The all-hands meeting between Alphabet employees and top executives was held last Wednesday. Based on the attendees and related internal documentation viewed by CNBC, Pichai tried to address employees’ concerns over layoffs. He also asked them to give their input. Pichai addressed the company’s productivity situation, saying, “Google’s productivity as a company isn’t where it needs to be even with the head count it has”. Google currently has over 170,000 full-time employees. The meeting mostly revolved around a new “Simplicity Sprint” initiative. It aims to help Google’s employees with their efficiency and focus. According to Pichai, this program will allow Google to “get better results faster.” “We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity,” Pichai said in the last Wednesday meeting. He also asked employees to “create a culture that is more mission-focused, more focused on our products, more customer focused.”
Google “Simplicity Sprint” aims to make employees more productive and focused
The company also starts an internal survey from August 15 that asks if management can reach out if they have follow-up questions. Based on the previous reports, Google employees are unhappy about pay, promotions, and execution in the company. Moreover, the survey tries to gather their input and reform the relationships between employees and senior managers. Dates back to May, Google announced it wanted to overhaul its performance evaluation process. The new process leads to higher salaries and reduces bureaucracy around compensation and raises. As per the CNBC report, questions in the survey include “What would help you work with greater clarity and efficiency to serve our users and customers? Where should we remove speed bumps to get better results faster? How do we eliminate waste and stay entrepreneurial and focused as we grow?” Sundar Pichai and Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, also said the company has no plan to lay off employees. “We’re asking teams to be more focused and efficient, and we’re working out what that means as a company as well. Even though we can’t be sure of the economy in the future, we’re not currently looking to reduce Google’s overall workforce.” Cicconi said.
