Google employees are not satisfied with their salary, leaders act unexpectedly

Google hopes to make its performance reviews less burdensome for employees, by making it only once a year instead of twice a year, requiring less paperwork, and changing the way employees are evaluated, according to a report from The Information.

Specifically, Google is overhauling its performance review process, making changes that will lead to a raise in pay, as the company tries to ease tension between employees and management over compensation.

Starting this week, Google will use a new process for performance reviews called GRAD, which stands for Google Reviews and Development. According to internal documents reviewed by CNBC, it’s part of an effort to streamline the review process, limit it to once a year instead of twice, and put the responsibility in the hands of regulators. rather than relying heavily on peer reviews.

“Under this new process, we expect the majority of Googlers to be paid more than under the old Perf system, and that the total amount paid will also increase,” one of the documents revealed. said.

Google Search boss Prabhakar Raghavan reiterated that point at the company’s town hall meeting on May 6, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity because of the information. Trust is secret.

A Google spokesperson said in an email that the company “has nothing else to share” right now.

Originally, employee pay is a sensitive topic at Google. In the annual “Googlegeist” survey, which CEO Sundar Pichai considers a key indicator of employee satisfaction, employees gave Google a particularly poor score for compensation compared to pay. for similar jobs at other companies. Employees also downgraded Google’s ratings during performance reviews and career development opportunities at the company.

The survey’s results were released in March and highlight the challenges Google faces from “Major Resignations,” with employees leaving at a record rate, while companies Other big technologies are also trying to attract talent.

Googlers have expressed their concerns directly to management, not just in the annual survey. At a December 2021 plenary meeting, Frank Wagner, Google’s vice president of compensation, answered questions about whether the company would raise wages to tackle soaring inflation, particularly especially when Google’s revenue has exploded during the pandemic.

Google is currently making fundamental changes to the way workers are paid and promoted. As part of the new GRAD system, promotions will be primarily determined by management rather than by a group of managers and peers. However, employees can still ask for a promotion twice a year, the documents show.

How to get promoted

The company is also breaking the long-standing habit of packages advertisement verbose candidate information, these are lengthy forms that employees need to fill out that include reviews from bosses and co-workers.

In March, Google said it would try to make changes to its longstanding “finishing” process, which has been replicated at other companies in the industry. Information previously reported some details of the performance review changes.

As part of the new system, Google employees will receive a new tool to set expectations for goals and key results (OKRs) as they are known. Employees will also be “checked in regularly” with their manager each quarter to discuss career growth among other things, the documents say, addressing a central worker complaint. .

For employee ratings, Google will introduce a new scale with five different levels.

There is also a new specialized system. In it, an employee’s manager completes a form assessing whether the employee has demonstrated the skills needed for promotion.

“Google employees will then be considered for a promotion if they demonstrate signals of success at that job level,” the company said.

This is not necessarily how many other rating systems work. For example, Microsoft used to use a “stacked” rating system, in which management had to designate a specific number of employees as overworked and underperforming. At the time, former employees said it made their jobs feel like competition; Instead of focusing on what will make the best product, they have to focus on what will make them look their best compared to their peers. Microsoft overhauled its performance review system in 2013, removing ratings so it could focus on impact and growth.

There are also more extreme systems. In 2021, it was reported that Amazon aims to eliminate about 6% of employees each year through a system of unclear performance improvement plans. Employees said they were not told they would have to improve if they wanted to stay with the company.