Amid reports that Google is resorting to various cost-cutting measures, including job cuts, amid financial downturn, its CEO Sundar Pichai has an advice for his employees – “Don’t equate fun with money”.
Some of the keywords Pichai has been frequently using for some time in his interactions with employees are: cost-cutting, efficiency, and macroeconomics. Now, at a companywide meeting this week, Pichai told Google employees that they should not ‘equate fun with money’.
Reportedly, during the meeting, Pichai was asked by an employee as to why the company, despite making profits and sitting on high cash re-serves was slashing allowances and perks.
“I remember when Google was small and scrappy. Fun didn’t always…we shouldn’t always equate fun with money. I think you can walk into a hard-working startup and people may be having fun and it shouldn’t al-ways equate to money,” said Pichai.
On the uncertainty in macroeconomics, the Google chief added, “How do I say it? Look, I hope all of you are reading the news, externally. The fact that you know, we are being a bit more responsible through one of the toughest macroeconomic conditions underway in the past decade, I think it’s important that as a company, we pull together to get through moments like this.”
It is pertinent to note that Pichai’s statements come in the backdrop of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, reporting a second successive quarter of weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue in July.
According to a recent media report, Google is looking to trim its workforce.
Last month, Google fired more than 50 workers at its incubator Area 120 and gave them extra 30 days to find another job at the company.
A Google spokesman was quoted as saying that nearly 95 per cent of employees found new roles within the notice period.
The Alphabet and Google CEO aims to make the company 20 per cent more efficient hinting at job cuts, as the tech giant recently cancelled the projects at its in-house research and development (R&D) division called Area 120.
