Google gives all its staff a 10pc pay rise
GOOGLE is handing all of its employees a 10 per cent pay rise and a pre-Christmas bonus of $1,000 in a move that will cost the search giant a reported $1bn a year.
Employees received the news in an internal memo emailed to staff from Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt. Tax on the “holiday cash bonus” will also be paid for by Google.
“While we don’t typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company,” a Google spokesman said in an email.
The news suggests Google is in strong health as a company – it recruited 1,500 staff in the three months to September.
But it also suggests that it is taking fears over staff attrition in Silicon Valley seriously – particularly against main rival Facebook.
The company’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette talked about the Internet industry’s “war for talent” when presenting bullish third quarter financial results last month.
In 2009, Google repriced millions of employee stock options whose value had been wiped out.