Google

As of August 2026, I’d rate Google roughly 8/10 as an employer, with one major caveat: your experience can vary dramatically by team, manager, level, and whether you’re in engineering, Cloud, Ads, sales, operations, etc.

Employee sentiment is still quite strong overall. Glassdoor currently shows Google at 4.4/5, with 87% of employees saying they’d recommend it to a friend. Compensation and benefits score especially well at 4.5/5, while senior management is comparatively weaker at 3.9/5. There is bureaucracy. A recurring complaint is that decisions can involve many approvals, documents, meetings, and stakeholders. Recent employee reviews explicitly mention bureaucracy and seemingly pointless decisions.

Bureaucracy is a recurring complaint because decisions can involve many approvals, documents, meetings, and stakeholders. Recent employee reviews explicitly mention bureaucracy and seemingly pointless decisions.

High expectations. You're surrounded by very capable people, so being "good" elsewhere doesn't automatically make you exceptional at Google. Performance and promotion can feel competitive.