Google puts the brakes on hiring, focus on critical roles

Tech giant Google has decided to slow the pace of hiring for the remainder of 2022 and 2023 as it shifts focus to its long-term priorities in the face of rising global economic headwinds, parent Alphabet’s chief executive Sundar Pichai has told his subordinates.

In an internal memo to the staff, Pichai says the company has already onboarded 10,000 ‘Googlers’ in the second quarter of 2022, and has a strong number of commitments for the start dates of the third quarter this year, which in part reflects the seasonal college recruiting calendar.

“These are extraordinary numbers, and they show our excitement about long-term opportunities, even in uncertain times,” Pichai writes in the mail. “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.”

The Alphabet CEO says that Google will recruit with a focus on engineering, technical, and other critical roles, making sure that “the great talent we do hire is aligned with our long-term priorities.”

Underlining the expectations from the workforce at the leading internet search engine, Pichai indicates that the current times call for “consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes”. In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas, he adds.

“Scarcity breeds clarity,” states Pichai, adding that he is excited for the company to “rise to the moment again.”

Google’s decision to rethink its recruitment strategies is in line with that of its peers and competitors as recessionary pressures arise across major economies amid growing inflation and central banks’ substantial rate hikes to rein it in. Rival and software giant Microsoft Corp. announced earlier this week that it is cutting a small number of jobs. Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook) has also reduced its hiring plans on account of the global economic conditions.

Companies like Lyft and Tesla had announced plans to reduce hiring over the past few months. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had confirmed in June that the electric car maker will reduce its salaried workforce by 10% over the following three months.

Read Pichai’s complete letter to Google employees below:

Hi Googlers,

Hard to believe we’re already through the first half of 2022. It’s the right opportunity to thank everyone for the great work so far this year and to share how my Leads and I are thinking about H2.

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.

In these moments, I turn to our mission: to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. It’s what inspired me to join the company 18 years ago, and what makes me so optimistic about the impact we are able to have on the world. Knowledge and computing are how we drive our mission forward. That’s the lens we use to decide where to invest — whether it’s in areas like Search, Cloud, YouTube, Platforms and Hardware, the teams that support them, or in the AI that enables more helpful products and services.

We help people and society when we focus on what we do best and do it really well. The investments we’ve made in the first half of the year reflect this vision. In Q2 alone, we added approximately 10,000 Googlers, and have a strong number of commitments for Q3 start dates which reflects, in part, the seasonal college recruiting calendar. These are extraordinary numbers, and they show our excitement about long-term opportunities, even in uncertain times.

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.

—Sundar