NEW YORK: Alphabet Inc’s Google is deferring a portion of its employees’ year-end bonuses as part of a transition to a new performance management system, the search engine giant said on Thursday.

The company will pay 80% advance bonus to eligible employees initially and the remainder in later months, a spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the move was communicated to staff last year.

The development comes amid tech companies’ attempts to limit spending amid a broader slowdown in demand and deteriorating economic conditions.

Alphabet has so far announced cuts impacting over 200 employees in its health sciences division even as its megacap peers Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp have let go thousands of employees.

The advance bonus will be paid in January and the remaining 20% in March or April, according to CNBC, which first reported the story. All bonuses next year onwards will be paid in March, the report added.