Google and Microsoft are both making workforce changes, marking the latest Big Tech companies to curtail hiring or lay off employees in 2022, Bloomberg reported.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told staffers the company will slow hiring for the rest of the year and focus on engineering, technical and other critical roles for the remainder of 2022 and 2023, according to an email viewed by Bloomberg on July 12.
"The uncertain global economic outlook has been top of mind," he wrote. "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 redeploying resources to higher priority areas."
Meanwhile, Microsoft cut less than 1 percent of its workforce of 180,000 as it realigns departments and roles after the close of the fiscal year June 30, Bloomberg reported July 11. The tech giant said the worsening economy did not influence the layoffs, and it plans to grow its overall headcount this year.