Google layoffs 2022: Tech titan prepares for significant job cuts in 2023
According to reports, Sundar Pichai is allegedly giving frightened Google LLC workers no guarantees that the internet company won’t make staff reductions. The Mountain View company is already attempting to take measures to prepare for a potential global recession, including “being disciplined,” said Sundar Pichai, who’s really CEO of both Google and parent company Alphabet Inc., in response to a question about whether Google would be reducing its workforce next year at a company-wide staff meeting on Thursday, according to Business Insider. He would not, however, confirm or deny the possibility of layoffs.
According to Business Insider, he remarked, “It’s incredibly challenging to foresee the future, so sadly, I can’t truly sit here and give forward-looking commitments.” An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by Google personnel.
Numerous local IT firms, including Meta Platforms Incorporated, Cisco Technologies Inc., Intel Corp., Adobe Inc., and HP Inc., have either announced plans to eliminate staff or have already done so in recent weeks. There has been increasing talk that Google will eventually join them.
Even though the company’s headcount has increased, this year has seen a significant slowdown in sales growth and a decline in profit. Additionally, the price of its shares (Nasdaq: GOOG) has fallen 36% thus far this year; on Friday, it closed down 88 cents, or roughly 1%, to $93.07 per share.
In response, the search engine criticized the company for employing too many staff and urged it to reduce spending last month. Pichai stated in September stated he believed there were chances to increase Google’s efficiency by 20% after announcing a slowdown in recruiting in July. The Wall Street Journal noted that month that the business had already been subtly reducing its workforce by closing its Area 120 development and research division.
According to the Business Insider article, Pichai avoided answering whether Google will use mass layoffs at the employee meeting scheduled for Thursday but did allude to some of those actions.
He said that to survive the storm better, no matter what lies ahead, “we’ve been working hard to… (make) crucial judgments, be disciplined, prioritize where we can, and rationalize where we can. “I believe we should concentrate on that and make every effort to succeed there.”
After its CEO announced its aims to make the firm 20% more efficient in the face of economic constraints, Google may end up being the next major behemoth to see staff changes.
Alphabet/Google Chairman Sundar Pichai stated in a speech at the current Code Conference that he wants Google to operate much more effectively as it is still struggling with current market conditions. Due to the economy’s unpredictability and a drop in advertising spending, the firm has been having trouble.
One of several internet companies that profit tremendously from ad spending is Google. The business is currently being pushed to reconsider its broader approach.
Increasing Google’s effectiveness
Pichai provided some answers when Code Conference moderator Kara Swisher questioned him about his plans to improve Google’s productivity. Pichai admitted that his company “may be slower to make choices across everything we do.” “You look at everything from beginning to end and determine how to increase the company’s productivity by 20%.” Pichai also used the merging of Google Play Music and YouTube Music into a single offering to illustrate how he intends to accomplish his objective. Bringing the number of decision-makers to two or one can increase efficiency by 20% in areas where there is room for improvement, he continued.
The potential for layoffs of employees
Whether Pichai’s efficiency plan calls for layoffs has been questioned in light of his remarks at the Code Conference. Google hasn’t yet made any announcements about it, though.
Pichai gained attention before speaking at Code Conference when he unveiled his “Simplicity Sprint” effort back in July. The goal of the internal struggle is to refocus Google so that it can “get better outcomes faster.” The corporation made the news after reporting weaker-than-anticipated earnings and sales for a second consecutive quarter.
The company’s leadership received harsh criticism later in the year after workers awarded it low marks in a number of areas, including wages, promotions, and execution. Google’s expanding bureaucracy was particularly unpopular with employees, which even the executives of the internet behemoth had to acknowledge.
Google HR director Fiona Cicconi stated that there were worries about potential layoffs in the tech sector during an all-hands gathering in July. She added that the company was “not looking to cut Google’s entire headcount at this time.” “We can’t be confident of the economy of the future,” Cicconi did later say.
This appears to have been construed by many of these businesses as permission to terminate employees as part of a “cost-cutting exercise,” upsetting thousands of food security in the process. Fifty-two businesses, including unicorns BYJU’S, Chargebee, Cars24, LEAD, Lola, OYO, Meesho, MPL, Innovaccer, Udaan, Unacademy, and Vedantu, have so far laid off 17,989 people.
The sector with the greatest layoffs has been e-commerce, then consumer services, then e-tech. Together, 31 businesses have fired 15,424 workers in the three industries. This indicates that in 2022, nearly nine out of ten laid-off workers worked in e-commerce, consumer services, or edtech.
Mainly, edtech has been the subject of significant investigation nationwide. In addition to terminating 7,868 employees, 15 edtech startups—including two of the seven ed-tech unicorns—also shut down five businesses in 2022.
Additionally, Google is rumored to fire up to 10,000 workers annually, or around 6% of the total staff. According to reports, the search engine giant has asked the management to evaluate each employee’s performance so that it might fire those who don’t meet expectations.
The company’s unexpected decision to slash thousands of jobs based on performance looks ridiculous. According to a ranking mechanism used by Google, those at the bottom will be the most affected. It is rumored that it will fire workers in early 2023.
Google just declared that it would slow down the hiring in the year’s final quarter, so it is likely decreasing headcounts to cut costs. Given that many tech businesses offer financial advantages to affected employees as part of severance for losing their jobs if Google is firing people for poor performance, it is likely that it won’t do the same.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
