Google slowing down pace of hiring for rest of year: Sundar Pichai

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees that the company will be slowing down the pace of hiring for the rest of the year, as global macro-economic conditions continue to hit industries across the spectrum.

According to an internal memo sent by Alphabet and Google CEO Pichai to employees, the company will have to “be more entrepreneurial” and work 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,” Pichai noted.

However, the Google CEO said that the company will still hire for “engineering, technical and other critical roles.”

Pichai said that the uncertain global economic outlook has been top of mind.

“Like all companies, we’re not immune to economic headwinds. Something I cherish about our culture is that we’ve never viewed these types of challenges as obstacles. Instead, we’ve seen them as opportunities to deepen our focus and invest for the long term,” said the Indian-origin CEO.

In the second quarter (Q2) this year, Google hired approximately 10,000 people.

“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.

“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,” he added.