San Francisco, March 9 : Tech giant Google has informed its employees via an email that fewer of them will be promoted to more senior levels this year as compared to the past. "The process is manager-led and will be largely similar to last year -- though with our slower pace of hiring, we are planning for fewer promotions into L6 and above than when Google was growing quickly," the tech giant said in an email that was viewed by CNBC. The L6 distinction refers to the first layer of the workforce which is considered senior and normally consists of people with roughly ten years of experience. The tech giant said it will be promoting fewer people to senior roles "to ensure that the number of Googlers in more senior and leadership roles grows in proportion to the growth of the company." "If your manager believes that you are ready to be promoted, they will nominate you," it added. The company said in the email that employees in technical roles who wish to "self-nominate" themselves will have a "short window of time" between March 6 to March 8 to do so. The changes come as the company is implementing a new performance review system called Google Reviews and Development (GRAD), which will lead to more employees getting low-performance ratings and fewer receiving high marks, the report said. On January 20, Google CEO Sundar Pichai had confirmed in a letter to employees that about 12,000 people will be laid off globally, accounting for more than 6 per cent of the total workforce. /IANS