Google employees get surprise bonus

Employees of Google, the world’s most popular search engine, got more than just sweets and wishes this Diwali. Google announced a surprise bonus for its employees worldwide, which comes in the backdrop of its better than expected results for the third quarter, announced last week.

A mail to this effect was sent to employees of Google on Monday and a company official confirmed the development. "The bonus we rewarded our employees is a part of the annual bonus that nearly 20,000 employees worldwide were given. Job-holders across all levels were handed out a bonus," said Manoj Varghese, head-human resources, APAC region, Google.

Further details on why employees were rewarded or what the quantum was across various levels were not available. The bonus that Googlers get is like the company’s famous canteen in Googleplex - a much-discussed topic among Google followers.

Google has over thousand employees in India, its second largest employee base after US. An employees said Google’s India employees, spread across its centres in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad and different levels received the mail about the bonus payment.

"We were told that we are getting a surprise bonus of Rs 18,000 and it’s to thank employees for their contribution to the company. Also, that its like a gift for working hard during the recession and showing spectacular results," said an employee of the company, who did not wish to be named.

The mail comes a few days after Google announced results for the third quarter, where it beat street expectations. For the quarter ended September 2009, Google’s revenue was up 7% at $5.94 billion and its net profit rose 27% to $1.64 billion.

During the earnings call last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt had said, "While there’s obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery, we feel the worst of the recession is behind us and now we feel confident about investing heavily in our future."

And the unexpected bonuses worldwide only points to Google’s confidence about the business environment. Its better sales numbers is a key indicator of advertising spend as an increase in ad spend could in turn give signals about how the economy is shaping up.

It could also work as a motivation tool for employees, as Google faces increasing competition in the search space and has also forayed into the product space with its Google phone.

"Google is entering a phase where it’s going to face increasing competition from its main rivals- Microsoft and Apple. This surprise bonus could be a way of motivating employees to prepare themselves for the competition which is going to be stiffer going ahead," said Gartner India’s principal research analyst Diptarup Chakraborti.