Google to cut hiring in 2022, CEO Sundar Pichai shares memo

Google is reportedly slowing down hiring processes for the rest of 2022. As per a memo from CEO Sundar Pichai to employees, obtained by The Verge, Google will continue to support its "most important opportunities" and focus on hiring engineers, technicians and other critics. Pichai's memo comes weeks after Meta announced similar measures as the company failed to meet its revenue targets.

Google has historically remained relatively immune to economic uncertainties, and indeed its sister brand, YouTube, did well in the fourth quarter of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its advertising revenue was reported to have reached $6.9 billion, an increase of 46 percent quarter over quarter. Pichai, in his memo, also notes that the company hired approximately 10,000 employees in the second quarter of this year, and has a "series of commitments for the third quarter." He adds that Google will pause the hiring process for the rest of the year.

"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,"he wrote in the memo.

The Alphabet and Google executive also indicated that the company will redeploy resources to higher priority areas and halt ongoing projects during this period. He said, "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."