To:  Srinivas Shankar, President & CEO, GlobalLogic, Inc. and Vishal Anand, Group Vice President & Head of Americas, GlobalLogic, Inc., and Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud CEO, Google, LLC.

From:  The Generalist Raters & Super Raters Teams of GlobalLogic, Inc.

Re: Addressing Pay Disparities, Benefits, and Job Security for Google Raters

Background: We, the approximately 1,800 Generalist Raters and Super Raters, are essential contributors to the accuracy, safety, and efficacy of Google’s artificial intelligence products. Our work directly impacts Google’s bottom line—Google Gemini has been downloaded over 45 million times since its launch in May 2024, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reported $96.5 billion in Q4 earnings. Despite this, many of us face significant pay disparities, lack of benefits, and job insecurity. We take immense pride in our work and remain committed to the success of Google and GlobalLogic. However, these issues are creating serious morale issues, inequities, and retention challenges.

Our Demands

1. Standardized Pay Bands & Fair Raises ‍
   • Collaborate with diverse representatives from the Generalist and Super Rater teams to create pay bands. Then, equalize pay rates for all according to the pay bands.‍
   • Implement raises and restore over time opportunities for those in leadership roles or taking on additional responsibilities.
     
2. ‍Equitable Paid Time Off Benefits for All Workers
   • Starting Q3 2025, pay temporary direct hires and contractors for all holidays dating back to Thanksgiving 2024.‍
   • Provide PTO, holiday pay, and sick leave to temporary direct hires and contractors.
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3. ‍Job Security & Clear Employment Pathways
   • Transparently communicate program longevity, contract lengths, extension timelines, and establish a reasonable path to FTE conversion.
   • Rebadge existing third-party contractors with new, reputable third-party companies or make them direct hires to renegotiate bill rates and ensure fair pay and benefits.

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‍Why This Matters

• Retention & Revenue: High turnover costs companies 30-50% of an entry-level employee’s salary and up to 150% for specialized roles.  
  • For example, if there were 50 voluntary departures in a month, it would cost the company at least $540,000 to replace them (36K x 30% = $10,800 x 50 = $540,000).
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• Morale & Productivity: Unfair pay and lack of recognition negatively impacts employee motivation and output quality. When employees suffer, products suffer.
  • The current system has resulted in employees declining critical roles like editor/reviewer and pod lead due to the lack of financial incentives.‍
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• Fairness & Ethics: Despite using multiple third-party staffing firms, wages are mostly the same, indicating possible coordination between the companies.
  • This is potentially an anti-competitive and unethical practice and may violate anti-trust laws if wage coordination is happening.

^‍Conclusion

‍We understand that the Rater Teams have grown rapidly, but the long-standing pay, benefits, and job security issues must be addressed. It is disheartening that the basic economics are being ignored by leadership. We have given of our best, and have not been treated with the dignity, respect, and consequent economic relationship that our efforts and specialized skillsets accord. Fixing these issues is not just the right thing to do—it’s essential for maintaining high-quality output and an engaged workforce.

We call on Google and GlobalLogic to commit to fair pay, equitable benefits, and job security for all raters.

Sincerely,

The Generalist Raters & Super Raters Teams

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Appendix: Key Evidence

Note: Graphs created based on results from employee-run, employee-wide survey.

• Wide Pay Disparities & Lack of Raises
  • Generalist Raters who have not received any promotions earn anywhere from $16.00-$19.57/hr., while Super Raters’ pay for the same role ranges from $20.00-$30.00/hr.
  • Some Super Raters hired in 2023 started at $28-$32/hour, showing clear pay compression.
  • Raises for promotions are either non-existent, minimal, or severely delayed, despite many of us taking on additional responsibilities, including leadership roles.
    • The average overall raise at GL is $1.68/hr., with some raises being up to $12.00/hr.

• No Paid Time Off or Holiday Pay for Temporary Hires & Contractors
  • While FTEs receive sick leave, PTO, and holiday pay, temporary direct hires only get sick leave and contractors receive none unless required by local laws.
  • This results in an effective pay cut during holidays. For example, in a six-week period, 6 days of pay were lost because of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays.
  • The lack of paid leave creates financial strain and workplace resentment among colleagues doing the same work.

• ‍Uncertain Length of Employment & Lack of Transparency on Contract Extensions
  • Recent layoffs were done without warning, raising questions about the health and longevity of the rater programs.
  • Temporary hires and contractors struggle to get timely information on contract renewals, creating constant job insecurity.
  • The “Sensitive Content Moderation Acknowledgement” forms issued to workers contained implicit job security threats and no additional employer-provided mental health support for most, creating additional stress and uncertainty.