The latest hint that technology businesses are rethinking personnel in the face of a market slump that has hit Silicon Valley particularly hard is Google’s announcement that it intends to cut down its pace of hiring for the balance of the year.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by Sundar Pichai, CEO of both Google and its parent company Alphabet. In the memo, he cited “the uncertain global economic environment” as the reason for the delay. CNN Business was able to get Google to confirm the letter’s validity, but the company has declined to comment further.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Pichai is quoted as saying in the email, “Moving forward, we need to be more entrepreneurial, working with greater urgency, better concentration, and more desire than we’ve demonstrated on brighter days.” In certain circumstances, this may necessitate simplifying existing procedures and pooling investments in areas where they overlap.
According to a regulatory filing, Alphabet stated that it had a headcount of 163,906 employees as of the end of March. This represents an increase of more than 20,000 employees from the previous year.
After having just enjoyed a boost in demand due to shifting consumer behavior during the pandemic, the Google memo is the latest indication that the previously high-flying tech sector is facing a new reality check. This comes after having only recently enjoyed the surge in demand. A number of IT companies have lately made the announcement that they will either reduce staffing levels or slow down the rate at which they are hiring as a result of rising interest rates, skyrocketing inflation levels, and concerns that a recession is on the horizon.
A rising number of technology businesses, including Netflix and Coinbase, have made announcements on staff reductions. GoPuff, a firm that specializes in lightning-fast deliveries, has lately informed investors that it intends to lay off ten percent of its global personnel and close dozens of its warehouses in the United States.
Additionally, earlier this week, Microsoft said that it would be eliminating a limited number of employees, despite the fact that the company intends to continue hiring.
Other businesses, such as Uber and Lyft, as well as Snap, Twitter, and Apple, have made it clear that they intend to reduce expenses in the future.
