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Does your job really suck? Are you working harder, but losing your benefits? Think that it's time for a change? What's the best company to work for in America?

Companies can thank or blame Google, recently named by Fortune as the best company to work for in America, for the renaissance of perks.

The California Internet giant has become the standard bearer: On-site carwash, laundry and dry cleaning services; subsidized exercise classes; five on-site doctors. The company also gives $5,000 to ecologically minded workers who buy a hybrid car.

What makes it so great? Google sets the standard for Silicon Valley: free meals, swimming spa, and free doctors onsite. Engineers can spend 20% of time on independent projects. No wonder Google gets 1,300 résumés a day.

Google runs 11 free gourmet cafeterias at its headquerters in Mountain View, California... and offers all its employees free gourmet meals. A typical Wednesday morning breakfast in Slice Café consists of house-baked spelt bread french toast drizzled with ginger Infused maple syrup and topped with caramelized pinata apples, served with hot coconut-masala muesli, coco-berry granola and crimson gold heirloom apples.

In addition to its cafés, Google has snack rooms which contain various cereals, candy, nuts, yogurt, carrots, fresh fruit and other snacks, and dozens of different drinks including soda and make-your-own cappuccino. Says co-founder Sergey Brin: "The cafés have always been pretty healthy, but the snacks are not, and the efforts to fix that have been remarkably challenging." Though company lore has it that Brin and co-founder Larry Page believe no worker should be more than 150 feet from a food source, clearly not all food is equal. "A lot of people like their M&Ms. But the easy access is actually what's bad for them," he says.

Google operates free, Wi-Fi-enabled shuttle-bus coaches from five Bay Area locations. But workers who drive are not left out. Onsite car washes and oil changes are among the numerous perks Google offers to all its workers. Want to buy a hybrid car? The company will give you $5,000 toward that environmentally friendly end.

Google rewards its employees - handsomely. Naturally you can get haircuts onsite. Care to refer a friend to work at Google? Google would like that too, and it'll give you a $2,000 reward. Just have a new baby? Congratulations! Your employer will reimburse you for up to $500 in takeout food to ease your first four weeks at home.

At Google you can work out in the gym; attend subsidized exercise classes; get a massage; study Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish and French and ask a personal concierge to arrange dinner reservations. Employees can even do laundry for free in company washers and dryers (free detergent too) or drop off dry cleaning.

Though Google almost always wins talent wars with the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo, its twin HR demons are startups and retirement. Take the case of Niniane Wang, a 27-year-old engineer who received a million-dollar founders' award for her work on a program that searches computer desktops. She says she loves Google, puts all headhunter calls on "auto-reject," and isn't thinking about leaving ... but if she did leave, it would be to start her own company.

Then there are those who are coasting, waiting for their stock options to kick in, said to be "resting and vesting." The solution? Google is considering starting a sabbatical program and thinking of new career opportunities within the company for the restless. It has also institutionalized, among other things, a bevy of compensation incentives, founders' awards than can run into millions of dollars, and special bonuses.

Other companies are following Google's lead. PageBites, an Internet company in Silicon Valley, offers new hires a $20,000 signing bonus, for instance. The company even pays job candidates $100 just for interviewing.

But even perks have their limits.

Google's recent Pajama Day apparently drew more yawns than participants.

More info on what it's like to work at Google? Just look here.