Tough Times for Silicon Valley: Google Slows Hiring, Tells Staff to Work with ‘More Hunger’

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently told staff in a memo that the company will be slowing hiring and to “be more entrepreneurial” and work with “more hunger.”

TechCrunch reports that Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently told staff in a companywide email that the firm will be slowing hiring and current staff would need to be more “entrepreneurial” and work with “more hunger.”

Pichai said that due to the current “uncertain global economic outlook,” the company would slow its hiring pace for the second half of 2022. Google hires 10,000 workers during the second quarter, according to Pichai, a hiring rate that the company will no longer keep up.

Pichai stated that the firm would also consolidate “where investments overlap,” and streamline its current working processes. Pichai appeared to have a singular sentiment for employees — work harder.

Tech firms have been laying off workers around the world in the face of a possible recession. Companies including Twitter, Tesla, and more have all begun downsizing in preparation for economic hardship. Pichai did not mention layoffs in his letter but did use terms like “streamlining” and “consolidating” which could imply certain job positions would be cut.

Read a section of Pichai’s full letter to Google employees below:

 

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. 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.

Moving forward, we need to be more entrepreneurial, working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we’ve shown on sunnier days. 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. Making the company more efficient is up to all of us — we’ll be creating more ways for you all to engage and share ideas to help, so stay tuned.

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. That’s the opportunity in front of us today, and I’m excited for us to rise to the moment again.

Read more at TechCrunch here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan