The managing director of Google, Sundar Pichai announced that top executives they will suffer wage cuts after the previously announced mass layoffs of the web giant.
Speaking at a company meeting on Monday, Pichai said employees at the level of vice president seniors and above will receive good to the inferior as part of cost reduction measures.
The comments came following a request from Google employees for an explanation regarding last week’s announcement that they would cut effective 12,000 seats of work, i.e. the 6% of the global workforce. We recall that this is the most massive personnel cut in the history of the company.
Employees in the technology sector often receive a large portion of their salary through bonuses and company stock. Google Vice Presidents can earn base salaries of over $ 550.000 per year, according to a company job posting.
Pichai to employees, stay motivated to take on AI-related challenges
In his speech to employees, the Google chief pleaded with staff to stay motivated given the challenges and competition the company will face in artificial intelligence. Pichai also tried to explain why employees who lost their jobs were removed from the internal system without warning.
“I understand that you are concerned about the next phase of your career journey,” Pichai said. “Also very sad at the loss of some great colleagues across the business. For those of you outside the US, the delay in being able to make and communicate decisions about roles in your region is no doubt causing anxiety.
Tech companies laid off 56,570 employees in January
In January more than 170 companies technologies have fired 56,570 employeesmaking it the worst month even though the surge in layoffs dates back to last year, according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks media reports and company announcements.
Google’s layoffs have affected all units of the company, right down to the vice presidents.
The past two years have seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote in a message to employees. To match and fuel that growth, we must take into account a different economic reality than the one we face today.