Google Could Put Over 10,000 On Notice With Its New Rating SystemGoogle reportedly announced the new rating system this past May.
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In this economy, tech has beenshedding jobsat a breathtaking pace — and a new system of performance reviews at Google is evoking a similar spirit.
Though the tech giant has avoided layoffs so far this year, unlike元, Twitter, and Amazon, it has reportedly introduced a new way of rating employee performance, according toInsiderand的信息rmation.
In May, Google announced a new way of reviewing the performances of its employees, per The Information. It's called GRAD, which stands for "Googler Reviews and Development."
Its structure calls for managers to categorize a larger percentage of their teams as bad apples, Insider reported, per internal documents. Previously, that number was 2%.
Now, it's 6%.
Parent company Alphabet, of Google and YouTube, clocked in at 186,779 employees in itsmost recentearnings report. With the new percentages, over 10,000 people could get labeledas low performers.
Related:Google's CEO Is Asking Employees 3 Simple Questions to Boost Productivity
Like many other companies in its sector, the pandemic acted as a sort of sugar high for the industry and drove break-neck hiring. Google added over 40,000 employees from March 2020 to March 2022.
And investors, (one such typepreviouslycalled for layoffs at the likes of Meta — whichlaidoff 11,000 people in early November) have called for Alphabet to lay people off, Insider noted.
Sir Christopher Hohn of A London-based hedge fund, TCI, which is a significant investor in Google,wrote to Alphabetand said: "The company has too many employees and the cost per employee is too high."
"Management needs to take aggressive action," the letter added.
Under Google's new performance review system, being a low performer now includes being in the bottom two categories, not just one, Insider noted. The penultimate category is "moderate impact" meaning the person "was not consistently at the level/standards expected," in their position.
If a Google manager wants to put you in either bottom two, they have to meet with you in a "support check-in" which has increased of late. Managersalso now haveminimum numbers of these to conduct.
"Performance plans are the next step if folks don't respond to the check-ins," a source told the outlet.
Google told狗万官方via email: "Earlier this year, we launched Googler Reviews and Development (GRAD) to help employee development, coaching, learning and career progression throughout the year. The new system helps establish clear expectations and provide employees with regular feedback on their performance."
It's unclear if this could lead to layoffs of low performers.
This year, Google reportedlyquietlycut people by removing certain projects. In 2008, during the Great Recession, Googlelowered headcount costs in a low-key wayby cutting independent contractors.
