Google CEO Sundar Pichai Addresses Loss of ‘Candor, Honesty, Humility and Frankness’ from Company Execs

During a virtual meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed a question from an employee in which they asked if “candor and honesty” would be returning to internal discussions. The question, which was supported by almost 700 Google coworkers, was met with a mealy-mouthed response from Pichai, who said: “trust and candor has to go both ways,” referring to internal leaks that Google has faced.

CNBC reports that while addressing employees at a virtual year-end meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reviewed questions from staff about the company. One employee reportedly asked whether “candor and honesty” would be returning to internal discussions. The question, which was supported by almost 700 Google coworkers, was met with a mealy-mouthed response from Pichai, who said: “I understand the sentiment behind the question.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai (pool/Getty)

Google walkout protest (Bryan R. Smith/Getty)

Pichai read the questions from Google’s internal employee message board system called Dory. Pichai read out one of the questions:

“It seems like responses to Dory have gotten increasingly more lawyer-like with canned phrases or platitudes, which seem to ignore the questions being ask,” Pichai read. “Are we planning on bringing candor, honesty, humility, and frankness back to Dory answers or continuing down a bureaucratic path?”

That question received 673 upvotes from fellow employees. Pichai responded to it stating: “I understand the sentiment behind the question.” He later added: “I think there are many reasons to some of this.”

Google’s internal office culture that was once based on a joyful atmosphere and free discussion has reportedly become more serious in recent years as the company has continued to grow, becoming one of the largest tech firms in the world. Employees also began to develop a distrust of management following reports that executives had overlooked sexual harassment allegations and pursued government deals that radical progressive employees opposed.

Google soon began cracking down on internal discussions and firing employees who criticized company policies or organized groups with fellow workers. In 2019, some employees referred to the company as “unrecognizable” compared to when they started there.

Pichai further noted at the recent meeting that the pandemic has made communication at the company more challenging. “We are obviously communicating at scale now — to over 150,000 people and particularly through the pandemic, doing it all remotely,” Pichai said. “I’ve noticed more people reading off screens during the pandemic and so I think some of it contributes to answers feeling canned.”

Pichai further discussed the more cold and measured responses to employees in recent months, stating: “I think people are always nervous to answer in this setting. Sometimes, I do think that people are unforgiving for small mistakes. I do think people realize that answers can be quoted anywhere, including outside the company. I think that makes people very careful.”

Pichai added that “trust and candor has to go both ways,” referring to internal leaks that Google has faced. “You have to work really hard to maintain it at scale,” he said.

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