Search engine giant, Google’s CEO Sunder Pichai told at an all-hands meeting and denied the company is embarking on “aggressive cost-saving”.
Sunder Pichai has also told staff they should not “equate fun with money” and asked why Google was “nick-and-diming employees” by cutting travel budgets and moving away from “rapidly hiring and spending”, despite it having “record profits and huge cash reserves”.
“I’m a bit concerned that you think what we’ve done is what you would define as aggressive cost saving,” he said.
He further added, “I think it’s important we don’t get disconnected. You need to take a long-term view through conditions like this.”
“I remember when Google was small and scrappy. We shouldn’t always equate fun with money. I think you can walk into a hard-working startup and people may be having fun and it shouldn’t always equate to money”, he further said.
A Google spokesperson said, “Sundar has been speaking to the company consistently over the last few months about ways we can be more focused.”
“The company’s leaders are working to be responsible and efficient in all that their teams do and that ensuring that our people are working on the highest impact/highest priority work”, the spokesperson added.
Earlier this month, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google said he is not satisfied with the work output of many employees. According to Pichai, productivity at Google is below where it ought to be”
The company earnings in the second quarter of 2022 were weaker than expected, as was the case with the first quarter. Hence, Sunder Pichai said the company was acting responsibly during one of the most difficult economic periods this decade and urged that staff pull together to help weather the storm.
The search giant began a new initiative called ‘Simplicity Sprint‘ in an effort to increase productivity. Pichai has urged the employees to “create a culture that is more mission-focused”.
Pichai had stated that the company would reduce recruiting and investment through 2023, pushing staff to work with greater urgency and “more hunger” than demonstrated “on sunnier days”.
Earlier, Pichai was also asked about potential layoffs – a question he palmed off to Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi. Cicconi said the company did not have immediate plans to reduce its workforce but did not rule it out completely either.
