Google to reduce top executive bonuses, CEO Sundar Pichai says

Google Chief Executive  Sundar Pichai said top executives would take pay cuts following the largest round of layoffs in the company’s history.

Speaking at a companywide meeting on January 23, Mr. Pichai said employees at the senior-vice president level and above would get lower bonuses as part of cost-cutting measures, according to people who heard the remarks, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

The comments came after Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., announced last week that it would eliminate about 12,000 jobs, or 6 per cent of staff, its first major layoff since 2009.

Tech employees often receive a large portion of their wages through bonuses and stock grants. Vice presidents at Google can make base salaries of more than $550,000 a year, according to a job posting from the company.

Tech companies have resorted to a range of cost-cutting measures as executives grapple with a worsening economic environment and disruptions to industries such as online advertising and e–commerce.

More than 170 tech companies have laid off 56,570 employees in January, making it the worst month yet in a wave of cuts dating back to last year, according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks media reports and company announcements.

Google’s layoffs cut across the company’s various units and regions, going as high as the vice president level, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In recent days, Google employees have pressed Mr. Pichai and other executives about the rationale behind the layoffs and other potential consequences for top leadership. Mr. Pichai said on Friday that he took responsibility for the decisions that led to the job cuts. 

“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Mr. Pichai wrote in a message to employees. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”