Google says fewer of its employees will get promoted this year: Report

The changes regarding promotion come as Google put into effect a new performance review system called Google Reviews and Development (GRAD).

Google has announced that fewer of its employees would receive promotions to more senior levels this year than in the past, CNBC reported. The development comes months after the tech giant laid off about 12,000 of its staff and announced a "very significant reduction" in annual bonuses of all senior vice presidents.

“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 company said in an email quoted by CNBC. The L6 distinction refers to senior employees and typically includes people with about a decade of experience.

In the email, the tech giant said it’s 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.”

“If your manager believes that you are ready to be promoted, they will nominate you,” the email said. Workers in technical roles who want to “self-nominate” will have a “short window of time” between March 6-8 to do so."

The changes regarding promotion come as Google put into effect a new performance review system called Google Reviews and Development (GRAD) which will result in more Google employees receiving low performance ratings and fewer getting high marks, the publication reported.

Under the new system, Google estimates 6 percent of full-time employees will fall into a low-ranking category versus 2 percent before, and 22 percent of employees will be rated within one of the two highest categories, versus 27 percent before.

For example, to make the new, highest-rated category, “Transformative Impact,” an employee must have “achieved the near-impossible” and contributed “more than we thought possible," Google stated in an internal communication accessed by CNBC in December.