Google trimmed 10% of management roles in its yearlong push for efficiency, CEO Sundar Pichai

Google has cut manager and VP roles by 10% in its yearlong push for efficiency, CEO Sundar Pichai said in an internal an all-hands meeting.

The tech giant had made these changes over the past couple of years aimed at simplifying the company and make it more efficient, Business Insider reported quoting  two employees who heard the remarks. Pichai said the efficiency push included a 10% reduction in managers, directors, and vice presidents, one of the above mentioned persons said. 

Some of the jobs in the 10 per cent figure were transitioned to individual contributor roles, and some were role eliminations, the report said citing a Google spokesperson.

In the last two years, Google has been on an efficiency driver. Earlier in September 2022, Pichai stated that he wants Google to be 20 per cent more efficient. In the following January, Google had cut 12,000 jobs.

It may be noteworthy that Google's efficiency push comes in the backdrop of AI boom over the last few years. And arguably, Open AI and other players in this space may have impacted Google's search business.  

To tackle the competition in the ever-evolving AI space, Google has incorporated generative AI features in its core business. It has launched several new AI features, including a new AI video generator to compete with OpenAI's early testing and a new set of Gemini models, which includes a "reasoning" model that shows its thought process.

Additionally, in the all-hands meeting, Pichai clarified the meaning of the word “Googleyness”, mentioning that the staff is required to update the modern Google.

In May 2024, Google cut 200 jobs from its “core team” and relocated some of the jobs overseas as a part of cost-cutting for the restructuring process, reported CNBC citing internal sources. Almost 50 jobs were cut from the engineering team in California. The core team develops the "technical foundation behind the company's flagship products" with the user safety online and its global IT infrastructure.