By Lila MacLellan, Quartz,
Google’s data-driven approach has long applied to its own workplaces. It has crafted onboarding and maternity leave practices around insights derived from employee statistics, gathered figures to investigate what makes the best teams, and designed its cafeteria around finely documented observations, like the importance of making dried figs easier to reach than chocolate.
But now it’s supporting an employee-led program for which it is not collecting any metrics whatsoever.
The program is called Blue Dot, and it’s something akin to peer-to-peer counseling, though Google will never call it that—partly because it doesn’t want to suggest that Blue Dot could replace professional therapy or medical care, and because Blue Dot volunteers don’t coach people or even offer opinions. Rather, they practice compassionate listening, promising openness and kindness to co-workers who come to them.
Blue Dot was started by employees, but once it started growing, the benefits department jumped in to put structure around the project and ensure the listeners were given training. That was three years ago; now 400 people are Blue Dot listeners, having completed a 30-minute video course that can be supplemented by workshops for extra development.
Listeners are asked to make themselves available to colleagues who feel like they need an ear for whatever reason. They’re identified by a blue dot sticker on their name tag or laptop. It may sound low-tech, but the sticker works, says Peter Corcoran, a program manager for Google Shopping and previously one of the global leads of the Blue Dot program. “A lot of contact happens organically, where someone will say, I know you’re a listener, do you have five or 10 minutes?” says Corcoran, a former British military officer who lives with PTSD.
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