Google’s Extended Hiring Freeze Could Impact Company Culture

Google’s move is leading to a real “vibe change” within the company.

Google has reportedly extended its hiring freeze as part of overall plans to slow hiring through the rest of 2022.

According to Business Insider, Google will continue to hire for “critical roles.” However, the new hiring policy has led to what one anonymous Googler told the publication was a “real vibe change,” with more pressure on productivity and efficiency.

“I don’t think you should underestimate the kind of impact that’s going to have on morale, or this sense of paranoia that they are looking for someone to put on the chopping block, and that it could be you,” another anonymous employee said.

Google extending its hiring freeze represents a significant change in tactics. As recently as July, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated in an internal email that the search-engine giant had hired some 10,000 workers in the second quarter of 2022, with plans to maintain hiring into the third quarter.

At the time, Pichai also emphasized how he wanted Google’s workforce to work with “greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we’ve shown on sunnier days.”