Google employees question execs over decline in morale after blowout earnings
Summary
Googles business is growing at its fastest rate in two years, and a blowout earnings report in April sparked the biggest rally in Alphabet shares since 2015, pushing the companys market cap past $2 trillion. But at an all-hands meeting last week with CEO Sundar Pichai and CFO Ruth Porat, employees were more focused on why that performance isnt translating into higher pay, and how long the companys cost-cutting measures are going to be in place. "Weve noticed a significant decline in morale, increased distrust and a disconnect between leadership and the workforce," a comment posted on an internal forum ahead of the meeting read. Search boss Prabhakar Raghavan, in an internal meeting last month, pointed to Googles core business challenges, saying "things are not like they were 15 to 20 years ago," and urged employees to work faster. Pichai, who replaced Google co-founder Larry Page as CEO of Alphabet in 2019, has taken his share of criticism of late for his messaging to the workforce as well as his lofty pay package, which swelled to $226 million, including stock awards, in 2022.