Google offers three main types of variable pay: salary, bonus, and equity. Salary is determined by factors like role, location, and performance targets. Employees can receive salary increases for promotions or role changes. Bonus rewards exceptional annual or quarterly performance. Equity comes in the form of restricted stock units (GSUs) that vest over time, with new employees typically receiving their first grant within a month of starting. Top performers are eligible for merit increases, promotions, and annual equity refresher grants.

1. GOOGLE
ARBAAZ NATHANI

2. TYPES OF VARIABLE PAY OFFERED BY GOOGLE
• Google's compensation structure consists of three key components:
• Salary
• Bonus
• Equity
• These components are the foundation of Google's compensation package and form the pillars
the pillars on which compensation can improve over time. Google operates under a pay for
pay for performance philosophy that rewards top performers. This means top performers are
performers are eligible for merit increases, which are usually awarded through equity refresh
refresh grants and cash bonuses at year end.

3. SALARY
• Salary
• Salary is determined by several factors including:
• External factors: Salary varies by role, level and location, and is dependent on
the cost of labor in a given geographic region.
• Pay targets: Projected amount of pay for top performers determined by job,
location and tenure.

4. • There are two types of salary increases at Google. You may receive a salary
increase if your role changes or if you receive a promotion.
• Promo salary increases: If promoted, pay increases take effect May 1st for those
promoted mid-year and November 1st for those promoted at the end of the year.

5. BONUS
• Bonus is meant to reward exceptional performers measured by their individual contributions for
the past cycle (either yearly or quarterly). Bonus is not guaranteed and may vary year to year.
TVCs (temporary workers, vendors and contractors) are not eligible for bonuses.
• If you are on the company bonus plan (you will be told if you are), your bonus will be based on
your performance for the past year. Bonus is awarded at your manager's discretion, and you
must be employed by Google on December 31st to receive your bonus. Bonuses are prorated if
you were not employed for the full calendar year.
• Similarly, the sales bonus plan rewards performance for the past quarter. Performance is
assessed according to company and team goals, and determines how much bonus you will
receive. You must be employed on the last day of the performance period to receive bonus for
the quarter.

6. EQUITY
• Google equity awards are granted in the form of restricted stock units (GSUs). As
a Noogler (new Google employee), you typically receive your equity grant the first
Wednesday after the first month in which you begin work.
• Your offer letter will give a USD denominated value for the equity award. The
number of GSUs you receive is determined by the following equation:
• Intended value ÷ Conversion price ≈ Number of GSUs

7. • Intended value: USD denominated value
• Conversion price: Average closing price of Alphabet Class C capital Stock in the
month prior to the grant date
• Final number of GSUs is rounded up to the nearest full GSU value

8. • Current Vesting Schedule
• Throughout 2020 and early 2021, Google experimented with different vesting
schedules.
• Traditionally, it vested equally over 4 years (25% each year), however in Summer of
2021, they decided on a new, front-loaded, vesting schedule.
• Most Google offers will have the new vesting schedule of 33/33/22/12.
• Although it may seem like a big dip in years 3-4, we’ve found that Google’s yearly
equity refreshers grant enough to cover the dips in those years. More on that in the
next section.

9. EQUITY REFRESHER GRANT
• Most Googlers are eligible for refresher grants. Managers plan refresher grants at the end of each year
during compensation planning cycles. An algorithm determines the recommended refresh amount,
and managers use their discretion to adjust that amount either up or down. Nooglers are eligible for
refresher grants at the end of their first year, but they rarely receive them as they are still ramping up
and learning their role. Still, you are eligible, and the better you perform, the more likely you are to
receive one.
• Overall, Google rewards top performers with merit pay increases, promotions and refresher equity
grants. The better you perform, the more likely you are to see your effort rewarded in your paycheck.
Good luck!
• Companies vary in their vesting schedules and occasionally update them (Lyft recently did). There's a
lot we covered here. If you need more help, we help people negotiate their Google offers all the time!

10. EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN
• Equity compensation is an employee perk that gives you an ownership stake
in the company once you meet internal vesting requirements. Equity
compensation may include stock options

11. • Employee benefits are one of the best ways to support employees in your company. And
one of the most commonly used employee benefits is equity compensation. Equity
compensation is non-cash pay offered to the employees, in the form of company stock,
representing ownership of the company. And when an employee gets equity as
compensation, it motivates them to work harder in the end. As the employee now owns
shares in the company, the more the company grows, the higher the price of their shares
would be.

12. ABOUT GOOGLE LLC
• Most everyone in the world knows Google. This is because no company arguably
has ever been more responsible for shaping the internet and modern way of life
other than Google. The company started off as a novel search engine and now,
manages eight major product lines with more than 1 billion users each.

13. GOOGLE’S EMPLOYEE EQUITY SCHEME – GOOGLE
STOCK UNITS (GSU)
• Google is well-known for its employee engagement, its ability to attract the best
talent and retain them in the industry along with their ability to offer continued
support to their employees’ success. One such benefit offered are Google
employee equity plans, Google Stock Units (GSUs).

14. WHY USE EQVISTA TO MANAGE YOUR EMPLOYEE
EQUITY PLANS?
• With all this said, you too can take your company to reach greater heights by
making the right decisions and offering the best equity plans to your employees.
Happy employees always create a happy and successful company. So start off by
offering better equity plans such as Google stock units. But as you do this,
remember that it is very important to keep track of all the shares in your
company and the best way to do this is by using a power cap table application.

15. FAQ
• Does Google force employees who have offers from Facebook to leave
immediately?
• I can speak to this, as I’m a manager at Google and just a few weeks ago a
googler in our area came in and told us they were accepting an offer from
Facebook.
• We said “bummer”, asked them why, wished them well, worked out a transition
plan on handing-off their current work, and had a good-bye lunch for them on their
final day.
• No, we don’t force them to leave immediately.

16. • What are Google Stock Units for new hires?
• A GSU is basically a free share of stock -- kind of like an option with an exercise price
of $0. They follow a vesting schedule and the number you receive varies widely
depending on role and salary.
• Here's an example of how they might work: you're hired and receive 100 GSUs that
vest over 4 years. Each year, you get 25 of those (and with tax, more like 12-13 each
year) that you're free to sell or hold onto. If you leave the company, you still hold onto
units that have vested but sacrifice any unvested units -- so if you stay for 2 years in
this example, you'd have 50 units vested, another 50 that you sacrificed, and of those
50 that vested, you'd have ~25 shares after tax