Googler here. Having just returned to the office from my second paternity leave (for which I was granted up to 12 paid weeks plus a small "baby bonding" bonus), I can say that my org, at the very least, has so far been extremely comfortable for raising a family. Like the author points out, Google's a big company and your mileage may vary, but I have found it to be fantastic for me in this regard.

Of course, I originally worked for Amazon.com, so my baseline for a good work/life balance may be skewed, and I don't work in Mountain View, so I can't speak to the culture at headquarters.

Unlike (say) Amazon, Google does not require you to work long hours, and in many teams it's actively discouraged. Now of course you get some competitive types who like to burn the midnight oil in a mostly misguided effort to get promoted, but these are the exception rather than the rule, and Google's promotion processes are explicitly geared to attempt to reward initiative and results, not hours worked.

Disclaimer: I work at Google, pretty much 9 to 5. But it's a huge company and I'm sure you can find pathological microcultures somewhere.

This completely aligns with my experience working at Google. I work roughly a 9-5; most of my coworkers do the same. Sometimes I will read e-mail on my phone and triage it, but I never reply. My laptop comes home with me out of habit but very rarely leaves my messenger bag.

Maintaining healthy work-life balance has also been pushed by the company fairly heavily in my time here. Yes, there are workaholics, but in my experience they are not the norm. Moreover, it doesn't seem to give them an edge over those of us who prefer a saner schedule.

All I had to compare Google to were my limited experiences in the other two. I thought Google was the most laid-back of the three.

No doubt you've heard about dinner cafes opening late to keep employees at their desks, but the reality is that a lot of people's productivity slows down from 5-6 anyway (that was ping pong hour for me). Go! cafe is open all day, and lots of people grab a sandwich before skedaddling at 5pm sharp.

Maybe there's more pressure at some teams to put in more hours. I have no data on that.

I think overall vacation benefits, hours, and pa/maternity leave are slightly better, but I'm not certain.

I also interned there, and my team was working 50ish hour weeks on a relatively flexible schedule (e.g. come in 7am-11am, leave 3pm-7pm). Search-related team. I know some teams might be working far more, but that wasn't common as far as I could tell.