The Most Attractive Employers in Europe and Worldwide

Challenge, creativity and innovation and a work/life balance

In a broad survey, 170’000 business and engineering/IT students from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, and Belgium weighed in on what companies and employer characteristics they found most attractive.

 

Business students prefer professional training and development; challenging work; and opportunities for international travel/relocation. Also topping the lists are working in a creative and dynamic work environment; having leaders who will support my development and a friendly work environment.

The student’s greatest aversion is to be stuck in a career without development opportunities. 

 

Though work/life balance is at the top of the list of career goals when looking at the global average, there are big differences from market to market. For example, two out of three students in Spain choose work/life balance compared to less than one third in Turkey.

 

For engineering/IT students, innovation is one of the most highly regarded characteristics of an ideal employer. The exception is for Russian students, where financial and market success take precedence. Engineering/IT students in Italy and the Netherlands value challenging work more highly, while Polish and German students are looking for secure employment.

 

In the rankings of the most attractive employers for business- and engineer/IT students in Europe and worldwide, Google tops 3 out of 4. 

 

The company-headquarters – called GooglePlex – is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Mountain View, California and it’s campus and offices are indeed an outstanding place to work at.

 

As you enter the campus, you will find dozens of bikes parked for the convenience of the employees. These are easy-to-operate bikes that have baskets to keep small belongings during the commute while in the campus.

 

The company won’t give an official figure, but estimates there are around 30 different places (called cafes) for employees throughout the campus, and employees can eat at any of them for breakfast, lunch or dinner – free of charge.

 

GooglePlex also offers nap pods for employees to ward off the exhaustion of workload. Located on every floor, these nap pods are designed in a way to provide near-perfect sleep cycles, enabling employees to get refreshed and back to work in a short time. There is no restriction on any employee for allowance to use nap pods during office timings.

 

For reviving the child in you, Google has slides for rolling down floors. Although a very weird addition to the campus, slides help light a subtle spark in every employee while he/she is running up and down floors, as a result of stressful work. Slides enable them to relieve the stress, albeit for just a few seconds. This and many other such things are what Google’s work policy is based on. The focus is on complete employee satisfaction because each one is treated as an equal partner in the company. 

 

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Playground and place of work. Inside GooglePlex in Mountain View

Europe’s Most Attractive Employers

World’s Most Attractive Employers