Google CEO Tells Workers They Don’t Need Money to Have Fun

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who leads one of many world’s richest companies, very probably doesn’t need to speak about cash to his workers whereas the Big Tech large is within the midst of reducing prices and slowing hiring. But, since workers requested, he desires them to do one factor: cease equating “fun” with “money.”

Pichai’s feedback, made throughout an all-hands assembly with the complete firm earlier this week, got here to mild in a new report by CNBC, which obtained an audio recording of the assembly. At the assembly, which Pichai held in New York with a reside viewers of Googlers, workers requested the CEO why the corporate was “nickel-and-diming” them by proscribing journey and reducing leisure budgets and perks, particularly at a time when the corporate had “record profits and huge cash reserves.”

In response, the Google chief stated the corporate was merely “being a bit more responsible” amid one of many hardest macroeconomic conditions of the previous decade.

At one other level within the assembly, Pichai spoke about how cost-cutting affected enjoyable at work. He referenced the times when Google was “small and scrappy” in his try and justify adjustments to the corporate’s tradition and perks.

“I remember when Google was small and scrappy,” Pichai stated on the assembly, as reported by CNBC. “Fun didn’t always — we shouldn’t always equate fun with money. I think you can walk into a hard-working startup and people may be having fun and it shouldn’t always equate to money.”

The query about firm perks shouldn’t be with out foundation. For years, Big Tech workers at Google and elsewhere have benefited from mind-boggling perks, at the very least to us peasants. These embody onsite therapeutic massage therapists, cooking courses, at-home health, and artwork packages, based on the “Benefits” page on Google Careers.

It’s not clear whether any of these perks will go away, although some swag is going bye-bye. Google officials who spoke at the all-hands meeting did tell employees to expect smaller and more informal holiday and New Year celebrations, instructing them specifically to “try not to go over the top.”

Regarding the restrictions on journey, some Google workers identified that it was contradicting to inform staff they needed to observe the corporate’s return-to-office coverage however then additionally stress there was “no need to travel” or “connect in-person.” Back in April, Google introduced that staff must be in its bodily places of work at the very least three days a week.

Pichai said that he understood that the new travel policy was not ideal. He explained that if seeing each other in person would help employees work better, they could do that at times.

“If you haven’t seen your team in a while and it’ll help your work by getting together in person, I think you can do that,” the Google chief stated. “I think that’s why we are not saying no to travel, we are giving discretion to teams.”

Notably, Google officials said that the company did not plan to make any changes when it came to employee raises, equity, and bonuses, pointing out that they would continue to pay employees at “the top end of the market so we can be competitive.”

Pichai echoed the sentiment and stated the corporate was “committed” to taking care of workers. That probably contains its highest incomes executives, which in 2021 earned a complete compensation of between at the very least $14 million and greater than $28 million, based on mother or father firm Alphabet’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pichai’s complete compensation was $6.3 million final yr.

The Google chief did not respond to employee questions about whether the company would cut executive compensation.

Gizmodo reached out to Google for touch upon Saturday however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.