January 23, 2023: Google executives are deferring a portion of employees’ year-end bonus checks, according to records, as the firm moves toward which is pushing back payouts.

In past years, employees received their total bonuses in January. However, the documents say that Google will pay qualifying full-time employees 80% of their bonus amounts and the leftover 20% in March or April.

Google related the January payout as an “advance” in correspondence to employees. The leadership said it would be a one-time change due to the “transition” of its employee-evaluation system and the altered timing for the upcoming bonuses.

“After 2023, full profit will be paid in March,” the company said in the memo.

Following the publication of this story, a Google spokesperson stated, “This one-time 80% bonus advance was extensively communicated to employees and subsequent communications as part of the transition to our recent performance management timeline.”

The delayed payment as Google CEO Sundar Pichai seeks to reel in costs while bypassing mass layoffs. Unlike significant tech peers Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, Google meets Alphabet has thus far skirted huge job cuts and focused instead, which destroys lagging products and groups. The previous week, Alphabet’s Verily health sciences unit stated that it would cut headcount by 15%, accounting for 240 lost jobs. The firm also reduced staff in its robotics unit Intrinsic.

In the latter part of 2022, Alphabet cancelled the coming generation of its Google Pixelbook laptop, cutting funding to its Area 120 in-house incubator and said it would shut its digital gaming service Stadia. Pichai said he wanted to make the firm 20% more efficient in September.

Meanwhile, Google has been revamping its performance ratings system. The company released new details, showing a more significant number of employees will more easily fall into lower-rated categories reported last month. Employees stated they feared it could be used to reduce headcount without making layoffs.

Staffers also expressed concern with the latest changes to bonus payments. Some said they weren’t aware of the partial postponement and received little help internally as they searched for answers.