£200,000
That’s what AVERAGE Google worker in Britain took home in pay and bonuses last year
GOOGLE workers are already some of the most pampered in britain, with free gourmet lunches, sleep pods and massages in the office.
Now figures show they are also some of the richest.
Staff at the UK arm of the web giant earned more than £200,000 on average last year after enjoying huge bonuses thanks to the company’s soaring share price.
According to its accounts, the firm paid its 3,658 staff in britain an average salary of £106,000 in the 12 months to June 2018.
They also shared a bonus pot of £342million after a strong financial performance in 2018 – equivalent to £94,000 each, and taking average earnings to £200,000.
Pension costs and social security costs pushed Google’s total UK pay bill to £829million, up from £657million the year before. That means it spent an average of £ 226,000 employing each member of staff.
The revelation is likely to stoke anger among Google’s critics, who claim that the firm does not do enough to clean up problem material on its platforms.
It has faced huge criticism for hosting vast troves of vile content on its youTube video website. earlier this year it was forced to crack down on the comments section after paedophiles used the platform to communicate with each other.
The vast sums Google pays its workers may also anger those who believe that the company should pay more tax.
According to the filings lodged at Companies House, Google
‘Investing significantly’
paid £66.8million in corporation tax in britain last year. That was an increase from the £49.7million tax it paid the year before.
However, it still pales in comparison with the vast amounts of money that the firm rakes in. last year it made £23.3billion in global profits.
The firm was eager to defend its record last night. A spokesman said: ‘ As an international business, we pay the majority of our taxes in our home country, as well as all the taxes due in the UK. We are investing significantly in the UK, including starting work on new offices in King’s Cross for 7,000 staff.’
The figures emerged as whistleblowers claimed youTube bosses ignored concerns about disturbing clips flooding the site.
At least five senior staff members reportedly quit the Googleowned video- sharing platform after becoming frustrated with its failure to tackle damaging content. everything from conspiracy theories to hate speech was left online in the hope of bringing in more viewers, insiders claimed. The platform has been used to share footage featuring child abuse, graphic violence or terrorist propaganda.
However, senior management were fixated only on growing the business, an investigation by news website bloomberg has claimed.
youTube said that it had taken significant steps in the past two years to prevent the spread of ‘harmful misinformation’ and more quickly find and remove ‘violative content’.