Google Gives Dream Bonus

Google has given most of its employees worldwide an unlocked Dream phone as a Christmas bonus this year instead of cash.

The New York Times has reported that this Christmas, as a means of cutting back, Google has foregone that $1,000 an employee cash bonus and has opted instead to give its more than 20,000 employees worldwide unlocked Dream phones. The cell phone gift was first mentioned in the Valleywag blog.

Pricing the phones at $400 each, the company is giving them out to celebrate the release of the now-famous Android phone and also cut costs, since “The current economic crisis requires us to be more conservative about how we spend our money,” the company said in a memo.

Employees in countries where the phone won’t work will receive the $400 in cash. Note, though, that these are in lieu of Christmas, not performance, bonuses.