Google has 186,779 full-time employees as of Q3 2022, a 24% year-on-year (YoY) increase.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — The news of layoffs blows hard at the technology giant company Google. The rumor started with the implementation of a new performance review system in 2023. As cited by CNBC, more employees will likely earn low ratings, making them more at risk for corrective action, including layoffs.
Beforehand, the company released a performance review process, namely Google Reviews and Development (GRAD) in 2022. Through the system, the company will review bonuses, salaries, and equity. In another statement, the company still plans on paying within the top 5-10% of market rates.
Recently, employees have filed complaints regarding GRAD procedures and techniques approaching the year-end deadline. This caused employees to worry that they would not be assessed accurately, coupled with a wave of layoffs that hit the technology industry.
The company might use the new review system to lessen the workforce, some employees believe. Google has 186,779 full-time employees as of Q3 2022, a 24% year-on-year (YoY) increase. As the performance targets set are considered almost impossible to achieve, the number of employees who enter the low-performance rating continues to grow, estimated at 6% or around 11,206 employees.
Preparing for better stormy weather
During an internal meeting in early December, questions abound about year-end performance reviews, including a headcount cut in 2023. However, most executives avoided answering questions directly, according to a voice recording of the meeting obtained by CNBC.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized that he does not know what the future holds. He said, “What we have been trying hard to do is we are trying to prioritize where we can so we are setting up for better weather the storm, regardless of what is ahead.”
Further, the company has been planning multiple strategies for dealing with the storm over the past six to seven months. “We do not know what the future holds so unfortunately I cannot make forward-looking commitments but everything we have been planning on as a company for the past six to seven months has been doing all the hard work to try and work our way through this as best as possible so, that is all I can say,” concluded Sundar.
