Google to offer fewer promotions to more senior positions this year: Report

Google has reportedly informed employees that this year will see a decrease in the number of promotions to more senior positions amid layoffs and slower hiring.

“The process is manager-led and will be largely similar to last year — though with our slower pace of hiring, we are planning for fewer promotions into L6 and above than when Google was growing quickly,” the firm said in an email to its employees, according to a CNBC report.

L6 denotes the first level of employees who are regarded as senior and generally comprises those with roughly ten years of experience, the report added.

This development coincides with Google rolling out a new performance evaluation system called Google Reviews and Development. The system could lead to more Google employees earning negative performance ratings and fewer receiving high scores.

YourStory could not independently verify the report. Google did not respond to the queries sent by YourStory at the time of publication of this news.

Google is promoting fewer people to senior roles “to ensure that the number of Googlers in more senior and leadership roles grows in proportion to the growth of the company," as per the email to employees. It also noted, “If your manager believes that you are ready to be promoted, they will nominate you.”

This development comes at a time when Big Tech firms Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, have been laying off employees to slash costs amid recession fear. 

In January, Google announced a reduction of its workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. Google's India arm laid off 453 employees across various departments just last month.

In February, Alphabet, Google's parent company, said it has 1,90,234 employees, up from 1,56,500 in 2021, as it reported a fourth consecutive drop in quarterly profit amid a slowdown in the advertising business.

“We’re on an important journey to re-engineer our cost structure in a durable way and to build financially sustainable, vibrant, growing businesses across Alphabet,” said Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet and Google in a statement during the fourth-quarter results.