Google CEO Sundar Pichai says employee productivity must improve, launches ‘Simplicity Sprint’

Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google-parent Alphabet.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is concerned about employee productivity and focus as the tech giant reported its second consecutive quarter of weaker-than-expected earnings on Tuesday. In the regular all-hands meeting with employees Wednesday, Pichai asked for inputs on increasing productivity as some expressed concerns about potential layoffs, reports CNBC.

Google’s productivity as a company is not in keeping with its headcount, the CEO said in the meeting which was attended by more than 170,000 full-time Google employees.

“I wanted to give some additional context following our earnings results, and ask for your help as well,” Pichai began, referring to the company’s Q2 earnings report. “It’s clear we are facing a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead.

“There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the headcount we have,” he added.

Sundar Pichai, 50, asked employees to “create a culture that is more mission-focused, more focused on our products, more customer focused. We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity.”

To that end, he also announced the launch of ‘Simplicity Sprint’ – an initiative to improve efficiency with the help of ideas crowdsourced from employees.

“I would love to get all your help,” Pichai said in Wednesday’s meeting, announcing that employees could share their ideas in an internal survey till August 15.

Questions on the survey, which was seen by CNBC, include: “What would help you work with greater clarity and efficiency to serve our users and customers? Where should we remove speed bumps to get to better results faster? How do we eliminate waste and stay entrepreneurial and focused as we grow?”

During the meeting, Pichai was also asked about potential layoffs – a question he palmed off to Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi. Cicconi said the company did not have plans to reduce its workforce but did not rule it out.

“We’re asking teams to be more focused and efficient and we’re working out what that means as a company as well. Even though we can’t be sure of the economy in the future, we’re not currently looking to reduce Google’s overall workforce,” she said.