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Google overtakes Facebook in employee satisfaction

Google employees are more satisfied working for the search giant than Facebook employees are working for the social networking giant. This comes after three years of Facebook beating Google.
Written by Emil Protalinski, Contributor

We already know Facebook is stealing employees from everyone and last year it was named the best tech company to work for. This year, Google is king again. After analyzing company reviews by at least 115 employees from each company, career website Glassdoor says Google is now ahead of Facebook once again.

Here are the highlights:

  • Google has overtaken Facebook in employee satisfaction company ratings for the first time in four years. In 2012, Google's company rating reached a 3.9, surpassing Facebook's 3.7 rating. From 2009 through 2011, Facebook received a higher company rating from its employees (2009: 4.4; 2010: 4.7; 2011: 4.2), than Google did from its employees (2009: 3.8; 2010: 3.7; 2011: 4.1). This data is based on at least 10 reviews per year per company, and ratings are based on a 5-point scale where 5=very satisfied, 3=OK, and 1=very dissatisfied.
  • Google CEO Larry Page rates higher than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but just barely. Google employees give Page a 94 percent approval rating, which is slightly higher than what Zuckerberg earned from his own employees: a 92% approval rating. CEO approval ratings are calculated based on at least 100 ratings per CEO after employees answer the question "Do you approve of the way your CEO is leading the company?"
  • More Google employees talk favorably about food/benefits/perks than Facebook employees. Among employees' company reviews on Glassdoor, a larger percentage of Google employees talk about the food as a 'Pro' of working at the company (Facebook: 25 percent of employees, Google: 29 percent). The same happens for benefits (Facebook: 17 percent, Google: 21 percent) and perks (Facebook: 12 percent, Google: 21 percent). When it comes to a favorable opinion on salary and compensation, the social networking giant is just a nose ahead (Facebook: 10 percent, Google: 9 percent).
  • Long hours and work/life balance are the biggest downsides of working at Facebook. More Facebook employees mention long working hours as a 'Con' than Google employees (Facebook: 9 percent, Google: 3 percent). Then again, more Google employees cite politics and stress as 'Cons' over Facebook employees.

If you prefer the more visual version, here's an infographic:

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