Google’s bench of veteran executives and engineers is deep and packed with familiar faces, and it’s no accident. The Internet company’s obsession with prized engineers and product gurus, and its competitive instinct to keep them away from rivals, means that certain executives can essentially rotate out of an active role for months or even years at a time, often getting paid to wait until the organisation needs them again.Some of those veteran faces are back in the spotlight. Omid Kordestani, Google’s first sales boss, was called back to active duty last year to oversee the business after the abrupt departure of chief business officer Nikesh Arora.Brian McClendon, one of the early forces responsible for the popular maps product, has been in a quiet limbo for more than six months after leaving his post at the helm of the maps team last Fall. McClendon is a “towering figure” within Google and is currently “on the bench” as he figures out his next move, people close to the company say.Meanwhile, Salar Kamangar, one of Google’s first 15 employees and the former head of YouTube, technically has the senior vice president of products title, though his actual role now involves advising CEO Larry Page, according to a recent report on The Information.The bench system is a little discussed but effective strategic tactic in Google’s playbook as the company looks to expand into new markets and to keep an edge over a growing crop of web challengers that are all desperate for seasoned Internet business experts.“It helps keep people off the market. It helps keep the institutional knowledge if you need them back for any reason. And it costs [Google] so little to retain these people rather than to have them leave and start the next Facebook,” says one former Google executive.In some cases, valued execs are given general titles like ‘special advisor.’ In other cases, they are tucked into various parts of the company, often in roles that are not clearly defined or of obvious strategic importance.It’s not unusual for high-level executives to suddenly “go dark,” said another former Google employee, noting the various confidential projects that are always percolating throughout the company. Jeff Huber, who once oversaw the commerce and geo groups, now works in the Google X labs, toiling on undisclosed projects. Some executives are biding their time, waiting for the next interesting opportunity to open up within the company, another source explained.Others are more like emergency assets stored inside a glass case that can be shattered in a pinch. Google’s Jonathan Rosenberg has had various roles since stepping down as head of product in 2011 When he stepped down from his role as head of product in 2011, many insiders and outsiders assumed Rosenberg had left the company for good. In fact, he remained on the Google payroll, retaining his office and administrative assistant, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Rosenberg acted as a behind-thescenes advisor to the team leading Motorola after Google acquired the cell phone maker in 2012. When Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside resigned and took a job at Dropbox in 2014, Google quickly called on Rosenberg to fill the breach, giving the old-hand oversight of day-today management and providing continuity.Rosenberg’s latest assignment is to lead Google’s robotics team, apparently on a temporary basis, after a succession of management changes in the group, according to The Information report.The bench system isn’t reserved for high-level executives. Valued rank and file engineers or business people can also rotate out of active duty says another former Google employee, recalling one colleague who took 6 to 8 months to figure out his next move, all while getting paid. “Google is a very intense place.They realise that everybody at some point burns out and needs to take a break,” the person said, citing the system as an important benefit of Google’s. “How many places can afford to pay people full salaries if they’re not doing a full-time job?” For Google, the value of keeping a collection of proven executives may be best illustrated by Kamangar.One of Google’s first employees who has served as the head of YouTube and is credited with creating Google’s first business plan, Kamangar knows everything about the company, and more importantly, about its mercurial co-founder and CEO Larry Page.He is a Larry Page “translator,” says the former Google executive. He noted that Kamangar can practically predict what Page will say in certain situations and is ideally suited to function as a go-between for Page and the organisation. “Larry will challenge everything, but he will listen to Salar’s arguments with a lot more weight,” the person said.