Wired.com editor Leander Kahney writes up received Google fictions peddled by the search engine's PR division as fact in this month's Wired magazine. Google's employee perks are a common topic in the press, but our readers tell us the reality is far from the earthly paradise Google sells to gullible journalists. Leander makes working at Google seem like heaven:
And today, if Google hasn't made itself a Greenleaf-esque slave to its employees, it's at least a cruise director:
Kahney goes on:
The Mountain View campus is famous for its perks, including in-house masseuses, roller-hockey games, and a cafeteria where employees gobble gourmet vittles for free. What's more, Google's engineers have unprecedented autonomy; they choose which projects they work on and whom they work with. And they are encouraged to allot 20 percent of their work week to pursuing their own software ideas. The result? Products like Gmail and Google News, which began as personal endeavors.
The reality is that only engineers get 20 percent time, and many are pressured by managers not to use it. The result? Gmail and Google News came out years ago, and 20 percent time hasn't resulted in anything meaningful enough to flog to the press since.
(Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma) 
