As I've stated previously, it is a complete failure of leadership when a CEO of a firm determines that firing a large number of employees is the best course of action going ahead. If CEOs were subject to accountability, you would be among those who would lose your job.
Naturally, things rarely operate in that manner. Typically, the CEO keeps their position as CEO, while the laid-off workers are left without pay and must find other sources of income to cover their rent and food expenses.
At the time, Pichai stated, "We made a set of decisions that might have been right if the trends continued." He was alluding to Google's phenomenal expansion that transpired amid the epidemic. The business made hiring decisions with the assumption that its expansion would never stop. Everyone is aware that expansion is not sustainable, as the CEO of a $1.75 trillion corporation should have realised at the time.
As a result, Google was forced to fire 12,000 workers. That's a big number of individuals who had been going to work, only to learn one day that their pay had been stopped because the CEO had placed a poor wager, and they were left footing the bill.
In all fairness, Google wasn't the first business to take this particular stand. Microsoft made 10,000 layoffs. Meta fired eleven thousand people. Amazon terminated almost 18,000 workers. However, this does not give you cover if all of your peers are placing poor wagers.
Pichai answered a query regarding the effect of the layoffs, according to Business Insider, which examined a transcript of a recent all-hands meeting. "This is difficult for any company to go through," Pichai stated. "At Google, we really haven't had a moment quite like that in 25 years."
That is a significant statement. As far as Pichai is concerned, this was one of the worst shifts and periods Google has seen since its founding in 1998.
That should come as no surprise. A corporation, especially one as large as Google, suffers when layoffs of such magnitude occur. According to Business Insider, Pichai responded that the layoffs had a "clear big impact on morale," acknowledging as much.
Nevertheless, Pichai argues that the layoffs were the appropriate course of action at the time, pointing out that the alternative would have placed the business in a much worse situation.Pichai informed staff members, "It became clear if we didn't act, it would have been a worse decision down the line." It would have had a significant negative impact on the business. I believe that having the ability to spend in some areas would have been quite challenging in a year like this with such a significant change in the world."
Pichai is essentially stating that after Google decided to hire staff, it would have to make other investments because it had already agreed to spend money on hiring. That is the result of management's inability to properly prepare and implement a strategy. The company's top leaders have acknowledged that they made a mistake, but they haven't really said they're sorry or acknowledged it.
A CEO's work often involves taking risks on novel concepts. A CEO should be bold and willing to take risks because these actions generally yield the greatest returns. You want them to place the greatest wagers at the same moment.
CEOs are frequently rewarded rather being held accountable when their bad management results in layoffs. A company's stock price frequently rises as a result of the higher profitability that results from millions of dollars' worth of overhead being cut. Naturally, it would seem sense that placing better wagers in the first place would be a more profitable strategy.
An employee asked a straightforward question on an internal message board shortly after Google announced its layoffs: "Is leadership forgoing bonuses and pay rises this year? Who will give up their position?"
That's a legitimate query, even though we already know the response.