Google employees quizzed top management on Tuesday after receiving smaller-than-expected pay rises — despite the company reporting a strong performance across services. The matter was brought up on Tuesday during the company’s monthly meeting after receiving a significant number of upvotes.
According to a Business Insider report, top officials explained that some employees in less technical roles had received smaller equity packages this year in order to calibrate pay to local markets. John Casey — the VP for global compensation and benefits — however noted that more than 80% of Googlers saw an year-on-year increase in their 2025 compensation.
The TGIF meetings have changed drastically as the company grew — eventually becoming monthly affairs that focus on product and business strategy. The company now uses an AI tool to summarize queries posed by employees during town hall meetings. A Business Insider report from 2024 however revealed that this new tool tends to ‘soften’ questions into a more palatable format for top leaders before allowing employees an upvote.
Casey also said that the company wanted to pay employees who make an impact and noted that the compensation structure was set up to reward high performers. Compensation packages with Google typically include a base salary and equity awards as well as bonuses in some cases.
According to a Business Insider report from last year, Google had reduced the size of their compensation packages in 2024 — with some employees even seeing a reduction in overall pay. Googlers learn about increases to their existing compensation following the annual performance review. One employee had told the publication at the time that refreshers were noticeably smaller despite a good performance review — with many seeing base pay increases lower than 3%.
The remarks also come mere months after Google CEO Sundar Pichai urged employees to ‘move faster’ and ‘stay scrappy’. The company reportedly views 2025 as a pivotal year — especially for artificial intelligence.
“I think 2025 will be critical. I think it’s really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to be relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefits of this technology and solve real user problems,” CNBC quoted him as saying in mid-December last year.