Posted by Google CEO Sundar Pichai has hinted at layoffs soon and told employees that it’s “tough to predict the future.”
In Short
- Sundar Pichai added that he cannot make “forward-looking commitments.”
- Last week, a report claimed Google would fire nearly 10,000 employees.
- Twitter, Amazon, and Meta have fired thousands of employees in the last two months.
By Abhik Sengupta: Google appears to be the next major tech giant planning a mass layoff after rivals like Meta, Amazon, and Twitter fired thousands of employees to save operating costs owing to uncertain macroeconomic conditions. Last week it was reported that Google parent Alphabet would fire nearly 10,000 employees in the coming weeks. Things at Google have become tenser after an all-hands meeting last week.
According to Business Insider, CEO Sundar Pichai has hinted at layoffs soon and told employees that it’s “tough to predict the future.” He further added that he cannot make “forward-looking commitments” about the same.
This isn’t the first time Google has hinted at a possible layoff, as CEO Pichai wanted employees to be more efficient by the end of this year. He even paused unnecessary hiring, except for key roles. At that point, Pichai tried motivating employees by saying that they should not equate work with money and must have fun. However, Google employees are more worried as the company is reportedly planning to use a new performance tool, dubbed GRAD. The tool is intended to give “employees a more consistent flow of feedback on their performance, but some inside the company say it’s been off to a rocky start”, the report points out.
Mass layoffs in Silicon Valley started with Twitter after Elon Musk’s formal takeover in late October. He trimmed half of Twitter’s workforce, which also motivated other tech giants to take strict measures. Both Amazon and Meta have fired over 20,000 employees combined. Some of the workers are also from India, who are desperately looking for new jobs in the US to maintain their H-1B visa status. Other tech giants like Adobe and Salesforce have also laid off some staff. In India, companies like Byju’s and Josh aren’t immune to a crumbling economy.