在一个周五的下午5点，谷歌(Google)苏黎世工程中心，那曲Heidi歌从扬声器中传了出来。

　　“Hei-diii, Hei-diii, deine Welt sind die Bergen . . . Halaladidi halaladidi . . . ”

　　这曲岳得尔歌表明谷歌“感谢上帝，又到周五了”的周会即将开始——这是数百名软件工程师和技术支持人员聚集到餐厅喝杯啤酒的时候。

　　谷歌这个由来已久的传统，是从这家互联网搜索公司在山景城(MountainView)的美国总部传过来的，是谷歌的一个文化支柱。它一方面是回顾性会议，另一方面是团队建设活动。苏黎世的模式和加利福尼亚一样——但Heidi歌曲则带有地方色彩。

　　现在地方色彩是谷歌越来越渴望加入公司的东西。该公司正在筹备在全欧洲进行一次大范围招聘活动，寻求雇用数千名工程师，以帮助开发出适合美国本土以外市场的产品。

　　这可能是一家美国科技公司在欧洲发起的最大规模的招聘行动之一，显示出当外国企业试图在欧洲大陆成熟、多语种、需求苛刻的市场中建立自身影响力时所面临的问题。

　　谷歌新任欧洲工程业务负责人纳尔逊·马托斯(Nelson Mattos)表示：“欧洲与美国不同，在这里对待某些话题的态度要严肃得多。来自欧洲的工程师将对这些问题更为敏感。”

　　“欧洲没有恰当地看待我们。我们在大举投资，并试图尽可能地多招人，在欧洲开发针对欧洲的产品。我们必须在解释这些方面做得更好才行。”

　　这就是这家通常行动隐秘的公司之所以向英国《金融时报》敞开大门、使其可以接触到谷歌瑞士欧洲工程业务核心信息的原因之一。

　　谷歌正接手位于苏黎世中心地带巨大的Hurlimann酿酒大楼。一旦大楼各部分翻新完毕，工程师们就将入住。每周有20到30个新人开始在这里工作并不稀奇。

　　然而，尽管在整个欧洲大陆有一个50多人组成的团队进行招聘活动，但找到数千名欧洲工程师却非易事。谷歌每两秒钟就能收到一份简历，但招聘人员表示，他们仍很难找到适当的人选，这在一定程度上是因为谷歌拥有一套严格雇用政策的声望。

　　“有一种十分荒诞的说法：进谷歌是不可能的事情，”欧洲招聘经理兰迪·纳福利克(Randy Knaflic)表示，“这在欧洲、中东和非洲特别困难，因为人们没有意识到他们能从事这里实际的开发工作。”

　　因此，谷歌正在针对大学启动扩展项目，提供奖品、研究许可和实习机会，希望能找到有才华的学生。

　　招聘程序十分独特。对应聘者的评判并不只看他们的技术能力，而且还要看他们的“谷歌意识”，这是一种表明愿意团结协作的品质，一种无等级观念的态度和友善，以及其它一些特质。

　　其中某些方面（以及该公司对其搜索法则的保密）可能让谷歌看上去有点像一个教派。

　　例如，听到这么多员工坚称自己对公司非常满意，令人觉得有点反常。斯蒂芬妮·哈南(Stephanie Hannon)是一位美国高级产品经理，她最初在山景城工作，一年前调到苏黎世。在一次15分钟的采访中，她用了20次“幸福”这个词来描述在谷歌的生活。

　　她表示：“此前我在思科(Cisco)工作了6年。那也是一个美妙的公司，但那里的人们就是没有感觉到这里的那种愉快。”

　　为搜索引擎营销公司服务的一位招聘顾问表示：“对于IT行业，这是‘复制娇妻’(Stepford wives——电影名)的边界线。你会想，确实没有冲突吗？——这里根本不存在什么政治吗？”

　　谷歌会照顾日常生活的很多方面。员工享受免费的早餐、午餐和晚餐。交通费可以报销。还提供洗衣服务和上门理发及按摩服务。

　　像所有谷歌办公区域一样，苏黎世的办公室装点着大多是来自宜家(Ikea)的三原色家具。里面有巨大的豆袋（座椅）和一个乐高(Lego)积木搭成的太空船。资深工程师卢克·范·杜吉克(Luuk van Dijk)带着他的斑点狗（达尔马提亚犬）来上班。

　　不过为了这一切，谷歌的雇员需要努力付出。在被问及工作和生活的平衡时，塞缪尔·维德曼(Samuel Widman)表示：“工作就是生活”。他这么说可没有不满的意思。维德曼在以前作为创业者时就常常加班。事实上，自从他去年将自己的地图绘制公司 Endoxon卖给谷歌后，他就并不需要工作了，但他还是来上班。

　　不过，将谷歌的公司文化贬为洗脑可就过于简单化了。软件工程业中一些最出色的人在为谷歌工作，如互联网创始人之一温特·瑟夫(Vint Cerf)。他们有着数十载的从业或从教经验，在他们的年纪，已对自己有了足够的了解，而不至于为几顿免费饭菜所诱惑。

　　对他们来说，这里的吸引力在于有机会与这个领域中最优秀的人共事，以及那个著名的“20%时间”，即谷歌允许自己的工程师利用20%的工作时间来进行自己的项目。

　　苏黎世的工程总监、布朗大学(Brown University)前教授及德国弗劳恩霍夫研究所(Fraunhofer Institute)前所长汤姆斯·霍夫曼(Thomas Hoffmann)表示：“谈到那些豆袋和颜色，我已经不注意它们了。更重要的是它们背后的那些东西——令人放松的无等级文化。我喜欢大学的自由氛围，但我也想获得在现实世界中做一番事业的那种兴奋感。

　　假以时日，谷歌欧洲可能会逐渐形成自己的声音。这里的多数员工工作还未满一年，但蜜月期不可能永远持续下去。随着一些美差与那些能力较差的谷歌员工擦身而过，随着一些人一次又一次地未能登上周五的奖励名单，这个平坦的等级制度可能会开始令人感觉不是那么平坦。

　　到那时，谷歌的欧洲办公室可能不得不更多地自主开发一些让员工们高兴起来的方法。在那之前，还只有靠Heidi歌曲了。



At five o’clock on a Friday afternoon at Google’s engineering centre in Zurich, the Heidi song comes over the loudspeakers.

“Hei-diii, Hei-diii, deine Welt sind die Bergen . . . Halaladidi halaladidi . . . ”

The yodelling is a signal that Google’s weekly “Thank God It’s Friday” meeting is about to begin – time for several hundred software engineers and support staff to collect in the canteen for a beer.

This longstanding Google tradition, brought over from the internet search company’s US headquarters in Mountain View, is a pillar of Google culture. It is part review session and part teambuilding exercise. The format is the same in Zurich as in California – but the Heidi song is a local touch.

Local touches are something Google is increasingly keen to add. The company is staging an enormous recruitment drive across Europe, seeking to hire several thousand engineers to help it create products suited for markets outside the US.

This may be one of the largest hiring exercises by a US technology company in Europe, and illustrates the issues foreign companies face when trying to build a presence among the continent’s mature, multilingual and demanding markets.

“Europe is different from the US and there are certain topics that are taken a lot more seriously here. Engineers from Europe will be more sensitive on these topics,” says Nelson Mattos, Google’s newly appointed head of engineering for Europe.

“We are not seen correctly in Europe. We are investing significantly and are trying to hire as many people as we can to develop products in Europe, for Europe. We have to do a better job at explaining this.”

That is one reason why the normally secretive company has opened its doors to give the Financial Times access to the heart of its European engineering operations in Switzerland.

Google is taking over the huge Hurlimann brewery building in the centre of Zurich. Engineers move in as soon as each section of the building is renovated. It is not unusual to have 20 or 30 new people starting each week.

Finding thousands of European engineers is not an easy task, however, in spite of a team of more than 50 people handling recruitment across the continent. Google receives a résumé every two seconds, but recruitment staff say they still struggle to find the right people, in part because Google has a reputation for having a tough hiring policy.

“There is a big myth that it is impossible to get into Google,” says Randy Knaflic, staffing manager for Europe. “It is especially difficult in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as people don’t realise that they can do the actual development work here.”

Hence the company is initiating outreach programmes to universities, providing awards, research grants and internships in the hope of finding talented students.

The recruitment process is unique. Candidates are judged not just on their technical ability but on their “Googliness”, a quality denoting a willingness to work collaboratively, a non-hierarchical attitude and friendliness, among other traits.

Some of these aspects – and the company’s secrecy over its search algorithms – can make Google feel a little like a cult.

It is unnerving, for instance, to hear so many employees insist on their deep contentment at the company. Stephanie Hannon, an American senior product manager who started at Mountain View but transferred to Zurich a year ago, uses the word “happy” 20 times during a 15-minute interview describing life at Google.

“I worked for Cisco for six years before this. It was also an amazing company but people there just didn’t feel the joy like we do here,” she says.

“It is borderline Stepford wives for the IT industry. You wonder, is there really no conflict – are there no politics at all?” asks a recruitment consultant for search marketing companies.

Google takes care of many aspects of daily life. Employees get a free breakfast, lunch and dinner. Transport is paid for. There is a laundry service and on-site visits from a barber, as well as massages.

The Zurich offices – like all Google premises – are decorated with fun objects in primary colours, mostly from Ikea. There are giant beanbags and a model spaceship made of Lego. One of the senior engineers, Luuk van Dijk, brings his Dalmatian to work.

In exchange for such perks, though, employees are expected to give a lot. Asked about work-life balance, Samuel Widman says: “Work is life.” He does not mean this as a criticism. Mr Widman is a former entrepreneur who has always worked long hours. In fact, since selling Endoxon, his mapping company, to Google last year he does not actually have to work, but does anyway.

It is too simplistic, however, to dismiss the culture as brainwashing. Some of the most impressive people in software engineering work for Google – such as Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet. They have decades of industry experience or university tenure, are old enough to know their own minds and are unlikely to be seduced by a few free meals.

For them the attraction is the opportunity to work with the best in their field, as well as the famous “20 per cent time” that Google allows its engineers to spend pursuing their own projects.

“In terms of the beanbags and colour, I don’t really pay attention to them any more. It is more what is behind them – the non-hierarchical culture where people feel relaxed. I like the free atmosphere of universities but I want the excitement of doing something in the real world,” says Thomas Hoffmann, Zurich’s engineering director and previously a professor at Brown University and director at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute.

In time, Google Europe may develop its own voice. Most staff have yet to complete a full year; the honeymoon is unlikely to last forever. The flat hierarchy may start to feel less flat as plum projects pass the less able Googlers by, and some fail, repeatedly, to make the Friday honour roll.

At that point, the European offices may have to evolve more of their own practices for keeping employees happy. Until then, there is always the Heidi song.