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Updated August 13, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Aug. 14, 1945, President Truman announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
On Aug. 14, 1886, Arthur J. Dempster, the American physicist who built the first device for measuring charged particles, was born. Following his death on March 11, 1950, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1848 The Oregon Territory was established. 1900 International forces entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreigners. 1917 China declared war on Germany and Austria during World War I. 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression. 1945 President Harry S. Truman announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II. 1947 Pakistan became independent of British rule. 1969 British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics. 1973 U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt. 1980 Workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland – a job action that resulted in the creation of the Solidarity labor movement. 1980 President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale were nominated for a second term at the Democratic National Convention in New York. 1996 The Republican National Convention in San Diego nominated Bob Dole for president and Jack Kemp for vice president. 1997 An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. 2003 A blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power. 2006 Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people. 2009 Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a Charles Manson follower who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, was released from a Texas prison hospital after more than three decades behind bars. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Halle Berry turns 46 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actress Mila Kunis turns 29 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1925 Russell Baker, Newspaper columnist, turns 87 1930 Earl Weaver, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 82 1938 Dash Crofts, Singer (Seals and Crofts), turns 74 1941 David Crosby, Rock singer, musician (Crosby, Stills and Nash), turns 71 1945 Steve Martin, Actor, comedian, turns 67 1946 Susan Saint James, Actress (“Kate and Allie,” “McMillan and Wife”), turns 66 1947 Danielle Steel, Author, turns 65 1950 Gary Larson, Cartoonist (“Far Side”), turns 62 1959 Magic Johnson, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 53 1959 Marcia Gay Harden, Actress, turns 53 1960 Sarah Brightman, Singer, turns 52 1961 Susan Olsen, Actress (“The Brady Bunch”), turns 51 1968 Catherine Bell, Actress (“Army Wives,” “JAG”), turns 44 1987 Tim Tebow, Football player, turns 25
Historic Birthdays
Arthur J. Dempster 8/14/1886 – 3/11/1950 American physicist, inventor of the first mass spectrometer.Go to obituary »
70 Paolo Sarpi 8/14/1552 – 1/14/1623
Venetian patriot and scholar81 Cosimo III 8/14/1642 – 10/31/1723
Italian – 6th duke of Tuscany36 Letitia Landon 8/14/1802 – 10/15/1838
English poet and novelist86 Ernest Thompson Seton 8/14/1860 – 10/23/1946
British/Canadian naturalist and writer; helped found the Boy Scouts of America77 Ernest Thayer 8/14/1863 – 8/21/1940
American writer; wrote “Casey at the Bat”65 John Galsworthy 8/14/1867 – 1/31/1933
English Nobel Prize-winning novelist and playwright (1932)86 Daniel Jackling 8/14/1869 – 3/13/1956
American mining engineer and metallurgist79 Eduardo Mallea 8/14/1903 – 11/12/1982
Argentine novelist, essayist and short-story writer85 Pierre Schaeffer 8/14/1910 – 8/19/1995
French composer, acoustician and electronics engineer77 Max Klein 8/14/1915 – 5/20/1993
American painter; invented “paint by numbers”
It’s no surprise that the employee benefits of Google are among the best in the land—free haircuts, gourmet food, on-site doctors and high-tech “cleansing” toilets are among the most talked-about—but in a rare interview with Chief People Officer Laszlo Bock I discovered that the latest perk for Googlers extends into the afterlife.
“This might sound ridiculous,” Bock told me recently in a conversation on the ever-evolving benefits at Google, “But we’ve announced death benefits at Google.” We were scheduled for a talk on Google’s widening age-gap (the oldest Googler is currently 83); I wanted to know how child- and healthcare benefits have evolved as the company has scaled.
Instead, Bock, who joined the company in 2006 after a stint with General Electric, blew me away by disclosing a never-before-made-public-perk: Should a U.S. Googler pass away while under the employ of the 14-year old search giant, their surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a check for 50% of their salary every year for the next decade. Even more surprising, a Google spokesperson confirms that there’s “no tenure requirement” for this benefit, meaning most of their 34 thousand Google employees qualify.
“One of the things we realized recently was that one of the harshest but most reliable facts of life is that at some point most of us will be confronted with the death of our partners,” Bock says. “And it’s a horrible, difficult time no matter what, and every time we went through this as a company we tried to find ways to help the surviving spouse of the Googler who’d passed away.” The case-by-case do-goodery was formally implemented in 2011. In addition to the 10-year pay package, surviving spouses will see all stocks vested immediately and any children will receive a $1,000 monthly payment from the company until they reach the age of 19 (or 23 if the child is a full-time student).
What makes the death benefit notable isn’t just its generosity—Google is, of course, far from cash-strapped—but rather that, unlike most employee perks on Google campuses that aim to increase happiness, creativity and productivity, providing death benefits is a no-win for the company. “Obviously there’s no benefit to Google,” Bock concedes. “But it’s important to the company to help our families through this horrific if inevitable life event.”
Google has been anticipating the major life events of their employees since day one. According to Bock, Sergey Brin got the ball rolling when the company had fewer than 100 employees, suggesting that the company could provide a nanny to each working mom or dad on staff. (“Obviously that’s an idea that’s been toned down,” Bock jokes). The company does have on-site child care but has raised its monthly fees significantly in recent years.
In maternity and paternity leave, however, Google benefits are at the head of the pack: according to a company spokesperson, new dads enjoy six weeks of paid leave while moms can take 18 weeks after the birth of a child. (Even better for the cash-strapped new parents: stocks will continue to vest on your leave).
But the link between maternity benefits and retaining employees is clear. According to a 2008 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 60 percent of men and women in the work force have kids under the age of 6, so anticipating their needs can mean keeping new parents on-board and, most importantly, engaged.
“When we think about [employee] needs at Google, we think less about how old you are that we do about your particular cluster of needs,” Bock says. “For someone who fits a certain profile—say, an aging parent to take care of, or kids or grandkids to support–whatever your cluster of needs are, we do our best to discern the best package of perks and programs to meet them.”
Google People experts use three methods to tap into the needs of employees: an annual survey called “Googlegeist” that measures the temperature of employees in every department and analyzes data to identify emerging trends, employee resource groups (read: clubs) where like-minded employees share ideas that are funneled up to HR (Bock says the most active are the “Grayglers,” the self-titled club for over-the-hill Googlers), and email aliases that run the gamut from financial advice to childcare options to café feedback.
Google gets a lot of press for its perks, Bock says, but he’s loath to even use that word. “People say ‘you’re Google, of course you can offer these crazy things,’” but from where Bock sits, it’s not even about the money. “There is, of course, research that show employee benefit programs like ours can improve retention, and appear to improve performance on some level,” he says.
“But it turns out that the reason we’re doing these things for employees is not because it’s important to the business, but simply because it’s the right thing to do. When it comes down to it, it’s better to work for a company who cares about you than a company who doesn’t. And from a company standpoint, that makes it better to care than not to care.”
Updated August 12, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Aug. 13, 1961, Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees.
On Aug. 13, 1899, Alfred Hitchcock, the English movie director of suspense film, was born. Following his death on April 29, 1980, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1521 Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztecs. 1704 The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces. 1899 Movie director Alfred Hitchcock was born in London. 1932 Adolf Hitler rejected the post of vice-chancellor of Germany, saying he was prepared to hold out “for all or nothing.” 1934 The comic strip “Li’l Abner” by Al Capp made its debut. 1942 Walt Disney’s animated feature “Bambi” premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York. 1960 The first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo 1, a balloon satellite. 1981 President Ronald Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions. 1995 Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died of liver cancer at age 63. 2003 Libya agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing. 2004 The 28th summer Olympic games opened in Athens. 2008 American Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals. 2011 Seven people were killed when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair during a powerful storm just before a concert was to begin. 2011 In Republican presidential politics, Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll and Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared his candidacy. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor John Slattery (“Mad Men”) turns 50 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actress (“Entourage,” “L.A. Law”) turns 48 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
1926 Fidel Castro, Former Cuban leader, turns 86 1929 Pat Harrington, Actor (“One Day At A Time”), turns 83 1933 Joycelyn Elders, Former surgeon general, turns 79 1944 Kevin Tighe, Actor (“Emergency”), turns 68 1948 Kathleen Battle, Opera singer, turns 64 1949 Bobby Clarke, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 63 1955 Paul Greengrass, Director, turns 57 1959 Danny Bonaduce, Actor (“The Partridge Family”), turns 53 1961 Sam Champion, TV weatherman (“Good Morning America”), turns 51 1967 Quinn Cummings, Actress, turns 45
Historic Birthdays
Alfred Hitchcock 8/13/1899 – 4/29/1980 English-born motion-picture directorGo to obituary »
78 Salvador Luria 8/13/1912 – 2/6/1991
Italian-born American Nobel-Prize winning biologist (1969)86 Felix Wankel 8/13/1902 – 10/9/1988
German engineer and inventor66 George Luks 8/13/1867 – 10/29/1933
American painter79 Giovanni Agnelli 8/13/1866 – 12/16/1945
Italian industrialist66 Annie Oakley 8/13/1860 – 11/3/1926
American markswoman; starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show81 Felix Adler 8/13/1851 – 4/24/1933
American educator and founder of the Ethical Movement79 Sir George Grove 8/13/1820 – 5/28/1900
English writer of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians75 Lucy Stone 8/13/1818 – 10/18/1893
American pioneer in the women’s rights movement73 Erasmus Bartholin 8/13/1625 – 11/4/1698
Danish physician, mathematician and physicist
