lots of other companies and researchers

are doing things to make work better for people.

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burnafter

reading

Anyone can replicate this approach, and I’ll gladlyshare some of the science and experiences that have

helped us get where we are today.

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# W O R K R U L E S | W O R K R U L E S . N E T

Culture underpins everything we do at Google.

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It’s easy to think culture is what you see on the surface. That bean bagsand lava lamps, along with our profit margins, are the secret to our success.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

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03

02

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There are three defining aspects of Google’s culture:finding a compelling mission, being transparent, and giving our people a voice.

(All of these are free!)

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# W O R K R U L E S | W O R K R U L E S . N E T

If you want to attract the most talented people on the planet, you need tocraft a goal that inspires them. Amy Wrzesniewski (Yale), Adam Grant (Wharton),

and others have shown this increases both productivity and happiness.

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Be transparent. Encourage people to think and act like owners.You’ll be surprised what people can do when you simply trust them

to do the right thing.

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MIT’s Richard Locke compared two garment plants in Mexico, one tightly controlledand another that was self-run by workers. Not only were the workers with morefreedom more productive, they also earned higher wages and had lower costs.

Dr. Kamal Birdi studied productivity at 308 companies and found the same thing.# W O R K R U L E S | W O R K R U L E S . N E T

To find the best people, you have to be willing to wait. A bad hire can be toxic.Set the bar high, never compromise on quality, and find someone who is better

than you in some meaningful way. You’ll end up with a much stronger team.

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Separate conversations about rewards from conversationsabout development. Combining the two kills learning.

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In 1969, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan found that attaching incentivesto tasks reduced intrinsic motivation, leading to less time and effort spent

completing them, especially when those incentives were later removed.

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Don’t surprise people. Tell them if they’re low performers and help them learn or find new roles—people need to know how they’re doing in order to grow. Put your best

people under a microscope to find out—and replicate—what makes them succeed.

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The most meaningful things you can do for your employees are free,or close to it. Save your biggest checks for when they need it most.

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Brandix, a Sri Lankan clothing manufacturer, provides its mostly femaleworkforce with supplemental food and medicine when they’re pregnant.

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Your best people are worth far, far more than your average people.Make sure they feel it. Otherwise you’re just giving them a reason to quit.

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Small signals can cause large changes in behavior.

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Often times, nudges are surprisingly simple. Between 2007 and 2008,Atul Gawande had eight hospitals around the world start using a safety checklist

before performing surgery. The rate of patient deaths dropped by almost half.

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Human beings are complicated, thorny, and messy. You’re never going toplease everyone, but don’t let that prevent you from trying new things. Tell people

around you that you’re going to be experimenting to balance expectations.

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start

finish

Don’t rush to do everything at once. Building a great culture andenvironment requires constant learning, experimentation, and renewal.

But it’s worth it.

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# W O R K R U L E S | W O R K R U L E S . N E T

more!more!

These were just some of the bigger lessons we’ve learned over the years.I have a lot more to share—from interview questions to fixing performance

management to how nudges helped me lose 30 pounds—you can read aboutthe solutions to more specific problems in the book.

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work ruleswork rules

work suckswork sucks

do nothingdo something

I can’t be the only person who’s ever thought, “work sucks.”And I definitely am not the only person who’s ever done

something about it.

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Technology has made it easier to try new things and share what’s effective,giving us an unprecedented opportunity to change the meaning of work.

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So go experiment with something newwhen it comes to how you work.

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Then it’s your turn to share what you know. If enough of us try,maybe we’ll have a shot at making work more meaningful for

everyone in the world.

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