Google gives all employees 10% raises

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Holiday cheer arrived early at Google, which is giving its more than 23,000 employees a 10% raise starting in January.

Employees are also getting $1,000 cash bonuses with Google picking up the taxes. They got the news in an e-mail from Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

‘We believe we have the best employees in the world,’ Schmidt wrote.

Apparently everyone else agrees. Google, which has long been a hub for some of the smartest people in Silicon Valley, is under siege from Facebook and other companies in a bruising war for talent.

Google’s chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette, called the market for recruiting new talent “exceptionally competitive” during a third-quarter earnings call. Google hired more than 1,500 people during the quarter, in which it posted strong results

Google declined to comment on the employee stocking stuffers, which were first reported by Business Insider.

‘While we don’t typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company,’ a spokesman said.

-- Jessica Guynn