Amid layoffs and retrenchment across various sectors most recently, as per TOI, an American multinational technology company, Google CEO has admitted that the future is unpredictable.
The development of either layoff or hiring slowdown comes after IT companies, crypto exchanges, and financial firms cut out jobs and slow down the hiring process due to slow global economic growth caused by higher interest rates, and rising inflation.
Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google during a companywide meeting with all employees said, “It’s really tough to predict the future, so, unfortunately, I can’t honestly sit here and make forward-looking commitments.”
Pichai further said, “What the company is trying hard to do is to make important decisions, be disciplined, prioritize where we can, rationalize where we can, so that we are set up to better weather the storm, regardless of what’s ahead.”
“I think that’s what we should focus on and try and do our best there,” Pichai added.
He also added that there was in no position to reassure the workforce that there would be no job cuts. Earlier, as per reports, the company was planning to fire nearly 10,000 employees nearly 6% of the total workforce. The layoffs will be on the grounds of ‘poor performance’.
The company has reportedly introduced a new performance rating metric called ‘Googler Reviews and Development’ (GRAD). Using a ranking system and the lowest-ranked employees are expected to be fired from the company.
The company employs 1,87,000 employees. Additionally, the company announced it will be slowing down the hiring process in the fourth quarter of the year.
Since 2017 Google has almost doubled its workforce. The company hiring increased by 15% in 2020 alone.
