1 yr after Google's massive layoffs, Sundar Pichai defends the move
text_fieldsCalifornia: Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the massive layoff of employees in 2022 was necessary for the company. However, he acknowledged that the layoff had a toll on affected employees, NDTV reported.
Defending the company's decision, Pichai said that the cutting of 12,000 jobs was inevitable, and it had backed the company in navigating over economic shifts and adjusting its course for future growth. The mentioned layoffs were around 6 per cent of the company's total workforce.
Pichai said that delaying layoffs would have impeded the company's ability to adapt to the economic conditions as well as its investment plans in critical areas.
Business Insider reported that at a recent Google all-hands meeting, CEO Sundar Pichai defended the company's decision to cut 6 per cent of the workforce.
However, Pichai reportedly said that the company could have handled the laying off in a better manner.
When an employee asked about the laying off, saying that it had been a year since the company made the difficult decision to reduce the workforce. They asked what impact the decision had on the company's growth, P&L, and morale.
Pichai replied that there was a clear and big impact on morale, which was reflected in the comments on Googlegeist and the feedback. He said that it was a difficult phase for Google in its 25 years of service.
He said that if the company hadn't acted, it would have become a worse decision down the line as well as a major overhang. He said, "..it would have made it very difficult in a year like this with such a big shift in the world to create the capacity to invest in areas," NDTV quoted him.