Google employees who survived the corporate’s recent purge of 12,000 of their former colleagues questioned executives during a tense meeting on Monday – anxiously demanding assurances that their jobs weren’t next in line for chopping.
One UK Google worker told management “mental safety comes first” after parent company Alphabet Inc. laid off about 6% of its full-time workforce.
The worker was outraged that amongst those laid off by Google were high achievers and other people on immigrant visas.
“How are we alleged to feel secure again?” the employee wondered. His comments were Insider reported.
The tech giant’s employees gave the impression to be having trouble processing the message.
“The layoffs look like accidental,” one worker wrote in an issue sent to supervisors via Google’s internal Dory messaging system.
“I’m a Google supporter, but now I’m shaken. Help me understand.”
Another worker also wondered why the corporate fired those they thought were one of the best.
“Should I still work very hard? Does it matter?” the employee wondered.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai denied the layoffs were random and urged his charges to deal with their jobs as the corporate navigates difficult economic terrain that has forced other tech giants to kill staff.
“I understand that you simply’re anxious about what’s next in your job,” Pichai said. His comments were reports CNBC.
Pichai admitted that “it was also very sad to lose some really good colleagues throughout the corporate.”
“For those of you outside the United States, the delay in making and communicating decisions about roles in your region undoubtedly causes concern,” the CEO said.
Pichai revealed through the meeting that he had consulted with Google’s co-founders and controlling shareholders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, in addition to board members, before proceeding with the layoffs.
He said Google went on a hiring spree in 2021, which Pichai called “one in every of the strongest years we have ever had in the corporate’s history.”
Google’s revenue is up 41% this 12 months, based on Pichai, who believed the corporate was on the identical growth path in 2022.
“In this context, we made a variety of decisions that may very well be right if the trends continued,” Pichai said.
“It’s necessary to do not forget that if the trend continued and we didn’t hire people to maintain up with the pace, we as an organization could be lagging behind in lots of areas.”
He added that directors would should comply with pay cuts and annual bonus cuts, though he didn’t go into details.
Other Google executives said some 750 senior leaders had spent weeks trying to find out which employees could be laid off.
Other tech giants corresponding to Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Meta and Snap have also laid off large numbers of employees in recent months.
