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NDTV
06-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Google Revamps Salary Structure Incentivising Top Performers But There's A Catch
Tech giant Google is revamping its employee performance review process to offer bigger bonuses and equity grants to high-performing staff members. The new compensation structure at Google will take effect in time to influence 2025 end-of-year reviews and 2026 compensation, but there's a catch. In an email to staff, accessed by Business Insider, John Casey, Google's Global Head of Compensation, said the managers would be able to allocate the "Outstanding Impact" score to more employees than previously. "This means more Googlers will have the opportunity to achieve that rating during annual reviews, and their bonus and equity award will be modelled using the O's individual multiplier in 2026," Mr Casey wrote While those with the higher ratings will receive increased payouts, there appears to be a tradeoff -- one that would affect other employees. To support the shift, employees in the "Significant Impact" and "Moderate Impact" brackets will have their usual bonuses and equity slashed. "We want to be upfront that to fund this, we will slightly reduce bonus and equity payouts for those receiving a rating of Significant Impact and Moderate Impact," Mr Casey wrote in the email. "These changes are budget-neutral," he added, "and overall we're continuing to invest in comprehensive and highly competitive compensation and benefits." Notably, Google's internal review system, Google Reviews and Development (GRAD) is used to rate the performance of employees annually. The system categories employees across five tiers, from 'Not Enough Impact' to the top rating of 'Transformative Impact'. Most employees typically receive a 'Significant Impact' score, considered a strong rating. Google orders remote workers to return The fresh compensation structure comes in the backdrop of Google ordering its remote workers to return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being made redundant. The tech giant has told staff members in several units that their roles could be at risk if they do not start reporting to their closest office at least three days a week for a hybrid work schedule. "As we've said before, in-person collaboration is an important part of how we innovate and solve complex problems," a Google spokesperson said. "To support this, some teams have asked remote employees that live near an office to return to in-person work three days a week." Remote employees in Google's Technical Services unit are being offered a one-time paid relocation expense to move within 50 miles of an office.
India Today
05-05-2025
- Business
- India Today
Google changes its appraisal system, some employees could receive smaller bonuses
Google is updating its employee performance evaluation process, with the tech giant introducing changes that could see some workers receiving smaller bonuses and equity packages starting 2026. The company has decided to reward high performers better while tightening compensation for those rated in mid or lower performance bands, according to a report by Business a company-wide email, John Casey, Google's VP of Global Compensation and Benefits, told employees that managers will now be allowed to award the "Outstanding Impact" rating — one of the top performance categories — to a wider group of employees. This move is expected to benefit top performers, who will now be eligible for higher bonuses and stock make this change without increasing the overall budget, Google will reduce the compensation multipliers for employees falling under the "Significant Impact" and "Moderate Impact" brackets — two categories that represent a large portion of the workforce. While Casey clarified that "Significant Impact" remains a strong rating, it will fetch less than what employees in this category might have previously received. "We want to be upfront that to fund this we'll be slightly reducing the bonus and equity individual multipliers for Significant Impact and Moderate Impact ratings. It's important to note that Significant Impact will remain a strong rating — achieving it will still get you more than your target bonus," he the discretionary reward budget that managers use to recognise strong contributors will be increased. This will allow for more flexibility in rewarding staff who are performing well but may not fall into the very top company's internal review system — called Googler Reviews and Development (GRAD) — operates on a scale ranging from "Not Enough Impact" to "Transformative Impact." Until now, very few employees made it to the top two tiers. With the latest change, more employees will have a chance to climb higher up the ladder — but only if they deliver standout says the decision is part of a broader push to drive performance at a time when the company is seeing strong momentum in areas like artificial intelligence and cloud computing. "High performance is more important than ever to meet the ambitious goals we've set," Casey said in the is not surprising because the tech sector overall has been shifting towards a more performance-focused work culture. Companies like Microsoft have introduced new systems to push for greater productivity, while Meta has made job cuts earlier this year to eliminate underperformance.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Google has tweaked employee review system to boost rewards for top performers: Report
Live Events Tech major Google is overhauling its employee performance review process to offer bigger bonuses and equity grants to top performers, while trimming payouts for others, The Times of India (TOI) has report added that the changes, part of a revamp of the 'Googler Reviews and Development' (GRAD) system, aim to allow more staff to qualify for the highest 'Outstanding Impact' rating. 'High performance is more important than ever to achieve the goals we've set,' wrote John Casey, Google's vice president of global compensation and benefits, in the company-wide company said the new system would reward top-rated employees with improved bonus and equity awards starting in 2026. 'More Googlers will have the opportunity to achieve that rating during annual reviews,' Casey fund the enhanced payouts for high performers, Google is reducing the bonus and equity multipliers tied to the 'Significant Impact' and 'Moderate Impact' ratings. However, it stressed that the overhaul is 'budget-neutral' and that those ratings would continue to deliver above-target rewards."We want to be upfront that to fund this we'll be slightly reducing the bonus and equity individual multipliers for Significant Impact and Moderate Impact ratings," Casey told employees, while noting that 'Significant Impact will remain a strong rating.'A Google spokesperson confirmed the changes to TOI, saying they are meant to "further reward top performers and continue our momentum across the company".Meanwhile, a recent proxy filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Google parent Alphabet spent over $8 million (approximately Rs 68 crore) on personal security for chief executive officer Sundar Pichai in 2024, a 22% rise from the Rs 57.48 crore spent the previous year.
Time of India
03-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Google changes its appraisal program, VP emails to employees: "We want to be upfront that..."
Google announced major changes to its employee performance review system that will reward high performers with greater bonuses and equity while reducing compensation for others, according to an internal email sent to staff earlier this week. "High performance is more important than ever to achieve the goals we've set," wrote John Casey, Google's vice president of global compensation and benefits, in the company-wide message. The revisions to Google's annual review process will allow more employees to achieve the coveted "Outstanding Impact" rating. The company is restructuring what it calls the "Googler Reviews and Development" (GRAD) system to "further reward top contributors," Casey explained. The changes mean "more Googlers will have the opportunity to achieve that rating during annual reviews, and their bonus and equity award will be modeled using the O's individual multiplier in 2026." Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini confirmed the changes, stating: "We're making these changes to further reward top performers and continue our momentum across the company." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Neurologists: These Shoes Are the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Body After 60 Foot Insider Learn More Undo However, to fund these increased rewards, Google is "slightly reducing the bonus and equity individual multipliers for Significant Impact and Moderate Impact ratings," according to Casey. The company emphasized these changes are "budget-neutral" overall. "We want to be upfront that to fund this we'll be slightly reducing the bonus and equity individual multipliers for Significant Impact and Moderate Impact ratings," Casey told staff, though he assured them that "Significant Impact will remain a strong rating — achieving it will still get you more than your target bonus." Read Google's compensations head full letter to employees "Hi Googlers, As recent moments like the Gemini 2.5 Pro launch and Cloud Next have shown, there's incredible momentum across the company right now — it's so exciting to see Googlers pull together to deliver on our ambitious product roadmaps. High performance is more important than ever to achieve the goals we've set, and so we're making some changes to further reward top contributors, in all teams across the company. First, we'll increase the ratings distribution guidance we give to leaders for Outstanding Impact (O). This means more Googlers will have the opportunity to achieve that rating during annual reviews, and their bonus and equity award will be modeled using the O's individual multiplier in 2026. Second, we're increasing the discretionary budget we give to managers so they can further reward high performers within the Significant Impact rating. We want to be upfront that to fund this we'll be slightly reducing the bonus and equity individual multipliers for Significant Impact and Moderate Impact ratings. It's important to note that Significant Impact will remain a strong rating — achieving it will still get you more than your target bonus. The above changes are budget-neutral, and overall we're continuing to invest in comprehensive and highly competitive compensation and benefits. These changes apply to the end-of-year reviews and 2026 compensation planning. John Casey" AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
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Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Google revamps salary structure; to boost bonus for top performers
Google is making changes to its compensation structure in a bid to incentivise higher performance from staff. Google is set to shift its compensation strategy to more generously reward high-achieving staff with increased bonuses and equity awards, while scaling back payouts for those with lower ratings, Business Insider reported. The new compensation structure at Google will take effect in time to influence 2025 end-of-year reviews and 2026 compensation. The overhaul was outlined in an internal email titled 'Strengthening our performance culture', sent by John Casey, Google's vice-president of global compensation and benefits, as cited in the report. Casey emphasised the need to align rewards more closely with impact, stating, 'High performance is more important than ever to achieve the goals we've set.' "This means more Googlers will have the opportunity to achieve that rating during annual reviews, and their bonus and equity award will be modelled using the O's individual multiplier in 2026," he wrote in the email, as seen by Business Insider. Google's GRAD employee review system Central to the changes is Google's internal review system, Google Reviews and Development (GRAD), which the tech giant uses once a year to rate the performance of its employees. The system categorises employees across five tiers, from 'Not Enough Impact' to the top rating of 'Transformative Impact'. Most employees typically receive a 'Significant Impact' score, considered a strong rating. The ranking a Google employee is given usually determines their bonus and equity. Under the updated structure, managers will now be able to award the 'Outstanding Impact' rating to a larger number of employees. New budget set aside to reward employees In addition, discretionary budgets for managers will be increased to enable greater rewards for high performers within the 'Significant Impact' bracket. To balance the changes, Google will reduce bonus and equity multipliers slightly for staff rated in the 'Significant Impact' and 'Moderate Impact' tiers. However, Casey assured staff that "Significant Impact will remain a strong rating — achieving it will still get you more than your target bonus". 'These changes are budget-neutral,' he added, 'and overall we're continuing to invest in comprehensive and highly competitive compensation and benefits.' The company is doubling down on rewarding excellence to maintain its growth momentum. The policy shift comes amid a wider trend in the tech industry, with peers such as Microsoft and Meta increasing performance pressure in pursuit of operational efficiency. While Google has not resorted to large-scale layoffs, as seen at Meta, the company is pushing for higher productivity through financial incentives. Also Read:
