Chief people officer also reveals acceptance rate of Google's Voluntary Exit Programme
More than a third of managerial roles have been eliminated at Google as part of the tech giant's efforts to reduce bureaucracy, according to reports of an all-hands meeting by the company.
Brian Welle, vice president of people analytics and performance, revealed during the event that Google has 35% fewer managers, with fewer direct reports, than this time a year ago, CNBC reported.
"So a lot of fast progress there," he said at a town hall meeting in audio reviewed by the news outlet.
A person familiar with the matter also told CNBC that the reduction involves managers who oversee fewer than three people, but noted that many of those managers stayed to be individual contributors.
The role elimination is part of Google's efforts to reduce bureaucracy, according to Welle.
"When we look across our entire leadership population, that's managers, directors and VPs, we want them to be a smaller percentage of our overall workforce over time," he said.
The report comes after Google carried out large-scale layoffs in 2023, followed by smaller-scale reductions within the organisation.
Voluntary Exit Programme introduced
This year, the company also started offering buyouts under a Voluntary Exit Programme (VEP) to employees based in the US.
Also speaking at the meeting, Fiona Cicconi, Google's chief people officer, said between three and five per cent of employees in US-based teams, such as search, marketing, hardware, and people operations, accepted the VEP.
"This has been actually quite successful," Cicconi said as quoted by CNBC. "I think we can continue it."
According to the CPO, some of the reasons cited by those who accepted the buyouts are the desire for a career break and the need to take care of family members.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he's "glad" they implemented the VEP.
"It gives people agency, and I'm glad to see it's worked out well," he said.
