What Google's Compensation Restructure Can Teach the Financial Industry

By Amy Parvaneh, Founder of Select Advisors Institute

In the past year, two of the most influential companies in the world—Google and Amazon—have fundamentally reshaped how they compensate employees. And for firms in the financial services space, the implications couldn’t be more relevant.

These aren’t just HR policy tweaks. They are culture-setting, behavior-defining recalibrations that put performance, consistency, and transparency at the center of how organizations attract, retain, and grow talent.

And they should serve as a blueprint—or at the very least, a wake-up call—for every financial firm still clinging to outdated bonus formulas, legacy profit-sharing arrangements, or opaque promotion tracks.

Google: Redefining Performance Tiers and Raising the Bar

In early 2025, Google sent an internal memo titled “Strengthening Our Performance Culture.” The message was clear: high performance deserves more upside. But rather than increase the total compensation pool, Google took a smarter, more strategic route.

They expanded the number of employees eligible for their highest bonus category—Outstanding Impact—giving top contributors greater financial reward. But this wasn’t about blanket generosity. To fund it, they lowered the bonus and equity multipliers for employees in the Significant Impact and Moderate Impact categories.

This was a budget-neutral redistribution, and it sent a powerful message: if you want more, contribute more. If you want your compensation to grow, so must your impact.

And most importantly, Google made the model transparent. Performance tiers are named, defined, and tied directly to compensation. The result? Clarity, motivation, and a shared understanding of what success looks like.

Amazon: Rewarding Consistency Over Flash

Amazon followed closely behind—but with a different angle. Their 2025 compensation changes focused less on who performs, and more on how long they sustain it.

Under their new structure, Amazon employees who earn a Top Tier rating for four consecutive years can now earn up to 110% of their pay band—exceeding even the historical cap. Meanwhile, first-time Top Tier recipients dropped to 70%, down from 80%.

This wasn’t punishment. It was prioritization. Amazon chose to reward sustained, long-term excellence—a trait that every financial firm says it values, but few actually structure compensation around.

Amazon’s approach clearly distinguishes between one-off performers and those who repeatedly deliver value over time. It's a loyalty mechanism, a growth signal, and a cultural message all at once.

They also placed more weight on historical performance when determining pay band movement. In a world where financial professionals often feel like “What have you done for me lately?” is the unspoken motto, this kind of long-term incentive philosophy is revolutionary.

The Big Lesson: Compensation Isn’t Just Math—It’s Messaging

Both companies—different in business models, similar in influence—have now re-centered compensation as a strategic lever. Not a formality. Not a spreadsheet exercise. A lever.

And that’s precisely where most financial firms fall short.

Too many RIAs, wealth management teams, and private equity-backed firms still operate with static comp models that reward tenure over contribution, or treat high and low performers nearly the same. They rely on vague bonus formulas, discretionary leadership decisions, or outdated "partner track" pathways that are neither documented nor earned.

That’s not a growth strategy. That’s inertia.

This Is Exactly What We Do at Select Advisors Institute

At Select Advisors Institute, we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all comp plans. We believe in performance architecture.

We work with financial firms of all sizes to design and implement systems that:

• Create tiered performance bands with escalating rewards
  
  

• Incorporate multi-year impact tracking, not just annual snapshots
  
  

• Establish clear career levels with salary banding and bonus multipliers
  
  

• Tie scorecards and KPIs to actual business outcomes
  
  

• Define partner track criteria and internal promotion readiness
  
  

• Shift toward budget-neutral reward models that align with firm values
  
  

We help you move from political to principled. From opaque to operationalized.

Because when people know what it takes to grow—and see it consistently rewarded—they don’t just stay. They stretch.

Why This Matters Now

The firms that will win in the next decade aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest AUM or the flashiest branding. They’re the ones who build cultures of performance and clarity—starting with how they pay people.

What you reward is what your firm becomes.

If your compensation model doesn’t reflect your business strategy, your culture, and your growth vision—then it’s time to rebuild it.

And if you're not sure where to start, we’re here to help.