Google has sacked the employee who leaked an internal memo about an across-the-board pay rise for the company's 23,000 staff, claim US media reports.

The confidential memo, sent to all Google staff by chief executive Eric Schmidt on Tuesday, was reportedly leaked to Business Insider and Fortune. Within hours, Google told staff an employee had been sacked for leaking the email, CNN reports.

Google's across-the-board pay rise is thought to be a move to bolster staff morale after the exodus of a number of high-profile product engineers in recent weeks, including the co-founder of YouTube, Chad Hurley, and the co-founder of Google Maps, Lars Rasmussen.

All of Google's 23,300 employees will be rewarded with a 10% pay rise from 1 January. Schmidt told fellow "Googlers" in the leaked memo that the company wants to continue to attract top talent.

Google would not confirm the departure of the employee, but said: "While we don't typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company."

Schmidt said in the memo: "We believe we have the best employees in the world. Period. The brightest, most capable group of this size ever assembled. It's why I'm excited to come to work every day – and I'm sure you feel the same way. We want to make sure that you feel rewarded for your hard work, and we want to continue to attract the best people to Google."

The technology giant is reportedly growing its 23,300 staff at a faster pace than at any time in the past two years, hiring 1,500 people in the three months to September.

Some 200 former Google employees have gone on to work for its biggest internet rival, Facebook, making up more than 10% of the social networking company's staff.

Rasmussen, the engineering muscle behind Google Maps and the ill-fated Wave project, became the latest big name to leave Google for Facebook earlier this month. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Rasmussen said: "The energy [at Facebook] is just amazing, whereas it can be very challenging to be working in a company the size of Google."

He said that it was "a little stressful" trying to convince Google not to pull the plug on Wave, axed after 15 months in August. The company "was just not patient", he added.