“Don’t Be Evil”: Google’s company values in the spotlight

Known as the king of search engines, Google is the most widely used platform for finding information on the internet.

But beyond being a search engine, the tech giant has expanded its influence through an array of products and services, including digital advertising, cloud computing, mobile technology and artificial intelligence.

Google lives by the core values of innovation, user focus, transparency, accessibility, communication and continuous learning. Its infamous “Don’t Be Evil” motto was also a part of its code of conduct, though this would later spark significant controversies.

We explore the story behind Google’s mission, how it lives by its values, and how these values are reflected in its organisational culture.

The origin of Google’s mission

Despite Google’s obvious prominence and having nearly 92% of the global market share today, it wasn’t the first search engine invented.

Archie (short for “archives”) was the first search engine created in 1990 for File Transfer Protocol (FTP), before the introduction of the world wide web. Other search engines soon followed in the coming years, including AltaVista and Yahoo! – laying the groundwork for the development of more sophisticated technologies and ultimately Google’s emergence as a dominant force in the search industry.

Google came into the picture in 1998, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were PhD students at Stanford University at the time. The company’s original mission statement was to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

In 2014, Page commented that Google had “outgrown” this statement, though he wasn’t sure how to redefine it. However, after the creation of Google’s new holding company Alphabet Inc. in 2015, the company retained its original statement while embracing a new range of philosophies for its other ventures.

Google’s expansion into new technologies and industries

Google was already considered the top search engine by the 2000s, with its market share already surpassing 90% by the end of 2002. Even so, the company was exploring ways to break into new markets and expand its offerings. These include:

• Gmail: Developed by engineer Paul Buchheit originally under the name “Caribou”, before its release in 2004 and initially available only through an invite system, Gmail quickly attracted attention due to its considerable storage space and ability to find emails through its search function. Its redesigned interface between 2011-2013 would also improve usability and introduce features like “priority inbox”, which used algorithms to help users manage important emails more effectively.
• Google Maps: Starting as an internal project, Google Maps was launched as a web-based service in 2005 – featuring a simple interface that allowed users to view maps, search for locations and get directions. Its Street View feature was groundbreaking for allowing users to see panoramic, street-level images captured by Google’s camera-equipped vehicles and its release for iOS replaced the default Apple Maps app on iPhones and iPad devices.
• Google Chrome: Google Chrome was released for Windows XP and Vista in 2008 and introduced a minimalist interface designed to maximise browsing space and emphasise speed and security. By 2012, Chrome had over 29% of the browser market share, while the release of Chromebooks and laptops running Chrome OS further expanded its reach. The browser underwent performance improvements in 2021 with the introduction of features such as “Live Caption”, which provides real-time captions for audio and video content.
• Google+: To rival social networking platforms like Facebook, Google+ was launched in 2011, allowing users to create profiles, share content and connect with friends. Its main features included Circles for organising contacts, Sparks for discovering content and Hangouts for video chats. However, the platform struggled with user engagement and faced criticism after “forced” integration with other Google services (eg YouTube and Gmail) and a significant security vulnerability of users’ personal data, before discontinuing in 2019.
• Gemini: Google Gemini, formerly known as Bard, was designed to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, providing more sophisticated language models and capabilities with aims to improve contextual understanding, generate more accurate responses and integrate with Google’s suite of products and services. Gemini began gaining traction in early 2024, through applications like chatbots, virtual assistants and content generation tools. These advanced capabilities allow for more complex interactions, improving the performance of AI-driven applications across Google’s ecosystem.

How Google lives by its core values

The company lives by its values through various practices and initiatives that align with its commitment to innovation, communication and transparency, among others. Its specific values and principles are:

• Great isn’t good enough
• Focus on the user, everything else will follow
• It’s best to do one thing really well
• Fast is better than slow
• Democracy on the web works
• You can make money without doing evil
• There’s always more information
• The need for information crosses all borders
• You can be serious without a suit
• You don’t need to be at your desk

There are several ways Google embeds its core values into its operations and organisational culture, including:

• Encouraging innovation: Part of Google’s exemplary company culture is how it promotes creativity and experimentation by allowing employees to spend dedicated time on projects outside their regular duties. This is known as “20% time”, which has led to the creation of many successful products, such as Gmail, Google News and AdSense.
• Focusing on user experience: This involves regularly conducting user research and testing to understand customer needs better and improve its products accordingly. The company actively seeks out feedback from users to refine and enhance its services.
• Maintaining transparency and ethical practices: Google publishes regular reports on data privacy, security and government requests, maintaining an open dialogue about its operations. Its business integrity is also manifested in its corporate ethos, such as its Ethics & Integrity department and Office of Compliance and Integrity, ensuring that all businesses adhere to the highest ethical standards.
• Fostering accessibility: Google has developed products that are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, such as its assistant voice typing and live captions. These features are integrated into its services and work to make the internet more inclusive through these initiatives.
• Promoting a collaborative work environment: Another part of Google’s company culture is encouraging open communication and teamwork among its employees. This is established through its effective meetings, adopting an open-door policy for employees to speak up and involving employees in decision-making.
• Supporting continuous learning: Google’s benefits and perks include offering employees a range of professional development programmes, courses and workshops. The company also supports broader education initiatives, such as free online courses to help people develop new skills.
• Advocating for open information: The company supports the principle of an open internet. For example, its Google Take Action platform is designed to raise awareness and rally support around topics that impact the open internet, digital privacy and freedom of expression. It also helped to defeat a United Nations (UN) proposal that threatened free speech online.

The demise of Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto

“Don’t Be Evil” was one of Google’s most famous core values used in its corporate code of conduct. While it isn’t clear who first suggested the motto, many speculate that it either came from Paul Buchheit or Google engineer Amit Patel in the early 2000s.

At the time, Buccheit said that he “wanted to create something that, once you put it there, would be hard to take out”. He added that the motto was “also a bit of a jab at a lot of the other companies, especially our competitors, who at the time, in our opinion, were kind of exploiting the users to some extent”.

The mantra remained part of Google’s corporate ethos for many years until it was quietly removed in 2018. All that remained was in the final line of its code of conduct: “And remember…don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!”.

While this removal could be interpreted as a change in priorities, Google also faced criticism for this phrase, especially in light of some of the company’s controversial decisions and practices.

Privacy and antitrust concerns

Google’s collection of user data has raised concerns about privacy violations, with critics arguing that the company gathers an excessive amount of personal information, often without explicit user consent. These concerns are heightened by the fact that Google uses this data for targeted advertising and other commercial purposes, which can be seen as intrusive and a potential misuse of trust.

The company also has access to a user’s location, which it can track through their device’s GPS or IP address. Moreover, its partnerships and agreements with various third-party companies allow Google to collect additional data points, such as browsing history, app usage and purchase behaviour. This means that even if a user doesn’t directly use Google services, their data might still be shared with other companies without them knowing.

Google has faced different lawsuits over the years, including privacy issues and antitrust violations. For example:

• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Lawsuit (2023): The DOJ filed a lawsuit against Google in 2023, alleging that the company monopolised various digital advertising technology products, known as the “ad tech stack” – a set of tools and platforms that facilitate the buying, selling and placement of digital ads. The complaint accused Google of dominating the market for these tools, making it difficult for other companies to compete. It also argues that this alleged monopolisation harms the broader Internet ecosystem by reducing competition and limiting diverse ideas, artistic expression, information and services available to the public.
• Google shopping (2017): The EU fined Google €2.42 billion for giving illegal advantages to its own comparison shopping service in search results over rivals. Similar to Amazon’s controversies over its treatment of third-party sellers, The European Commission reported that Google manipulated its search algorithms to prominently display its own shopping service while relegating competing services to lower visibility, in turn stifling competition.
• Android case (2018): Google was fined €4.34 billion by The European Commission for using its Android operating system to reinforce its dominance in search by pre-installing its search engine and Chrome browser on Android devices. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager commented that these practices “denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere”.
• Location tracking (2020): Multiple lawsuits were filed against Google in various US states, accusing the company of illegally tracking users’ locations without proper consent. For example, the state of Arizona accused the company of illegally tracking users’ locations even when they had turned off location services, alleging that Google continued to collect location data through other means, such as its “Web & App Activity” setting. Google settled the case for $85 million in October 2022.
  
• AdSense Case (2019): Just a year after the Android case, The European Commission fined Google €1.49 billion for abusing its market dominance by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites that prevented rivals from placing their search ads on these sites (AKA “anti competitive strategy”). It was ruled that these actions unfairly restricted competition, harmed advertisers and reduced consumer choice by consolidating Google’s control over online ad space.

Google accused of tax evasion

In 2013, Margaret Hodge, chair of the United Kingdom Public Accounts Committee, accused Google of being “calculated and unethical” over its use of strategies to avoid corporation tax owed by its UK operations. Hodge criticised the company for shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, in turn minimising its tax liabilities.

This practice was deemed not only unfair to taxpayers but also undermined the integrity of the tax system. Hodge told Google’s Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, that the company’s behaviour on tax was “devious, calculated, and in my view, unethical”. Referencing Google’s infamous motto, Hodge added: “You are a company that says you ‘do no evil’. And I think you do do evil.”

It was reported that the company had avoided UK tax by channelling non-US sales through Ireland, allowing it to pay rates of 3.2% on non-US profits. Some of these profits were also diverted through Bermuda.

Former employees file lawsuit against the company

In 2021, three former Google employees filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that its “Don’t Be Evil” motto contradicted its actions. They accused Google of breaking its own moral code by firing them after they challenged controversial projects, such as the company’s work for the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during former president Donald Trump’s administration.

The trio organised and rallied other employees against such projects, believing that they were behaving under the “Don’t Be Evil” principle. Google later fired them in 2019 for “clear and repeated violations” of the company’s data security policies, but the ex-employees denied that they had accessed and leaked confidential documents as part of their activism.

“Google realised that ‘don’t be evil’ was both costing it money and driving workers to organise,” the former employees said in a statement. “Rather than admit that their stance had changed and lose the accompanying benefits to the company image, Google fired employees who were living the motto.”

Understanding Google’s internal culture today

Google’s culture is often celebrated as a benchmark for innovation and employee satisfaction, with both its values and culture working together to build creativity, collaboration and a strong sense of purpose among employees.

The company has a favourable “A” rating on Comparably, as well as several awards, including “Best Company for Global Culture” in 2024 and “Best Company for Perks & Benefits” in 2023. Meanwhile, it holds a 4.2-star rating on Glassdoor and a 4.3-star rating on Indeed.

Google’s highly engaged workforce

Google’s mix of adhocracy and clan type culture focuses on innovation, creativity and open communication – fostering a collaborative environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas and work on personal projects.

Open communication is maintained and diverse perspectives are supported through different initiatives, such as employee resource groups (ERGs), diversity and inclusion programs and inclusive policies and practices. Its work environment also promotes employee wellbeing with its unique perks, including on-site health services and student loan reimbursement.

Additionally, Google’s emphasis on flexible work arrangements and professional development opportunities further highlights its commitment to creating a supportive workplace. Its efforts to maintain a fun and engaging atmosphere through features like game rooms and recreational activities also contribute to its positive and productive company culture.

Mass layoffs impact employee morale

Despite Google’s strong reputation for its organisational culture, mass layoffs in early 2024 have skewed morale and the perception of the company’s commitment to wellbeing and stability.

Google announced that it was axing 1,000 jobs at the beginning of the year, with more to come. The company’s Chief Business Officer (CBO), Philipp Schindler, circulated a memo, revealing that “several hundred” workers from its advertising sales team would lose their jobs. It was reported that this was part of a restructuring effort affecting the Large Customer Sales division, which handles advertising for major enterprises. However, other reports suggested that some of the positions being eliminated may be replaced by generative AI systems.

A spokesperson for Google also stated that the job cuts followed the implementation of a “rigorous process to structure our team to provide the best service to our ads customers”., adding that “a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated and impacted employees will be able to apply for open roles on the team or elsewhere at Google.”

Google employees were reportedly unhappy with the announcement, with one employee writing on the company’s internal meme board: “Thank you, our corporate overlords, for our new annual tradition,”.

“We’ve noticed a significant decline in morale, increased distrust and a disconnect between leadership and the workforce,” another employee wrote on an internal forum. “How does leadership plan to address these concerns and regain the trust, morale and cohesion that have been foundational to our company’s success?”

Conclusion

Google’s journey from a simple search engine to a global tech giant reflects its commitment to innovation and its ability to adapt to the evolving digital landscape. Its core values of user focus, transparency and continuous learning have driven the company’s growth and expansion into diverse technological sectors.

However, past controversies, including the removal of its “Don’t Be Evil” motto and mass layoffs have raised questions about its adherence to these values and the impact on its internal culture. While Google continues to lead in technological advancements, it faces continuing scrutiny regarding its ethical practices and employee relations. The balance between maintaining its pioneering spirit and addressing criticism will be crucial for its future success and reputation.