Google and Facebook Warn Employees They Now Have to Actually Work – Opinion

Each of the CEOs at Alphabet (also known as Google’s family of online services) and Meta (formerly the Facebook family, are warning their huge employee base that declining profits will force them to take a close look at their employees, in order to determine if they have been pulling their weight. FOX Business

Following a disappointing fiscal quarter, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai both told staffers they have productivity concerns and are “turning up the heat” on managing staff performance.

According to Reuters audio recordings, Zuckerberg said that his company experienced its first ever revenue decline and that he hoped to set more ambitious goals.

“Just kind of turning up the heat a little bit,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying. “I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me.”

Translation: I’m too much of a wuss to fire people, but I’ll make working here so miserable you’ll want to quit, and I won’t have to pay you unemployment.

Pichai also expressed similar concerns. Pichai reportedly told staffers last week that there are “real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the head count we have.” The comments were first reported by CNBC.

Google’s revenue growth during the past quarter decelerated to its slowest pace in two years as advertisers reined in their spending amid intensifying fears of an economic recession. Second quarter revenue rose 13% this year compared to 62% in last year’s comparable quarter.

But remember, we’re not in a recession.

While soaring gas prices should, in theory, lead to more people spending more time online as they avoid driving–as noted, inflation is driving the economy straight off a cliff. The behemoths, however, aren’t immune. Market Realist:

Google cut several people who worked in cloud support. The layoff round, which occurred just as Google bought Mandiant for an incredible $5.4 billion was intriguing to some. The cuts affected engineers in Austin, Sydney and California. It isn’t clear if another layoff sweep is coming for Google but signs say one might be on the horizon.

Meta, for its part implemented a hiring freeze in May. The company is rumored to be considering laying off as many as 10% of its current staff. You could lay them off as mentioned above.

It is forever lamentable that George Santayana’s truism (“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”) bears the stain of having been posted above the madman Jim Jones’ “throne” in Jonestown from which he launched his satanic reign of murder and coerced mass suicide. Even as Google has abandoned its “don’t be evil” mantra in favor of hardcore leftist censorship, Facebook doing the same, both have forgotten that online entities and services can have notoriously short shelf lives.

America Online once was a highly popular institution with many online communities. It is now a rare website. Cyberspace doesn’t know loyalty but does have an understanding of economic realities. Google and Facebook’s warning shots fired over their own employee’s heads might be enough to alert even the mollycoddled young that when God told Adam,

“By the sweat of your brow
You will have food to eat
You can return to the ground until then
From which you came.
You were created from dust
and to dust you will return.”

They were included in his warning.

About Post Author

Follow Us