“Googlers” & “Proctoids” Swap Jobs To Learn From One Another

A New Odd Couple: Google, P&G Swap Workers to Spur Innovation from the Wall Street Journal reports that Google and Procter & Gamble are engaging in employee swapping. Google is known to have a very relaxed and free work environment, while P&G is known to have a very strict and rigid environment. P&G’s employees often are referred to as “Proctoids” because of the rigid work atmosphere.

So the two companies are teaming up to learn from each other. Or that is how it appears. Two-dozen employees from each company have swapped jobs, sitting in on training programs and staff meetings to learn how each company runs. Is it about learning new management styles from each other? I am not sure.

If you continue reading the story, it seems like Proctor & Gamble is very interesting in learning more about how to leverage online marketing and search marketing to promote their products and brands. At the same time, Google is very interested in seeing Proctor & Gamble shift more of their ad budget, $8.7 billion annually, to search ads. In fact, P&G is known as the world’s largest advertiser and Google really wants more of that pie.

So the intentions behind the employee swap seem to be more about P&G learning about how to use search ads, while Google wants to get a large chunk of P&G’s ad spend. At the same time, maybe Google and P&G will learn a bit from each other on management style.