TMCnet News
Google Employees Get Pay Hike as Incentive to Stay By Tammy Wolf TMCnet Copy Editor It will be happy holidays and a very joyful New Year for Google (News - Alert) employees, as they've just been informed that they will be receiving a 10 percent pay hike at the start of 2011.
This is in addition to the $1,000 holiday bonus that Google, Inc.'s 23,000 employees will see in their bank accounts, as announced by Chief Executive Eric Schmidt (News - Alert) in an e-mail, according to the Wall Street Journal. 'We want to make sure that you feel rewarded for your hard work,' Schmidt was quoted as saying. 'We want to continue to attract the best people to Google.'
Schmidt further added the decision was made following company surveys that revealed salary was more significant to Google employees than any other type of pay, including bonuses or equity. In addition, Google will move a portion of employees' bonuses into their base salaries so they can receive some of it in each paycheck.
With several of the search engine giant's top executives recently leaving to join the Facebook (News - Alert) ranks, it seems to be quite a smart incentive in the ongoing 'war for talent' in the Internet industry, said Google CFO Patrick Pichette last month. Roughly 10 percent of Facebook employees are Google veterans.
Lars Rasmussen, the creator of Google Maps and Google Wave, is one of 20 former Google employees to defect to Facebook, bringing years of experience and talent with him. Upon leaving, Google described Rasmussen as an employee who 'made great contributions to Google in innovative products like Google Maps and Google Wave… and was instrumental in starting engineering in the Google Sydney office,' also (reluctantly) wishing him all the best.
With Facebook lurking in the shadows, Google is hoping that its 'competitive compensation plans' will maintain the loyalty of its staff. However, this is not the first time a raise has been instated to retain its staff. After the value of millions of employee stock options were wiped out as Google's share price fell between 2007 and 2009, Google in 2009 repriced the stock options.
Time will only tell if a pay increase is incentive enough for Google workers to stay with the company, or venture over to the 'enemy.'
Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet copy editor. Previously she was assistant to the editor at The Darien Times, a weekly newspaper in Darien, Conn., where she edited submissions, did page layout and design and helped manage the newspaper's website. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Tammy Wolf |