Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai at an interview recently hinted that the company may undergo a second round of layoffs as he discussed Google‘s goal of achieving a 20% increase in productivity, for which he has set a September deadline.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published last week, while the Google CEO shied away from directly responding to questions about layoffs, he said that the company was comfortable with its pace of change, which may be a restructuring or downsizing bid by the company in the months ahead.
Pichai’s remarks come amid as the company faced criticism for poor handling of job cuts. In mid-March, nearly 1,400 employees of Google parent Alphabet Inc. had written an open letter to the Google CEO, demanding a better treatment of staff during the layoff process and that the workers’ voices be adequately considered since ‘the impact of Alphabet’s decision to reduce its workforce are global’.
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The petition followed Alphabet’s announcement in January to reduce 6 percent of its global workforce, or around 12,000 employees following investor pressure to reduce spending due to the post pandemic economic downturn. While, with the announcement, many of those employed in the United States faced immediate termination, the process has been slower for countries with stronger labour protection laws, Bloomberg reported.
Many employees who were suddenly laid off from the company had criticised the move citing lack of transparency and communication from management. However, Sundar Pichai had defended the company’s position in an email to employees, acknowledging that the company had hired for a ‘different economic reality than the one we face today’ and took ‘full responsibility’ for the decision.
