Google employees tensed about layoffs as Sundar Pichai says "it's tough to predict future"

Employees at Google are tensed about their future as reports of mass layoffs at the search giant have been doing the rounds.

Google, like other Big Tech firms such as Meta, Amazon, and Apple, is reeling under the global macroeconomic headwinds and an overall inflationary environment impacting operating margins and profitability.

According to a Business Insider report, Sundar Pichai - chief executive of Google-parent Alphabet - told his employees in a recent all-hands internal meeting that he "cannot promise layoffs were not coming".


He also said "it is tough to predict the future" referring to precarious position Big Tech companies find themselves in amid an onslaught faced by tech stocks this year and a tech winter.

Pichai stayed clear of making any forward looking statements about layoffs within the firm.

The report also added that employees raised concerns over a new performance tool named GRAD during the meeting.

"The tool is intended to give employees a more consistent flow of feedback on their performance, but some inside the company say it's been off to a rocky start," the report said.