Google workers demand 'psychological safety' from bosses after mass layoffs - New York Post

Google employees who survived the company’s recent purge of 12,000 of their now-former colleagues grilled executives during a tense all-hands meeting on Monday — anxiously demanding assurances that their jobs aren’t next on the chopping block.

One Google employee based in the UK told management that “psychological safety is paramount” after parent company Alphabet Inc. shed around 6% of its full-time workforce.

“The layoffs seem random,” one employee wrote in a question that was submitted to higher-ups through Google’s internal messaging system Dory.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai denied that the layoffs were done randomly and urged his charges to stay focused on their jobs as the company navigates difficult economic terrain that has forced other tech giants to cull workers.

Pichai revealed during the meeting that he consulted with Google co-founders and controlling shareholders Sergey Brin and Larry Page as well as members of the board before going ahead with the layoffs.

He said that Google went on a hiring spree in 2021, which Pichai called “one of the strongest years we’ve ever had in the history of the company.”