Why Google Is ‘Slowing The Pace Of Hiring’: CEO Sundar Pichai

‘For the balance of 2022 and 2023, we’ll focus our hiring on engineering, technical and other critical roles, and make sure the great talent we do hire is aligned with our long-term priorities,” said Google’s CEO in a letter to employees.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai

After Google hired 10,000 employees in the second quarter of 2022, CEO Sundar Pichai says the search and cloud giant will slow down the pace for the remainder of the year and into 2023.

“Because of the hiring progress achieved so far this year, we’ll be slowing the pace of hiring for the rest of the year, while still supporting our most important opportunities,” said Pichai in a letter to Google employees seen by CRN.

“For the balance of 2022 and 2023, we’ll focus our hiring on engineering, technical and other critical roles, and make sure the great talent we do hire is aligned with our long-term priorities,” Alphabet’s CEO said.

[Related: Sandy Hogan On Leaving VMware, Joining SADA And Google Cloud]

The $257 billion Mountain View, Calif.-based company says it already has a strong number of new employee commitments for the current third quarter.

“These are extraordinary numbers, and they show our excitement about long-term opportunities, even in uncertain times,” said Pichai.

Sundar Pichai’s Message To Employees

Pichai’s letter to his Google employees outlined the CEO’s vision for the company ahead, which included being more entrepreneurial and being hungrier.

“Moving forward, we need to be more entrepreneurial, working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we’ve shown on sunnier days,” said Pichai. “In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes. In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas.”

Google’s CEO stressed the fact that making the company more efficient falls on the shoulders of every employee, adding that Google is creating more ways for employees to engage and share ideas.

Pichai said his company is not immune to economic headwinds and the “uncertain global economic” outlook.

“Scarcity breeds clarity — this is something we have been saying since the earliest days of Google. It’s what drives focus and creativity that ultimately leads to better products that help people all over the world,” said Pichai to his Google employees. “That’s the opportunity in front of us today, and I’m excited for us to rise to the moment again.”

Some Tech Companies Are Laying Off Employees

From Twitter and Netflix to Oracle and Microsoft, many large technologies companies have been reporting layoffs or hiring freezes in recent weeks.

However, the sheer volume of actual layoffs is still relatively unknown.

Microsoft confirmed to CRN this week that a “small number of employees” were recently let go due to a “strategic alignment,” but the company still planned to “grow headcount in the year ahead.”

Oracle is reportedly mulling reducing its costs by as much as $1 billion, and as a result, possibly letting go of thousands of its employees as early as August.

CRN has also reported that several cybersecurity firms like IronNet, Lacework and Automox have recently let go of employees.