Google Buses: Consumers Will Notice Responsible Employee Benefits
I just read the article by Miguel Helft in today’s New York Times (reg. required) about how Google has basically formed its own transit service in order to make life for its employees easier and also keep all those extra cars off the road in the Bay area. Now, we all recognize that this is good, responsible corporate citizenship, but is there even more to it?
This Google bus system is a great example of something that will appeal to the more holistic , more feminine brain type of thinking. For the women’s market, it all matters.
Not that anyone would base their opinion or decide to buy/use a product solely on an awareness of this bus system employee benefit. Rather, this perk is more likely to be one of the many smaller aspects of a brand that get noticed and perhaps filed away, but revisited for a future buying decision. All things being equal about a given product/brand in this world of abundance, the little extras and goodwill touches may well sway your customers. Along their buying paths, women may notice such things sooner and remember them more often than men. (But, the extra details are not likely to alienate any of your customers.)
Investing in the environment and in your employees lifestyle may seem like an aside, but it is very, very good business in this day and age.
