Google’s reputation for being one of the top 100 employers to work for comes as no surprise when you think of all of the perks and comforts afforded to their employees. A fitness center, top notch catering service, free meals and snacks, dry cleaning, and high-end daycare are among the benefits that have been coveted by employees and sources of envy for the rest of us unlucky folk. The company has a perpetually difficult task of maintaining the level of innovation that catapulted them from a garage start-up to a web arbiter, all while keeping their employees healthy and happy. During the last year, Google has actually scaled back on the perks, perhaps a result of tough economic times or the challenge of upholding innovation.

Work hard, play hard is certainly a motto attributable to Google but is creating an environment so desirable that employees don’t want to leave really a good thing? Is working there a veritable professional utopia or is it like working for UNESCO, a golden cage? Regardless, I’d love to work for them in some capacity some day if only to be around others who genuinely love their work, a rarity these days.

Thoughts?