Google raises salaries of top brass after 'refusing' to hike workers' pay

After informing employees last month that it wouldn't automatically adjust salaries to account for inflation, Google is giving four of its top-most senior executives a significant pay hike, raising their base salaries from $650,000 to $1 million.

The new pay packages for Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat; senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan (in charge of Google search); senior vice president and chief business officer Philipp Schindler; and Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer, have been disclosed in a latest company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"Effective January 2022, the base salaries of each of Porat, Raghavan, Schindler, and Walker will be increased from $650,000 to $1,000,000," Google said in the filing.

All four executives are eligible to "participate in a maximum $2,000,000 annual bonus programme, based on contributions to Google's performance against social and environmental goals for 2022," according to the filing.

Each person has also been granted stock awards with target values in the millions of dollars.

Porat will be granted one tranche of performance stock units ("PSUs") with a target value of $5,000,000, and one tranche of restricted stock units ("GSUs") in the amount of $18,000,000.

Raghavan will be granted one tranche of PSUs with a target value of $12,000,000, and one tranche of GSUs in the amount of $23,000,000, according to the filing.

While Schindler will be granted one tranche of PSUs with a target value of $12,000,000, and one tranche of GSUs in the amount of $23,000,000, Walker will be granted one tranche of PSUs with a target value of $5,000,000, and one tranche of GSUs in the amount of $18,000,000.

The pay hike for top executives came as a top Google executive said in December that the tech giant would not automatically adjust all employees' salaries to account for inflation.

Google's Vice President of compensation, Frank Wagner, told employees in a meeting that the company does not "have any plans to do any type of across-the-board type adjustment" when asked about the inflation rate in the US, reported CNBC.

"Inflation does seem to be top of mind for a lot of folks, and I think one of the reasons is that people are pretty eager to get their compensation awards," replied Wagner to a question by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

However, Google "won't introduce company-wide adjustments for inflation".

"We don't have any plans to do any type of across-the-board type adjustment," he was quoted as saying in the report.

In a statement, a company spokesperson had said: "Employees receive bonus and equity as part of their total compensation, which also includes generous benefits and flexibility".

Google parent Alphabet has more than 150,000 full-time employees globally, and has seen its revenue and stock soar to record levels over the last year.

--IANS

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