(Image Source: FortuneUniversity.org / Digital Passion)

BY PAUL ROLFE

It’s a big payday for Googlers. Each of the search giant’s 23,000 employees is getting a 10% pay raise come January -- plus -- a $1000 Christmas bonus. Fox Business has some reasons that this makes sense for the company.

“Its trying to create a moat around itself from its employees leaving to Facebook. Ten percent of Facebook employees have Google on their resume in some way shape or form... People are often a competitive advantage in these technology companies. The brain trust -- it wants to protect that. Frankly its also cheaper to retain employees than hire new employees... Last but not least, frankly the company can afford to do so. Profits were up more than 32% in the third quarter. It has $33 billion of cash sitting on its balance sheet.”

Google doesn’t usually comment on internal matters, but in a statement to the press it said competitive compensation plans are important for the future of the company. CNN Money points out how important it is for Google to retain good employees, after losing some noteworthy ones.

“Google has lost top minds such as YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley, AdMob co-founder Omar Hamoui, and Google Maps and Wave creator Lars Rasmussen.”

Many ex-Googlers have defected to Facebook. Computer World spoke to an analyst from Gartner who highlights the growing tension between the two companies.

“There is a battle for the future of the Web, and it is not about search engines, but about the social Web. The competition is between the new and the old -- between Facebook as the early leader in the social Web, and Google as the dominant player in the content Web.”

But wait a second -- aren’t we in a recession? Well -- The Wall Street Journal says its actually not bad news for investors.

“If Google is making this ten percent raise now, it means that they’re doing probably pretty well in the fourth quarter. So, I don’t know how concerned investors are going to be. Google has been acquiring a lot of companies for talent. They’ve also been acquiring a lot of companies for technology. I don’t think this is going to be too big of a concern.”

Oddly, Google is already number four on Fortune’s top 100 companies to work for. Facebook -- not even on the list. So, what do you think? Will this move spark other tech companies to start hiring -- and paying -- more?
 

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