Dissatisfaction Grows Among Google Employees
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Dissatisfaction Grows Among Google Employees

Photo by:   Mitchell Luo
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Cinthya Alaniz Salazar By Cinthya Alaniz Salazar | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Wed, 03/16/2022 - 16:59

Google’s annual survey indicates that while employees are motivated by a strong association to the company’s mission, they are increasingly dissatisfied by their total compensation and ability to meet career goals. In an increasingly competitive labor market, this indicator is cause for concern and will require immediate redress on behalf of the company, otherwise it risks crippling its growth and innovation.

“We know that our employees have many choices about where they work, so we ensure they are very well compensated. That is why we have always provided top of market compensation across salary, equity, leave and a suite of benefits,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. 

Technology companies across global economies had been grappling with talent scarcity even before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two years they have been pushed to the brink, bearing the brunt of the digital transformation which has left many employees burnt out, as previously reported by MBN. To mitigate these losses US companies are increasingly turning to Mexico to make up for talent shortages, which recently prompted the expansion of recruitment companies Turning and Horton International. In such a market, Google’s talent has the option to leave the company for others that can meet their demands.

Despite claiming to understand their predicament, “Googlegeist”, the company’s 2022 survey indicates otherwise. According to the results, employee concerns are centered primarily on fair compensation, whom overwhelmingly consider their pay packages to be uncompetitive in comparison to what they could find in a similar role elsewhere. Meanwhile, only 46 percent of survey respondents considered their total compensation competitive against similar roles at other companies, down 12 points from last year. Comparatively, the respondents who say their pay is “fair and equitable” rose only slightly to 56 percent, an 8-point drop from the year prior.

Overall, these findings indicate that there is a significant discrepancy between employee’s perception of individual performance to their compensation. A matter that Google executives were confronted with in an all-hands meeting last December after employees cited concerns about rising inflation. Frank Wagner, Vice President of Compensation, Google, said that the company would not be implementing a blanket raise to match inflation. This followed only months after top executives received sizable pay increases after the company joined the US$2 trillion-dollar market cap club. 

On the other hand, Google’s mission received a 90 percent rating, with employees pleased with the company’s ability to deliver on the mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” 

Photo by:   Mitchell Luo

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