Google Executives Pleads With Employees to Remain Motivated as Company Navigates Economic Downturn

Executives at Google have pleaded with employees to remain motivated as the company continues to seek ways to navigate the economic downturn.

The company’s CEO Sundar Pichai in a recent companywide meeting stated that the current upheaval ravaging the company has also forced executives to cut their bonuses amid the mass layoffs of employees.

Sundar disclosed that he consulted with the company’s founders and controlling shareholders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as the board of directors on how they can effectively navigate the current unfriendly period.

He revealed that the executives and shareholders believe that the company made the right decision to trim it’s workforce, noting that if such a decision was not done, the company will fall back in many areas.

In his words,

“2021 marked one of the strongest years we’ve ever had in the history of the company, with 41% revenue growth. Google expanded its headcount to match that expansion which the company assumed the growth would persist.

“In that context, we made a set of decisions that might have been right if the trends continue. You have to remember if the trend had continued and we had not hired to keep pace, we would fall behind in many areas as a company”.

Speaking on the criteria used in laying off employees, the company’s Chief people officer Fiona Cicconi disclosed that executives at the company looked at areas where the work was necessary and observed that the company had too many people as well as places where the work itself wasn’t critical.

She further disclosed that the company considered skill set, time in a role where experience or relationships are relevant and matter, and productivity indicators like sales quotas, and performance history.

Investors King understands that before the company disclosed the criteria used for layoff, employees at the company had urged the leadership to disclose to them, stating that they were surprised to see some “potential” workers laid off which was surprising.

Currently, employees at the company are bracing up for future occurrences after the CEO Sundar Pichai had earlier disclosed that there will be bumps ahead of the road. Meanwhile, he indicated that there would be executive compensation cuts.